Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by complimenting my friend. He has an amazing honor. He is able to make history here. We've not been able to find a time that a continuing resolution has been brought to the floor under a modified open rule, and he has done a suburb job in managing it.
I didn't really hear my friend from Worcester say much of anything, so I suspect he did a reasonable job in recognizing that we are making history and that we are going to, for the first time, allow any Democrat or Republican to stand up on this floor and offer an amendment to the appropriations bill that is going to be before us, the continuing resolution.
I think that, Mr. Speaker, it is important for us to recognize that it's not only a new day when it comes to the process in this House for us to consider appropriations bills, but it's a new day in that we have stepped forward and recognized that if we don't get our fiscal house in order and bring about dramatic spending cuts, our future is very much in question. And I say that because people used comparisons to crazy places like Greece and California when they talk about the potential problems that the United States of America faces. And I've got to say that, if we don't bring about these kinds of spending cuts, we are going to be passing on to future generations a responsibility that they do not deserve to have. That's why it's up to us to do our job and make sure we get our fiscal house in order.
I mean, as the distinguished chair of the Committee on Appropriations, Mr. Rogers, has said so well, the cuts in this bill that are going to be before us are larger than the gross domestic product of 126 countries, and that's why we've got a monumental responsibility and a chance for Democrats and Republicans together to work on this thing.
And I'm so pleased to see my friend Norm Dicks, the distinguished ranking member, already working on his great product that's going to be coming forward as we seek to have the two of us come together as political parties to resolve our Nation's challenges.
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