Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to bring to the floor the continuing appropriations resolution to keep the Federal Government operating until November 18, 2011. Before you is a slightly amended version of the bill, which is necessary after last night's vote. I hope that my colleagues recognize the urgency of this situation and will join me in taking the responsible step and support this CR.

This bill must pass if we're going to keep our word to the American people. We need to get help to Americans who need it most, those who have lost their homes and their businesses to the unforgiving natural disasters that have beset us.

FEMA is rapidly burning through its emergency funding and its ability to help those people recover from the tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and other disasters.

Right now, at this minute, FEMA has $200 million left in the coffer. They're spending at the rate of $30 million a day for disaster relief. And at this rate, of course, they will be out of money over the weekend.

This infusion of funding--$1 billion in emergency fiscal year 2011 disaster funding and $2.65 billion for fiscal 2012--is critical. I can't stress that enough. And it will go far to relieve the burdens of those who are in need tonight.

This version of the bill creates an additional offset to the fiscal year 2011 emergency funding. In addition to the $1.5 billion offset from the vehicle loan program, we are rescinding $100 million from the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, a section of the failed Stimulus Act that funded the now-bankrupt company Solyndra.

The CR also continues government operations at a rate of $1.043 trillion. That's the amount agreed to by the Congress and the White House in August as part of the debt ceiling compromise, and it is on the law books of the country. This reduced responsible rate will help restore our Nation's fiscal health.

It is vital that Congress pass this legislation as swiftly as possible. We must prevent a government shutdown, and we have to replenish exhaustive disaster recovery funds which will dry up over the weekend. And just as importantly, we need time to complete work on the fiscal year 2012 appropriations legislation so we can avoid the uncertainty and instability that we saw last year when it took us until April to complete full-year appropriations legislation.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, not only to keep the government running, but also to help the hundreds of thousands of Americans relying on us to get them back on their feet all across the country.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

his really is a simple bill. It's merely a bridge to get us until November the 18th to continue the government basically as is until that time, to get us time to work with the Senate to put together the funding for all of fiscal 2012. Norm Dicks and I started out this year agreeing that we wanted to restore regular order to the Appropriations Committee and the process. And we've worked in that regard. The committee has dealt with 11 of the 12 appropriations bills. Six of them you've had a chance on the floor to amend and pass, which you have.

Unfortunately, our brethren across the Capitol have been a little bit slow, and they passed one bill, which necessitated that we do something to continue the government while we try to work with them to bring them along on their bills and fund fiscal 2012.

This bill started out as a bipartisan bill. We worked to make it so. But along the way, on the eve of the bill, all of a sudden we were confronted with a partisan attack from this side of the aisle, and we had no choice but to respond. But still yet this is a bipartisanly constructed bill. It doesn't attack anyone.

The Homeland Security bill that passed the body, you will recall, carried the provision that required that the billion dollars in that bill for FEMA would be offset from the automobile account that's been discussed. That passed this body in a bipartisan vote. Many Democrats voted for it, joined Republicans. No one raised a concern--until this bill came to the floor. And all of a sudden, there was this great eruption of partisanship on that side of the aisle, which I am very sad about.

But we will muddle through. This is a good bill. It funds your government at the level that was agreed to by the parties in the House, Senate, and White House, the level that is now the law. It funds us until November 18. And by then we hope to have worked out with our Senate brethren and sisters the funding for the rest of fiscal 2012.

So, the hour is late. Time is short. We've made up our minds. Let's vote.

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