House Passes 10th Bipartisan Funding Bill

Floor Speech

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, weeks ago, the administration reached out to Capitol Hill to continue budget negotiations. According to the National Journal:

Majority Leader Reid's office had a message for them: don't do it. The White House listened. The summit was nixed. And no serious talks have occurred since.

As the government shutdown stretches into its second week, the White House has embraced Reid's hard-line, no-negotiations stance--at least so far.

Unfortunately, hard-liner, non-negotiable posturing seems to be all the Senate Majority Leader knows.

Today, the House passed the Head Start for Low-Income Children Act, the 10th bipartisan stopgap funding bill to pass the House since the Federal shutdown began. The program remains a priority of the President; yet the White House just announced a veto threat on the bill--without a doubt, at the Senate Majority Leader's request. If this isn't a purely political move, I don't know what is.

I urge the Senate and the President to join 57 of my Democrat colleagues who are supporting the solutions being put forth by the House. The American people deserve as much.

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