Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. I thank Ranking Member Dicks for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise, reluctantly, to support this 6-month fiscal 2013 continuing resolution. It is unfortunate we have before us a continuing resolution that only kicks the can down the road a bit, again, but does not represent the regular order to which our institution must return for sound governance of our Republic.

House Republicans have left the House with no choice but to support this measure or we will face another government shutdown. I'm sure we will hear from our Republican colleagues that the Senate didn't pass any appropriation bills, and that's why we're here considering a temporary bill.

The reality is that the unwillingness of the House Republicans to keep their word is why we have a short-term continuing resolution before us toward. The bipartisan agreement in the Budget Control Act provided for $2.2 trillion in balanced deficit reduction and included strict spending caps for future appropriations.

But rather than keeping to the bipartisan agreement, the Republican leadership rammed through the House a radical Ryan budgetary agenda that seeks to burden the middle class and seniors with the entire burden of reducing our debt while giving millionaires and billionaires more tax cuts. That is totally irresponsible.

House leadership wasted precious floor time with fiscal 13 appropriation bills that everyone knew were destined to languish. We should have spent our time debating comprehensive jobs legislation, a farm bill, and legislation to save the U.S. Postal Service.

Nevertheless, under the circumstances of hyperpartisanship, I commend Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks for crafting a clean continuing resolution that also addresses other important issues such as wildlife management, veterans benefits, Small Business Administration loan guarantees, and nutrition assistance.

In particular, I want to commend the chairman and ranking member for providing sufficient funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program so food assistance is not taken away from low-income senior citizens across our country, whose calls at food banks have gone up 20 percent.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program is a vital weapon in our fight against the real hunger that millions of our fellow citizens confront daily. Ninety-seven percent of these individuals are low-income seniors.

The program needed a slight increase to keep up with real food inflation, and rather than provide the resources to keep up with inflation, the House Republican FY 13 appropriation bill proposed to slash funding.

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