Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for giving me a couple of minutes here to speak on behalf of this bill.
I am not real sure, Mr. Speaker, how much more constructive I could be on this discussion of this underlying bill. The truth has already been spoken by both sides. It is not the bill that we wanted to bring to the floor. It is not the bills that we have marked up after some very serious oversight meetings and discussions within the Appropriations Committee.
As has already been mentioned, we have moved each of the 12 bills through committee. Only half of them have made it through the floor of the House. So it is not the final product that any of us on the Appropriations Committee, and I would guess most of the people in our Congress, would have wanted to bring.
But it is the bill that is on the floor today, and it is quite essential that we pass it and leave for the holidays without turning Washington upside down or our economy upside down. So I support the underlying bill, and I would recommend that it get a thunderous amount of approval here within in the Congress.
Before I close, I can't help but remember back 6 years ago, Mr. Speaker, when I came to this Congress. During the orientation period, I had an opportunity to engage in conversation with my friend from Kentucky, Hal Rogers.
I told him then that I wanted to be on his committee. I knew he was committed to regular order, and I knew he understood the process. I had the desire to serve on a committee that was actually going to do something that Washington is not real familiar with, and that is cut spending. He has done that.
I promised him that I would be willing to take the tough votes, and that I would be standing there with him and the rest of my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to do our job--to restore regular order and, really, the Article I powers that the Congress should enjoy.
He has never failed me, nor has he failed our committee. Our Congress--our House--should appreciate what this gentleman has done with this regard.
I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for the leadership he has given our committee, and I thank him for the time here to express my feelings publicly on the floor of the House.
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