Funding Bill Riders

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to end their calls for shutdown and to work in a bipartisan manner to pass a funding measure without riders.

This body has gotten into the habit of using last-minute Hail Mary votes to save us from one manufactured crisis after another, and it is taking our attention away from the list of things we need to get done--things like reforming our criminal justice system, addressing gun violence, or creating jobs.

There is just 1 week left before funding runs out, and it looks like we are heading into yet another crisis. In the midst of growing threats to national

security, we need to take politics out of this equation. We need to take poison pills that threaten working American families off the negotiating table.

Mr. Speaker, I am ready and willing to work to keep the government of the greatest nation in the world open, and I know my Democratic colleagues will as well. I hope every Member of this body is ready to do the same.

I want to express my condolences to San Bernardino and its families on their loss. I urge Congress to get moving on gun safety legislation.

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