The Appropriations Process

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Finally, Mr. President, on the topic of hard work. The reason the Republican-led Senate has been able to pass so much good legislation over the past year is because we resolved to put this Chamber back to work.

That started with the committees. We have seen what is possible in the Commerce Committee; just look at the FAA bill. We have seen what is possible in the Energy Committee; just look at the Energy bill. But we are also seeing what is possible in many other committees, such as Appropriations.

Last year, the committee passed all 12 of the bills that fund the government. Passing all of those bills through committee used to be fairly routine, yet it hadn't happened in years by the time the new majority took over. We changed that last year. We resolved to do even more this year.

The committee has again gotten the appropriations process off to a strong start, and we would now like to pass as many of the funding bills as possible on the Senate floor. Getting this done will require cooperation from across the aisle.

Our Democratic friends recently wrote a letter pledging cooperation in the appropriations process. ``This is a win-win opportunity,'' they said, and ``we should seize it together.''

With the appropriate cooperation, we will, and we are.

The Appropriations Committee has already conducted more than 40 hearings since January. Tomorrow they will mark up two more funding bills, which follows their action last week to pass two others on a bipartisan and unanimous basis.

We are about to consider one of those funding bills out here on the floor. The Energy and Water appropriations bill is thoughtful, bipartisan legislation that will ensure a fiscally responsible approach to a variety of issues--things such as national security, energy innovation, waterways, and economic development.

I look forward to talking more about it tomorrow, and I would like to thank Senator Alexander and Senator Feinstein for their many hours of hard work on that bill. I would also like to recognize Chairman Cochran for everything he has done with Ranking Member Mikulski to get the appropriations process moving forward.

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