Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations, I have a motion at the desk.

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, this is a necessary step to continue to move the fiscal year 2019 appropriations process forward under regular order.

On June 28, the House passed H.R. 6157, the FY 2019 Defense Appropriations bill by a vote of 359-49. The Senate took up that bill and added the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill and has now sent H.R. 6157 back to the House.

With the appointment of these conferees, the House and the Senate may begin to resolve the differences with the goal of passing H.R. 6157 before the end of the fiscal year. As such, I strongly support this motion.

The previous question was ordered.

The motion was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to instruct conferees. As the House and Senate come together to find a path forward on funding the Federal Government, we will, no doubt, be faced with tough choices and fierce disagreements. But we agree that these two bills, funding the Department of Defense and funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, are two of the most important bills that we handle and, frankly, the two largest as well. They deserve thorough consideration and fair discussion amongst the conferees.

We are all committed to getting this done and getting this done right. As we are currently doing with our first package of appropriations bills, this conference committee will negotiate fairly and respectfully to reach a final agreement on funding these critical Defense and Labor-HHS programs.

I want to remind the body that, of course, we have done this before. We have begun in different places, and, to my friend's credit, we have worked together, have found common ground three times in a row, and have been able to support the final bill. It certainly would be my hope that we are able to do that again.

So I just want people in the conference committee to feel free to bring up any topics that they think are important, and that we have a free and full discussion, and, hopefully, work ourselves to a resolution.

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close if my friend is prepared to close.

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Mr. COLE. Correct.

I want to begin by thanking my friends. They always bring interesting points to the floor, particularly the ranking member of the full committee, but also my friend Mr. Scott. I just want to assure them that, when we sit down to bargain, we will bargain in good faith, and all these things will--and I think appropriately should be--on the table and open for a fair discussion.

I do point out to the body that, frankly, when we have done this before, we have been able to find common ground and been able to arrive at a final solution that had substantial bipartisan support for the last 3 years. I am confident that we can do that again this year and, frankly, it is very much my hope that we can do it before the end of the fiscal year.

I think that is important that the domestic programs that we fund in the Labor-HHS bill, which my friend, the ranking member of the subcommittee, so ably advances and defends, that we do that without having a continuing resolution, something that interrupts the progress. That is even more important in the area of defense, that we avoid a continuing resolution.

So I think there will be considerable goodwill on both sides and a considerable effort to come together in common ground.

Having said that, I continue to oppose instructions to the committee because the conferees have proven before they can work together to produce a product. It is my hope that we will be able to do that.

So I urge the body to reject the effort to instruct the conferees, and I invite my friends, as I know they will, to sit down in good faith to work with us to arrive at a bill that both sides of the rotunda and both parties can support in substantial numbers.

I look forward to that process with my good friend the ranking member from Connecticut and, obviously, with my good friend the full committee ranking member as well. I have every confidence that, working together in good faith, as we have in the past, we will get to a place that we both can be pleased with, if not perfectly satisfied with.

Mr. Speaker, I urge rejection of the instruction, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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