Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, it is with frustration that I rise in support of today's short-term continuing resolution and urge my colleagues to do so as well.

Once again, we need a means to keep the lights on for the Federal Government. The American people need and deserve more from their collective elected leaders. We are in the middle of an economic crisis and global pandemic when many are unsure they can keep their own lights on.

This 11-week extension puts our Federal agencies on autopilot. They can't begin new programs or respond to shifting priorities. It handcuffs our ability to respond to America's twin crises. It blocks investments in national security, fails to assist schools struggling to safely educate America's youth, fails the millions of families standing in long lines desperate for food assistance, and leaves millions questioning whether they even have a home tomorrow. It is a complete and total dereliction of duty for today and tomorrow.

The lack of action from our Senate colleagues, for the second year in a row, who deep-sixed their fiscal responsibility and leadership brought us here today. Our Senate friends have not even started the appropriation process. Not a single bill was considered in their committees. But they have time for another judicial confirmation.

Madam Speaker, I commend Chairwoman Lowey's leadership, and Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer for their prioritization and passage in the House of 10 of our 12 annual appropriations spending bills--all managed with the unknown and lack of Presidential leadership in establishing a Federal response to the COVID pandemic. The Senate achieved nothing. Nothing.

While Senate Republican strategists are squeezed in rooms over there thinking about a Supreme Court nominee before election day, they ignore their top responsibility of Congress' funding responsibility. Our Senate Republican colleagues have 11 weeks to draft and pass 12 bills, but not a single word on how they plan to achieve this monumental task.

The Energy and Water portion of the continuing resolution contains commonsense, necessary extensions to keep certain programs operating for the next 11 weeks.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this short-term resolution.

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