Further Extending Government Funding Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, these CRs, these fits and starts of prioritizing the Nation's resources and allocating these resources so we can run the people's government, are inefficient at best, they are dysfunctional, it is disgraceful, it is pervasive, and it is a structural issue that both Republicans and Democrats have to solve ultimately. I am trying to be fair about this, because I have seen this happen when Republicans have been in charge, in all fairness.

I think the difference this time in the life of our country is that my Democrat colleagues have been distracted while trying to pass a massive tax-and-spend bill. It is the largest expansion of government and the largest tax hike. It is the biggest transfer of wealth. It is a lot of things, and they ain't good.

Meanwhile, we are just totally punting on managing our budget. Three years in a row, my colleagues have not put forth a budget.

What I would like to see us do, to fix this for both sides, is to consider when we are talking about CRs and the debt ceiling and we are putting on display for the entire world how dysfunctional we are with respect to budget and appropriations, is that we would actually put forward bipartisan reforms like enforceable spending caps. Those are gone after this year. How about paygos and CutGos that are actually enforceable so that we force Congress to do what everyone else in the country does, which is live within their means.

There is a whole list here. Debt targets; no budget, no recess. How about we stay here and celebrate Christmas together and the holidays until we get a dadgum budget passed?

There are lots of bipartisan measures that I implore my colleagues to talk to their leadership about while I am talking to mine, so we can do something about it and not just keep this dysfunction going infinitum.

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