Murray and Collins Kick Off Consideration of First Appropriations Bills on the Senate Floor

Press Release

"When Chair Murray and I took the helm of the Appropriations Committee at the beginning of the year, we set forth the goal of returning regular order to the appropriations process. The result, for the first time in five years, the Senate Appropriations Committee has reported each and every one of the twelve Appropriations bills. All of them passed with strong bipartisan support. Today, we take the next important step in restoring deliberation to the appropriations process, as we bring the first package of funding bills to the Senate floor.

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"The choice before the Senate is clear. Do we want to pass, with amendments, carefully considered funding bills? Or do we want to default to either, an omnibus bill, many thousands of pages long and with very little transparency, or worse, a year-long resolution that funds programs that are no longer needed, prevents new programs from starting up, wastes taxpayer dollars, and is subject to indiscriminate cuts? The choice is very clear. The Senate should proceed to debate, consider amendments, and pass the appropriations bills."

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