The Department Of State, Foreign Operations And Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008)

Floor Speech

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 (CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008) -- (House of Representatives - December 17, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this legislation that is before us will fund our government this calendar year. That was not done last year. Would that it had been done sooner. Would that it had addressed the priorities that we believe the American public supported strongly in November of last year. Would that we were investing the appropriate amounts in education, in health care, in the environment and community health centers and NIH basic biomedical research. Would that we funded them at reasonable levels.

The President indicated that he was going to veto, as Mr. Lewis said, a bill that was not at his figures. I have observed that this President believes that his budget was sent down on tablets, not on paper. I think that's unfortunate.

The Constitution of the United States, of course, gives to the Congress of the United States sole authority to set policies for the United States. In fact, our Founding Fathers never contemplated the budget autonomy that this administration has sought for itself.

However, having said that, as Mr. Obey, our chairman has said, rightfully, the votes are what they are. The necessity to come to compromise in a democracy is inescapable if, in fact, both sides can create stalemate. In this instance both sides could create stalemate. That is not, however, the objective of our side. We believe that we ought to, and have a responsibility to, fund our government. This bill does that. This bill does that after having passed all 12 of our appropriation bills prior to the August recess. Unfortunately, we find ourselves at this late date, however, not having completed all of our conference reports and having to move forward.

This bill is a relatively long bill, not the longest bill we will have considered in this manner, but a relatively long bill. It looks even longer if you only print on one side of the page to make a more dramatic presentation.

Having said that, this bill incorporates all of the bills that passed this house. This is not as if these are items of first impression. They are bills that we considered in this House and passed with essentially overwhelming bipartisan votes.

I remember when Mr. Lewis' side was in charge of the House and they got five or six Democrats to vote for it, it was a bipartisan bill. We've averaged 60 votes, if you take out the Legislative bill, on which essentially games were being played, and perhaps the Foreign Ops bill. You have over 60 average votes on the Republican side.

This is bipartisan legislation. Ninety-five percent of the bill that is presented here has been considered before. I want to congratulate Mr. Obey for the work that he's done. I want to congratulate Mr. Lewis for the work he's done.

More specifically, I want to thank the staff. The staff rightfully ought to be exhausted. This staff has spent unbelievable amounts of time in putting this bill together.

It is like every bill we pass, not a perfect bill. It is a bill, as Mr. Lewis said, that the President has indicated that he might possibly sign. That is, after all, the reality in a democratic environment, where you have the people, having selected a Democratic House, and as one of my friends observed the other day, they elected a third in the Senate. Two-thirds of the United States Senate was elected in 2002 and 2004. Only a third of the Senate was elected in this last election. So it may not be as reflective of the will of the American people as this House is.

This House did its business on time. This House passed responsible bills. Yes, it was $22 billion over. Mr. Lewis may be surprised to know that from 2002 to 2006 he spent more on discretionary spending. I know you are going to want to hear this figure: you spent a higher percentage of GDP on discretionary spending than these bills do.

We have invested. We believe the investments included in this bill are the minimal that we ought to make, and we're hopeful that Members on both sides of the aisle can vote for this bill in a nonpartisan, bipartisan fashion. There will be some who vote against these bills because essentially they believe we ought not to be investing significant sums in education and in health care and public safety. The President's budget reflected that philosophy. That is not our philosophy. It's not the philosophy, we believe, of the American people.

So, my friends in this House, I would urge as we come to the end of this session that we pass this bill. It is not what each and every one of us wanted in this bill. There's more perhaps in this bill than some want and less than some others want, but it is in the exercise of the democratic process the possible. It funds our government, it moves us forward, and it is worthy of our support.

I thank the chairman; and, yes, I thank the ranking member for their work, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this omnibus appropriation.

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