Yet this Rule Denies any Real Substantive Debate on One of the Most Important Issues Facing our Military.

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I thank my friend from Massachusetts.

Mr. Speaker, at the outset, I want to associate myself with the remarks of Mr. McGovern and Mr. Welch regarding the importance of this body's having a debate and a vote on whether or not we should be sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to engage and support the rebels in the civil war in Syria. After all, this budget supports the Defense Department, and it also supports the intelligence agency. So this is the time and place to have the debate about taxpayer dollars going to a civil war in Syria.

It is also the time and high time that we get on with passing a Federal budget. We've heard a lot of talk on the floor today about the importance of supporting our military--absolutely true--but this legislation does nothing to turn off the sequester. So, unless the Congress comes together on a bipartisan and a bicameral basis to resolve the budget, this Defense appropriations bill is going to be cut by about $48 billion, just as the non-defense parts of the budget will be cut as a result of sequestration.

I don't think the American people recognize that as of today--even though we're working on these spending bills--that the United States Congress has not passed a budget. There is no Federal budget in place today.

Now, we've heard a lot from our Republican colleagues over the last couple of years about how the Senate was derelict in its duty for not having a budget. Guess what? The Senate passed a budget. It passed a budget 122 days ago. Ever since that time, we've said to our Republican colleagues, Let's take the next step in the process--let's have a conference. Senate, House, let's get together to work out those differences.

In fact, Senator Murray, who is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has asked now 17 times for unanimous consent in the Senate to begin negotiations. We have called upon the Speaker of the House to appoint conferees to negotiate on the budget. He has refused. This motion is very simple. I'm just going to read the Resolved clause:

It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Speaker should follow regular House procedure and immediately request a conference and appoint conferees to negotiate the fiscal year 2014 budget resolution.

Very simple. It's calling for exactly what our Republican colleagues have called for for the last 3 years. We've heard from you many times ``no budget, no pay.'' We don't have a budget, but Members of Congress are getting paid.

Now, Senator McCain and a lot of Republican Senators have made the point that it's insane not to go to conference on the budget. Here is what he said, Senator McCain:

I think it's insane for Republicans who complain for 4 years about Harry Reid not having a budget, and now we're not going to agree to conferees? That is beyond comprehension for me.

That sentiment was seconded by lots of other Republican Senators. In fact, I think my colleagues know that I've heard, quietly, from a lot of our House Republican colleagues, saying, frankly, that they're embarrassed at the fact that the House Republicans have refused to appoint conferees and take the next step in the budget process.

Why is it important? We've got to get our economy moving in full gear. The Congressional Budget Office has told us that, as a result of the sequester, we're going to have 700,000 fewer jobs in this country by the end of this calendar year and that it's going to reduce our economic growth by one-third. The budget conference is where we work out our differences and try and remove the uncertainty in the economy.

By not going to budget conference, let's be clear what our Republican colleagues are doing. They want to take us right up to the cliff of a government shutdown in the beginning of October, the next fiscal year. They are talking about, once again, rolling the dice and playing a game of chicken as to whether or not the United States pays its bills on time. That is no way for the Federal Government to conduct itself.

I would ask my colleagues to put aside all of the gamesmanship and to simply, today, appoint conferees so that we can begin to work out these issues on the budget. Right now, as we head into the next school year, the kids of our soldiers who are at Fort Bragg are going to miss 5 days of school this fall because their teachers are going to be sequestered. Because of the sequester, they are going to be furloughed for 5 days this fall. These are the kids of men and women who are fighting to defend this country. That is wrong.

Let's get on with replacing the sequester in a smart way, but we can't do that unless we get on with the budget conference. So I ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can go to conference.

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