Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. No, I am not opposed.

Let me first say a thank you to the gentleman from Oklahoma for allowing me the 10 minutes of time. I am much appreciative.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this continuing resolution, which will avert a costly and pointless government shutdown and provide Congress with the time required to enact bipartisan, full-year funding bills for 2025.

We require a continuing resolution to keep the government open because House Republicans chose to squander the Second Session of the 118th Congress by writing extreme and harmful funding bills based on Donald Trump's Project 2025 manifesto, seven of which the House did not even consider because the majority knew the bills did not have the votes to pass on the floor of the House.

It is never ideal to govern with a continuing resolution, but this is a responsible and sober measure that avoids many of the problems that would have been created with a 6-month funding bill.

After the continuing resolution is enacted, the Appropriations Committees should begin bipartisan negotiations to finish full-year bills by December 20. This will be a difficult task.

We must address significant shortfalls in veterans' healthcare, disaster relief, and other priorities. These problems demand bipartisan solutions, and so we must drop poison pill riders and massive cuts to the services that American families depend on so that this Congress can finish its work.

No matter who wins in November, we owe it to the next Congress and the next President to not saddle them with yesterday's problems. We know where we must end up, and it is my hope that this bill will provide the bipartisan momentum needed to arrive there.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I just want to ask my colleagues to please support this continuing resolution. We have an obligation in this Chamber to rule, to govern, to say to the American people that we are here on your behalf, you sent us here, and you put your faith and your trust in us.

The legislative process is not one where one gets everything that they want. It is about compromise. It is about coming together to recognize that we do have this obligation and this responsibility. It would be nice to say that I didn't get what I wanted, so I am going to take the ball and go home. That is not the responsible thing to do.

This continuing resolution, as I said in my remarks, is a somber document. It achieves some goals. There are some areas that have not been covered that need to be covered, like disaster relief, like the $12 billion shortfall for veterans. We have a process to undertake as we move forward, and that is hammering out the 12 appropriations bills which fund the U.S. Government. That is our responsibility.

If we do not do this today, the government shuts down. We don't suffer. We continue to get our paychecks. Maybe if there was a threat of a furlough for Members of Congress, the outcome might be different.

There are men and women out there who serve this country whose economic stability is in jeopardy, and we hold that in our hands.

We say ``yes'' today, not because it is everything that we wanted, but ``yes'' to continue a process that gets us to fund the goods and the services of the American people. That is what they expect us to do. They expect us to govern. That is what this bill is about today.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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