Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 873, I call up the bill (H.R. 5371) making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026.

History reminds us, Mr. Speaker, that shutdowns never change the outcome. The only cost is paid by the American people.

Over the last 43 days, the facts did not shift, the votes required did not shift, and the path forward did not change. The only thing that did move was the level of pain Democrats inflicted on the Nation.

For 6 long weeks, Americans have paid the price for a shutdown they neither caused nor deserved. The pain has been all too real for far too many Americans, including families struggling without paychecks, seniors on the brink of hunger with food assistance lapsed, airports in chaos, and communities bracing as programs that they rely on were stalled or stopped altogether.

With yesterday being Veterans Day, we especially reflect on the impact of this shutdown on those who served our Nation past and present. Our military families were left wondering if they would be paid. Thanks to President Trump, they were.

Yet, this is not how the greatest Nation in the world should function. Today that changes.

The legislation before us reopens the government, restores critical services, and puts an end to the needless hardship Democrats have inflicted on the country.

This bill supports our troops. It pays Federal workers. It fully funds SNAP benefits until September 30 of next year. It compensates our air traffic controllers right before a busy holiday season. In fact, it takes a holistic approach in ensuring Federal services and programs are operational. In the simplest terms, we are putting the government back to work for our people.

The bill is fundamentally the same responsible approach House Republicans offered on September 19, but with an important addition: three full-year appropriations bills for FY26. These bipartisan, bicameral, full-year appropriations bills cover the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Legislative Branch; Agriculture, Rural Development; and Food and Drug Administration divisions.

Once passed, we will have full-year funding in place for many of our most crucial programs. Military construction needs will be met for a full year, as will medical programs for our Nation's veterans. The legislative branch will be properly resourced, including critical funding enhancements for the Capitol Police and for Member security. Agriculture, food and nutrition programs like WIC and SNAP will be fully funded to help vulnerable people in need.

Importantly, this legislation delivers Member-driven community project funding in both the military construction and agriculture divisions, which will direct resources back into the hands of the communities we represent. This was a top priority for the Appropriations Committee, and we achieved it while holding overall spending levels in check.

It is a responsible appropriations progress like this that causes me to reflect on an important message to our friends in the Democratic leadership. My sincere apologies to Minority Leaders Jeffries and Schumer, but after today they will no longer get to hold the government hostage, and they will not get to force a rushed, pork-filled Christmas omnibus at the end of the year.

Republicans have actively restored a responsible, line-by-line process. Over the next few months, we will continue this work and efforts through regular order. This Article I advancement is an accomplishment that every Member of this Chamber can be proud of regardless of party. Yet some still need to decide what they stand for today.

To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, do they want the leverage or do they want to legislate? Do they treat Americans as collateral damage or as constituents, and do they answer to their caucus or their country?

For Republicans, the answer has been clear for the last 43 days. We have and we will continue to put Americans first. Democrats can join us. They have an opportunity to make the responsible choice to reopen our government and pass three official full-year appropriations bills. Mr. Speaker, eight Senate Democrats saw reason and did exactly that. I hope House Democrats do the same.

True courage is taking responsible action for the Nation even when politics makes it inconvenient. Let's reopen the government and get back to work.

Mr. MOORE of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371, which includes full funding for the legislative branch. I am honored to serve as the vice chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, and I am grateful to Chairman Valadao for his leadership on that committee.

Mr. Speaker, it has been a long road to bring this bill to the floor. It is a road that was made significantly longer by a totally unnecessary Schumer shutdown that we have been living in. The bill before us not only reopens the entire government, but it ensures that the House and its supporting agencies remain working for the American people.

The bill invests in safety and security. It increases funding for the Capitol Police and provides support for security programs through the House Sergeant at Arms. It is tough on foreign adversaries, including language that I wrote preventing the purchase of technology tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Cole for his leadership and Ranking Member Espaillat and our subcommittee members and their staff and our staff for their work, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, it has been an interesting debate.

Frankly, as a couple of my colleagues have suggested, a lot of the rhetoric on the other side hasn't had much to do with the legislation in front of us. My friends chose all on their own to shut the government down 43 days ago.

During that time, soldiers have had to worry about getting paid. The only reason they were paid is because the President of the United States managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat twice or we would have military families completely unpaid.

We have our air traffic controllers. Most of us flew here today, yesterday, or in recent days. They are keeping the skies as safe as they can, but they haven't gotten paid.

We are in this Capitol Building. We are under the protection of the Capitol Police. They do a splendid job. They keep doing their job. They haven't been paid.

We have people who are in desperate need of some of the services this government has promised to give them, SNAP and WIC, at risk unless we pass this legislation tonight.

We can have all of these debates about all of these other issues. As a matter of fact, my friend, the Speaker, his counterpart in the United States Senate, the majority leader, and the President have said when you open the government, we will be happy to talk to you about some of these issues, but you are not going to shut down the government, punish the American people, put people's lives at risk, and think we are going to sit down and negotiate with you under those circumstances. That is not going to happen.

We told you 43 days ago, from bitter experience, government shutdowns don't work. They never achieve the objective that you announce. Guess what. You haven't achieved that objective yet, and you are not going to. We did the same thing twice, so I am not saying that we have clean hands over here. You guys did it on DACA. It didn't work there. It is not going to work here.

The only people who have suffered have been the American people, the people whom we are all here to serve.

Let's keep the focus on getting the government back open.

I would also add--and I appreciate this very much--there have been robust discussions back and forth, and we have three appropriations bills attached to this. They are appropriations bills that do important things.

The Agriculture bill will make sure that people who rely on WIC and SNAP don't have to worry about another government shutdown between now and September 30 of next year.

The Legislative Branch bill will make sure that the Capitol Police and everybody else who is staff who allows this Chamber to function don't have to worry about getting paid until September 30 of next year.

Obviously, military construction and, more importantly, veterans rely on benefit commitments we have made. Passage of this bill makes sure that we fulfill those commitments between now and September 30 of next year, and we buy the time to sit down to rationally and responsibly negotiate other appropriations bills that we can bring, I hope, on a bipartisan basis to this floor to keep the government open.

I would just ask my friends to reflect on that. I hope some of you feel the weight of that decision. I know you do. I hope you can vote to keep the government open. There is no excuse to shut it down. The United States Senate operated to keep it open in a bipartisan fashion. Now, it took them a long time to do it, but they got there. Let's not follow that example.

When they finally got the job done, they sent us a product. It is not a perfect product. It has some things in it I don't like, but frankly, if we had kept the government open, we would never have been in this situation in the first place.

I would just ask my friends to remember their constituents. I know they think about them. I know they are serious about the points they make. Reopen the government and raise your issues. Let's see if we can come to a negotiated settlement, but let's not punish the American people.

A ``no'' vote on this, again, means soldiers and military families don't get paid. A ``no'' vote means that people in need of SNAP and WIC might not get it. A ``no'' vote means the people who allow us to come here to debate and work won't get paid either.

I can go down the list of horrors. It is pretty simple. This is a vote about two things: opening the Government of the United States, which you willfully tried to shut down. Fortunately, you did not succeed in that in this Chamber, but some of your colleagues, using arcane Senate rules, did manage to do it but finally came to their senses. You ought to pay attention to those people. They said enough is enough. Let's reopen the government.

I urge my colleagues to do that today. I hope it is done in a bipartisan way.
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Mr. COLE. He is my very good friend and a person I admire greatly.
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