Hoyer Floor Remarks on a Continuing Resolution to Keep Government Open
For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2020
Contact Info:
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today on the continuing resolution to keep the government open beyond December 11. Below are excerpts of his remarks and a link to the video:
“…The [continuing resolution] is a recognition of failure. It's not any one individual's failure. It's not a bad thing. It's that we have had trouble getting together and coming to an agreement. I want to observe, and maybe it has already been observed, [the House] passed 10 of our 12 appropriations bills [before] July 26. That was two months before the end of the fiscal year. The Senate, unfortunately, didn't pass any of its appropriations bills. It still hasn't passed any of its appropriations bills. It has a document that they did not pass through committee and has not passed the Senate that is the basis for our negotiations. That has delayed us substantially, not because the House didn't do its work on time, but because for whatever reasons, the Senate did not address the appropriations process in a timely fashion.”
“We're here with what we call a continuing resolution. But that really is an admission of failure. We passed one before September 30, so the government didn't shut down [then]. It was the right thing to do. We're going to pass one now. It's the right thing to do. This is something we have to do to keep the government working. But we ought not to believe or pretend or represent this is the way we ought to do business. It is not. It is a function of procrastination, a function of failing to come together and making compromises. That's what this body is about, all these chairs here. We have to come to agreement.”
“We're here with what we call a continuing resolution. But that really is an admission of failure. We passed one before September 30, so the government didn't shut down [then]. It was the right thing to do. We're going to pass one now. It's the right thing to do. This is something we have to do to keep the government working. But we ought not to believe or pretend or represent this is the way we ought to do business. It is not. It is a function of procrastination, a function of failing to come together and making compromises. That's what this body is about, all these chairs here. We have to come to agreement.”