WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Committee – spoke on the Senate floor after opposing the Senate’s Continuing Resolution to fund the government through February 8, 2019.

“A little earlier in the evening, we cast a vote, one that was done without a roll call, and I want my constituents to know how I voted,” said Sen. Moran. “Earlier this evening we passed a Continuing Resolution and I voted no, and I want my constituents to know how I voted and I want them to know why. I indicated to my colleagues within the last 10 days that I intend to vote no on a CR because it’s not the way that we should be conducting business in the United States Senate, or in the United States House of Representatives. Continuing Resolutions mean that we are just postponing the issues we face today, and they don’t get any easier the longer we wait to resolve them…

“…Where are the days in which the Congress, Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, exhibited their prerogatives. Not because we want power, but because the constitution gives us the authority. The responsibility in fact, to make decisions about spending. And there is no glory in making a decision on spending when we say today’s dollars are fine next week, they’re fine the next week, they’re fine the next month. We’re so close to coming together this year, and it’s disappointing that the end result is a Continuing Resolution now until February the Eighth.

“…Mister President, the process that was exhibited this evening failed to allow me to have my vote recorded as it normally is, and it is important for me – for Kansans and Americans to know – that I oppose the way we are doing business tonight. It needs to change. We’ve said it before. And if we always say, ‘we can wait another two weeks,’ ‘we can wait another three weeks,’ we’ll never get back to doing the work that we are hired to do by the American people.” 

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Full Remarks as delivered:

“Mister President,

“A little earlier in the evening, we cast a vote, one that was done without a roll call, and I want my constituents to know how I voted. Because, while I will put a statement in the record, it will not appear as yeas and nays. And, earlier this evening we passed a Continuing Resolution and I voted no, and I want my constituents to know how I voted and I want them to know why.

“I indicated to my colleagues within the last 10 days that I intend to vote no on a CR because it’s not the way that we should be conducting business in the United States Senate, or in the United States House of Representatives. Continuing Resolutions mean that we are just postponing the issues we face today, and they don’t get any easier the longer we wait to resolve them. They also mean that the appropriations process, of which I am a part of, has spent a significant amount of time this year, and while we were successful in many, many ways, we have left seven bills without resolution. And because we couldn’t resolve them, we are going to fund those departments and agencies at the same level of spending next year, as this year.

“What that means is the number of hearings that we had, the witnesses that were brought in and testified, the oversight that we’ve done on-sight at departments and agencies and facilities across the country, leaves us without that input being included in decisions. It means we are not prioritizing what spending is important. There may be a few things around here that could utilize additional resources. Maybe the resources level that we fund things at today is what it should be. Maybe there are things we shouldn’t fund at all. And there are certainly things at which we could fund at lower levels.

“But no we’re not going to say that this is more important than this, we’re going to say all things are equal. The way that we have funded it – appropriations last year for these agencies and departments – is exactly the right amount it should be into the future. And unfortunately we’ve done CRs long enough that we’re not just talking about is it right, what is right last year, is the same amount that should be for the next several months? It goes back years. So, what we’re saying is decisions we made years ago, are the same priorities we would have today. Not true. 

“And perhaps more compelling to me is every time we pass a CR we lose the opportunity to utilize the power of the purse string to reign in the behavior and actions of those who work in those bureaus, departments and agencies. If Congress is always going to give a Federal agency the same amount of money in the future as it gave in the past, there is no reason for those agencies to pay attention to the United States Congress, to the House and the Senate, to the Article One of the United States Constitution which gives the authority for appropriating money to fund the Federal government to this Congress. We abdicate our responsibilities and we reduce the opportunity, on behalf of our constituents. Me on behalf of Kansans to make certain that the things, one, they think are important are the things we fund, the things that are constitutional are the things that we fund. And we lose the opportunity to tell an agency, by the power of the purse string, that when you pursue this regulation, when you pursue this policy, when you make the decision that you make, Congress isn’t going to have the leverage on you to convince you to change your behavior. We lose the relationship that exists under the constitution for us to have the power over those departments and agencies in the executive branch.

“Common sense tells us that if we determine how much money an agency or department receives, they’re going to be much more interested in what we have to say. And if they don’t listen to us, we have the ability to remove the money. To eliminate the funding.

“And so tonight, Mister President, in my view – and I believe this strongly – we missed an opportunity. We’ve been in this process for a long time now. We set out with the goal of passing all 12 appropriation bills, individually. The Appropriations Committee has done that. But they were not all brought to the Senate floor. And in fact, the that bills we’re talking about tonight, a Continuing Resolution was passed for them just several months ago, taking us to December the Eighth.

“Now, at this point in time on December the Eighth, we continued them until this Friday. And now, tonight, we’ve continued the Continuing Resolution – same funding in the future as last. Now, for the third time in two months, to February the Eighth. We are not doing what we are supposed to do. And in this process, in my view, the opportunity existed.

“We were very close on reaching an agreement. President Trump has strong feelings about border security. President Trump was willing to work with Congress to find a solution. Somewhere along the line, and there’s lots of folks who want to say where the blame lies. Maybe it was with Speaker-Elect Pelosi. Maybe she just is unwilling to allow anything but a continuing resolution to pass. But the amount of dollars that we were apart is so minimal, and the policy issues had been resolved and yet for some reason we walked away. And if it is the Speaker-Elect of the house I urge her to deal with this issue of appropriations. It’s the power of Congress, Republicans and Democrats ought to work together to fill our constitutional responsibilities. Where are the days in which the Congress, Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, exhibited their prerogatives. Not because we want power, but because the constitution gives us the authority. The responsibility in fact, to make decisions about spending. And there is no glory in making a decision on spending when we say today’s dollars are fine next week, they’re fine the next week, they’re fine the next month.

“We’re so close to coming together this year, and it’s disappointing that the end result is a Continuing Resolution now until February the Eighth.

“Mister President, I want my constituents to know that we have done this too many times. And, yes, there may be a time in which we want to have just a few days to resolve the final differences. A few days is not February the Eighth, a few days is not now, for the third time, what we needed to decide months ago, we pursued weeks later, what we should have decided weeks later, we failed to address a week ago. And tonight we failed once again to address the issues of the proper amount of funding. Twelve appropriations bills should march their way across the United States Senate floor, should march their way across the House of Representatives floor and should be sent to a president for his or her signature, or his or her veto.

“Mister President, the process that was exhibited this evening failed to allow me to have my vote recorded as it normally is, and it is important for me – for Kansans and Americans to know – that I oppose the way we are doing business tonight. It needs to change. We’ve said it before. And if we always say, ‘we can wait another two weeks,’ ‘we can wait another three weeks,’ we’ll never get back to doing the work that we are hired to do by the American people.

“Mister President, I voted no. It’s the right vote.”
 

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