Scalise: Time for Senate To Do Their Work
Washington,
September 30, 2023
Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to highlight the bipartisan passage of a continuing resolution to keep America’s government funded. Leader Scalise emphasized that, as House Republicans fight to rein in out-of-control government spending and secure America’s southern border, the Senate has not taken up a single appropriations bill. As the White House and Democrats refuse to address the crisis at our border, Leader Scalise highlighted that the Republican-led bills will curb the unmitigated flow of crime and deadly fentanyl into American communities.
Leader Scalise’s remarks: “Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and today the House came together to do our jobs to continue this battle. And believe me, this is not the end. This is the beginning of a continued fight to secure our border, to get government spending under control, and to get our economy back on track. And that means for the next 45 days, we're going to be working through the remaining issues as the Speaker talked about. “Starting Monday, we're coming back here in the House to continue the appropriations process. The House has now passed over 70 percent of government funding in the appropriations bills. We've passed those bills over to the Senate. The Senate has taken up zero appropriations bills that they've passed. So it's time for the Senate to start doing their job. It's time for the appropriations process to keep moving forward. The House is going to keep moving forward with the remaining appropriations bills. All the bills that are still out there, both sitting to come to the Floor, some — there are two that are still in committee — all those are going to be moving in the next few weeks. “Starting Monday, we will be back here working on those remaining appropriations bills but, as I will remind everybody over these last few days, you saw the House passed over 70 percent of funding — of government appropriations bills to the Senate, with the priorities of the House to address our border crisis. To address getting our economy back on track. To get our military focused on the threats that are posed by countries like China. And so that focus will continue, Our work will continue. There is a lot of work left to be done. There's another 45 days. That doesn't mean that what just happened today ends. That means these next 45 days we're going to be busy working here in the people's house. “It's time the Senate do that same aggressive form of work, and it's long-past time that [President] Biden get engaged in this process as well. He opened the southern border. He created a mess that has riveted the entire nation to the point where Republican mayors, Democrat mayors, [even] Democrat mayors who are switching to Republicans because they're fed up with the open southern border and the damage it's causing. Not just to our southern border, the damage it's causing to every community in America [that] is now a border town, because they're seeing the deaths from the fentanyl overdose[s]. They're seeing people coming across in every community: People on the terrorist watch list coming across by the thousands every single day and [President] Biden hasn't cared about this crisis. The American people care about it. House Republicans care about it. “We have now continued to push, and will continue to push over the next 45 days to get this border crisis solved as we work to solve all of the other problems holding our country back.” ###
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