[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 185 (Friday, December 18, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Republican leader and I are both long-
time appropriators. I love the Appropriations Committee. But over time, 
the appropriations process has broken down.
  There are differing opinions about the causes of the breakdown. 
Opinions typically vary depending on whether Senators serve in the 
majority or minority. But there is a bipartisan consensus that we can 
and must do better. I hope that in the coming session, both sides can 
work together to restore the appropriations process to what it once 
was--a thoroughly bipartisan process focused on governing, not a 
partisan process focused on scoring political points.
  The need for bipartisanship should be obvious. After all, during the 
next session, we will continue to be a divided government. Republicans 
will be in charge of the legislative branch, and President Obama will 
continue to control the administration. Neither side can force the 
other to accept its preferred process or its preferred outcomes. The 
only way to make this work is for both sides to work together 
throughout the year and to make the compromises needed to get 
appropriations bills not just passed but signed into law.
  Among other things, this means that both parties will have to be part 
of the decisionmaking process from the beginning, at both the committee 
and leadership levels. This doesn't just mean developing individual 
bills in a bipartisan way. It means reaching bipartisan agreements on 
the sequencing and packaging of legislation, so that one party's 
priorities are not pursued at the expense of the other's priorities.
  True bipartisanship also requires both parties to resist the 
temptation to pursue poison pill riders that appeal to their own 
supporters but that are so strongly opposed by the other party that 
their inclusion in appropriations bills would grind the process to a 
halt. No doubt there will be many opportunities next year for both 
sides to score political points. But the appropriations process is not 
the place for that. And I hope Members in both parties will agree that 
it is more important to fund the government than to play politics.
  I am convinced that if we can restore the appropriations process to 
one based on bipartisan cooperation at every stage, all Senators will 
benefit. It will give Members in both parties a meaningful opportunity 
for input, and it will avoid the need for invoking cloture on motions 
to proceed to appropriations bills. With some luck, it also will allow 
us to complete our work next year without a lameduck session and 
without another end of year crisis. And that is something everyone 
should be able to agree on.
  In today's polarized environment, that may seem like wishful 
thinking. But there is no reason we can't make it happen. We should 
build upon the momentum created by adoption of the Bipartisan Budget 
Act of 2015, which the Senate passed with a 64-to-35 vote on October 
30. And the key is really quite simple--genuine bipartisan cooperation 
at every step of the process.

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