[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4666]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Finally, Mr. President, on the topic of hard work. The 
reason the Republican-led Senate has been able to pass so much good 
legislation over the past year is because we resolved to put this 
Chamber back to work.
  That started with the committees. We have seen what is possible in 
the Commerce Committee; just look at the FAA bill. We have seen what is 
possible in the Energy Committee; just look at the Energy bill. But we 
are also seeing what is possible in many other committees, such as 
Appropriations.
  Last year, the committee passed all 12 of the bills that fund the 
government. Passing all of those bills through committee used to be 
fairly routine, yet it hadn't happened in years by the time the new 
majority took over. We changed that last year. We resolved to do even 
more this year.
  The committee has again gotten the appropriations process off to a 
strong start, and we would now like to pass as many of the funding 
bills as possible on the Senate floor. Getting this done will require 
cooperation from across the aisle.
  Our Democratic friends recently wrote a letter pledging cooperation 
in the appropriations process. ``This is a win-win opportunity,'' they 
said, and ``we should seize it together.''
  With the appropriate cooperation, we will, and we are.
  The Appropriations Committee has already conducted more than 40 
hearings since January. Tomorrow they will mark up two more funding 
bills, which follows their action last week to pass two others on a 
bipartisan and unanimous basis.
  We are about to consider one of those funding bills out here on the 
floor. The Energy and Water appropriations bill is thoughtful, 
bipartisan legislation that will ensure a fiscally responsible approach 
to a variety of issues--things such as national security, energy 
innovation, waterways, and economic development.
  I look forward to talking more about it tomorrow, and I would like to 
thank Senator Alexander and Senator Feinstein for their many hours of 
hard work on that bill. I would also like to recognize Chairman Cochran 
for everything he has done with Ranking Member Mikulski to get the 
appropriations process moving forward.

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