Senate Funding Stuggles
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. In the last week the Senate is in session before summer break, it faces a key test in funding the government, even as other priorities like the ag agenda languish.
No year-round E15, farm aid or farm bill yet, just more uncertainty.
Majority Leader John Thune says the least the Senate can do is avoid another lapse in government funding and an October 1st shutdown …
THUNE … “And we owe it to the American people to ensure that they do not face another shutdown this fall. And that’s why Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Collins has been hard at work drafting a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through the November elections.”
Thune says Americans have suffered through two shutdowns in the last 10 months and don’t need another one …
THUNE … “Shutdowns strain our national security agencies…they threaten military, law enforcement, and civilian pay…they endanger nutrition benefits, farm programs…they’re bad for our economy…and they snarl air travel.”
Top Appropriations Democrat Patty Murray admits the need for a Continuing Resolution but also cites differences with the House-passed version …
MURRAY … “No one wants a shutdown in October, so I have been working with Chair Collins to prepare a CR that takes us into December. And we will fix the problems with the bill that the House Republicans drafted.”
Like the House version, the Senate bill would fund the government past the elections through December 4th.
