Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and 19 of his colleagues sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanding that he send a plan of action to Republicans concerning the 12 appropriations bills that need to be passed to avoid a December omnibus.
“The core constitutional responsibility of the United States Congress is the power of the purse, to set and authorize appropriations which fund the operations of the United States Government,” Sen. Scott and his colleagues began. “Since 1977, Congress has only successfully completed its appropriations work of taking up, debating, amending if necessary, and passing all appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year on September 30th four times. This is unacceptable. The American people deserve better.”
They would go on to mention that although the Sept. 30 deadline has passed, Sen. Scott and the Republican Senators wrote that “we have the best opportunity in decades to complete our work.”
“Today, despite being past the September 30th deadline, with the Senate Appropriations Committee having already passed each of the 12 bills for our chamber, we have the best opportunity in decades to complete our work. We urge you to present a plan to the Republican Conference for how you intend to pass the remaining appropriations bills and conference them with the House in a manner that respects an open amendment process and which does not end in a December omnibus spending package,” the lawmakers penned.
Alongside stating that they would withhold their support “for any vote to proceed to items unrelated to appropriations bills,” they concluded with the notion that Majority Leader Schumer should refrain from calling a recess until the 12 appropriations bills have been debated and passed.
“Just 44 days remain until government funding once again expires on November 17th. There is no more important work for the Senate during this time than debating, amending and passing appropriations bills without resorting to a giant package dumped on the conference right before the December holiday. If you commit to this process, including an open amendment process, we believe there will be consent in the Senate to expeditiously consider these bills,” said Scott and the other Senators.
Senator Scott is joined on the letter by Senators John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MI), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
