Tom Cole

Mr. COLE

Mr. COLE. My good friend from the other side of the aisle clearly hasn't dealt with a lot of Native Americans, where the answer is normally pretty much the same. So, Madam Speaker, I do not yield.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I will not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a great Member from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo), my friend and colleague.

Mr. COLE. I yield my friend an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds just to respond to my friend. I want to thank my friend for his support of what is a bipartisan bill, a bill for which the President of the United States also issued a statement of support. We appreciate that. I would suggest that we are actually doing what my friend quite often suggested we do--work in a bipartisan manner and arrive at a common solution. I would add one thing to my friend's description of the 1990s. We ought to give a little bit of credit to the Republican majority who actually voted for those agreements--when most Democrats did not--that balanced the budget, and particularly Speaker Gingrich, because, with all due respect to President Clinton, he never once submitted a balanced budget. With that, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop), my good friend, a colleague from the Rules Committee and a classmate.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule for the consideration of H.R. 3547. The rule authorizes the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations to offer a motion that the House concur in the Senate amendment with the House amendment consisting of the text of the fiscal year 2014 omnibus appropriations bill. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate, equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations. Additionally, the rule conforms the title to the content of the bill by providing for the passage of an enrollment correction after the adoption of Chairman Rogers' motion. Lastly, Madam Speaker, the rule provides floor management tools to be used during next week's recess. Madam Speaker, I want to commend my good friends Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey for bringing to this House a bipartisan bill that brings to a close the fiscal year 2014 appropriations process while maintaining the Republican commitment to fiscal responsibility. Since Republicans took control of the House, we have cut discretionary spending 4 years in a row--the first time since the Korean war. At the same time, this bill provides no new funding for the Affordable Care Act and also includes a pension fix for medically retired personnel and survivor benefit plan annuitants. While there is still work to be done to ensure that we honor the service of our veterans and military retirees, this is a good, bipartisan first step. Madam Speaker, I know many of my friends here voted against the Ryan- Murray compromise budget, and they voted against the fiscal cliff deal of 2011. However, look at where these pieces of legislation have brought us. We have cut discretionary spending 4 years in a row, to a level $164 billion below the fiscal year 2008 level, the last year of the Bush Presidency. That is a feat to be commended. We have dealt with tax expenditures, in part, as a portion of the fiscal cliff deal. Yet, despite this progress, we still have not been able to close over $600 billion of our annual budget deficit. Madam Speaker, discretionary spending has paid more than its fair share in dealing with our budget deficit. Entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid spending and other mandatory programs must be reformed in order to put us on a path to a balanced budget. With the passage of this omnibus, which releases us from the threat of a government shutdown, we are showing the American people that we actually are capable of working in a bipartisan manner. I hope in the future we can work to capitalize on our bipartisan success and bring America's bloated debt and deficit under control. Madam Speaker, passing this rule and this omnibus spending bill is the responsible thing to do. It is the thoughtful thing to do. As opposed to lurching from crisis to crisis, this omnibus is carefully crafted over a period of many months. And it sets priorities, controls spending, and reasserts congressional authority over the appropriations process far more effectively than yet another continuing resolution ever could. Many of our colleagues have not seen regular order in the appropriations process. And, sadly, until the Senate is able to pass bills for us to conference together, I think we will be forced into relying on omnibuses in the future. But this is not a continuing resolution. The Ryan-Murray agreement gives us a reasonable foundation for our work in fiscal year 2015. With that, I urge support of the rule and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.