Norm Dicks

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mr. DICKS. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), the ranking member on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Mr. DICKS. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), a valued member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. DICKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2\1/2\ minutes. Well, it's another week here in Congress, and we're voting on this appropriations bill, H.R. 1473. I am pleased that at the 11th hour last week we were able to reach an agreement, an agreement that made it possible for military wives and husbands around the country to be sure that they would get their paycheck. This had to be done. We kept our parks open. We supported our men and women in uniform around the world. And at the same time, I think we minimized the damage of H.R. 1 in this bill. The bill that is now before us contains current levels of Head Start enrollments, including the increased spots for newborns to 2-year-olds. It helps us protect the Pell Grant program. It is a good bill on defense. My good friend Bill Young has done an amazing job, and I appreciate so much Mr. Rogers taking our bill from last year and putting it into this bill. The Community Services Block Grant program is restored. WIC is restored. Head Start is restored. Yes, there are some things I don't like. No high-speed rail money, some other investment accounts. Literacy programs, some of them were taken away. Some of the cuts in homeland security were not the best. But, as with any compromise, some Members will see a glass half full and some will see a glass half empty. Members will have to consider all the ramifications of this compromise and vote their conscience. We need to move on to the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill. The bottom line is this bill must pass today. Let's get it done so we can fight against the Road to Ruin Ryan Republican budget.

Mr. DICKS. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DICKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Democratic whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who has been a real leader in our House.

Mr. DICKS. I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. DICKS. I want to thank the chairman. I look forward to FY12 and getting on to our appropriation bills and our commitment to the House that we're going to have open rules, we're going to have subcommittee markups, full committee markups, and give people a chance to be involved in the process as they've not been in the past. I would be glad to yield to the chairman.

Mr. DICKS. I'm with you. Let's get it over with. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. Will the gentlelady yield?

Mr. DICKS. I want to associate myself with the gentlelady's remarks, and I rise in strong opposition to this concurrent resolution.

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. Will the gentlelady yield?

Mr. DICKS. I rise in very strong support of the gentlelady's position on Planned Parenthood and urge a ``no'' vote on this current resolution.

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. Reclaiming my time. I reclaim my time. This is an important day. And what we are saying on our side is we want to enact a clean continuing resolution at some point today so we can take care of our troops and so we can move forward with the process and protect ourselves. And I hope we can do it in the context of an agreement between the President, between the leader of the other body and the Speaker of the House. If that is done, then this will be a good day. But taking up H.J. Res. 37 to kind of do as a filler, to me, it doesn't make any sense.

Mr. DICKS. Well, I think the relevance is: Why are we here working on this piece of legislation at this time when we are on the verge of a crisis of shutting down the government?

Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, it strikes me, and I have one major question, and that is: Why are we considering H.J. Res. 37 when we are on the verge of shutting down the House of Representatives? I hope and I think a deal is very close at hand, but Republicans are holding it at the 11th hour over divisive social policy that should not be a part of this debate. Republicans should not hold the government hostage using controversial social policy as ransom. Republicans are especially focusing on divisive changes to women's health policy. Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, this only affects this bill tonight; isn't this correct?

Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. DICKS. And the only amendment to this is the $2 billion in cuts; is that correct?

Mr. DICKS. So this would look a lot like the Dicks amendment that was offered in the Rules Committee for a clean CR?

Mr. DICKS. We could have done it a little earlier, is all I am saying. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation.

Mr. DICKS. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all, I would like to thank the President and the leaders in the House and Senate on both sides for the compromise and for averting a government shutdown. I think there was a major decision made tonight by both parties and by the administration to keep the government open. (0010) That's what the American people sent us here to do. They sent us here to work out compromises, to be able to resolve issues and to move forward, and I think this is an example of that. Now, this CR will run for 1 week to April 15. It is basically a clean CR in the sense of there is no ideologically driven language. It has $2 billion in it in cuts, but they are in the underlying agreement. And so I think this is acceptable. My understanding is that there are cuts in discretionary spending and in some of the mandatory accounts. I am pleased that the leaders were able to reach this agreement. We still have a lot of work to do. I want to say to my chairman that I still look forward to working on the 2012 appropriations bills, and I hope that we can work and have an open process where we can bring these bills to subcommittee, full committee and to the floor with open rules. I would like to yield to my chairman just to make sure that that is still the path we want to go in this year. We want to avoid what happened in 2006. Now, I reminded you--sometimes you forget a little bit--that when the Republicans lost in 2006, there were a number of unfinished appropriations bills and we had to do an omnibus in 2007. We did it a little faster, by the way. It didn't take quite as long. But we're glad that this agreement was reached, and I look forward to getting on with the work of the 2012 appropriations items.

Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. DICKS. Absolutely. And we will work hard to cooperate in order to do that. We will try to keep a reasonable number of amendments on our side. I hope you can do that on your side. I yield back the remainder of my time and ask for a vote.