Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the rule, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 48) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. If I understand the gentleman's motion correctly, it would, for a 2-week period, attempt to change the Tax Code to single out resource companies and increase their costs of doing business. This misguided policy can only lead to higher energy prices, continued reliance on foreign oil, and economic hardship that hampers job creation. At a time when gasoline is currently approaching $4 a gallon around the country and when our resources are being threatened by the instability in the Middle East, we should be encouraging domestic energy production--not cutting it down. We're talking about a 2-week continuing resolution to keep the government running past Friday, reduce spending, and avoid a government shutdown. This is neither the time nor the place to inject an unrelated job-crushing, controversial rider to the CR that will absolutely hinder its chance of passing in the Senate before this Friday when the current CR expires. I urge defeat of this ill-advised motion. I now yield to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), chairman of the Interior Subcommittee Appropriations.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I wish they had done better last year and passed one appropriations bill. General Leave

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Hurt).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the time remaining.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a brand- new member of the committee, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Yoder).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 44, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Labor-HHS subcommittee on appropriations, the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rehberg).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. May I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Austria).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Let's be clear what it is we're voting on here today. This is a short-term, 2-week CR. It cuts $4 billion, a little over $4 billion in spending that both parties have agreed to in the past, both bodies in the House and Senate have agreed to in the past, and agreed to by the White House. So what are we talking about here? This is a 2-week extension. It's about as clean as you can make it. And, oh, by the way, speaking about that bill we passed 2 weeks ago, H.R. 1, that cuts $61 billion off of current spending, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said as late as today that that bill will have no harmful effect on the economy. I don't know that there's a bigger, better source on the economy than the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and he says no problem. Now, what the Democrats want to do, Madam Speaker--this is pretty simple--they want to freeze spending. They want to freeze spending at the biggest bloated level we've ever had. They increased spending 84 percent over the last 2 years. Now they want to freeze and they'll go no higher. Well, it's bloated. We want to take it back down to where it's reasonable, where we can live with it. So we don't want another $1.7 trillion-a-year deficit like they've had the last year and, before that, something approaching that. So I ask Members to vote for this short-term CR, to give us time to work with the other body on H.R. 1 to find out what their position is, about which we have no idea at this moment. They haven't acted. And so to avert a closedown of the government, which is what we're after here, we want to give the Senate time to look at H.R. 1 and tell us what their position is so we can have a conversation about it. And, frankly, 2 weeks is plenty of time, plenty of time in the House. I know the Senate works a bit more slowly, but 2 weeks should be plenty. So, Madam Speaker, I urge Members to vote for this reasonable, fair, budget-cutting extension of the time to shut down the government. Vote ``yes'' and keep the government operating.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. And that cutting spending and reducing the deficit will give confidence to the business community to hire people and put people to work.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the rule, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 44) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.J. Res. 44, the fiscal year 2011 Further Continuing Appropriations resolution. This temporary CR is an extra special effort by the majority Republicans to avoid a government shutdown that could otherwise occur on March 4, when the current funding resolution expires. This temporary CR contains funding to allow all government agencies and programs to continue at the current rate of spending for the next 2 weeks until March 18, 2011, while reducing spending by $4 billion through several spending cuts and program terminations. These cuts reflect this Republican majority's continued commitment to significantly reduce spending, to rein in the Nation's exploding deficits and debt, and to help our economy continue on the road to recovery. Madam Speaker, a government shutdown would halt critical and necessary services and programs that Americans across the country rely on, and it is not what our constituents expect or demand. I would have greatly preferred that the Senate act on the hard-fought and thoughtfully crafted funding legislation that the House passed almost 2 weeks ago which saves the taxpayers $100 billion compared to the President's request, but it's clear that the Senate needs more time. So this short-term CR will provide an additional 2 weeks by cutting spending to show our continued resolve to get our Nation's fiscal house in order. The bill before us terminates eight programs for a savings of about $1.24 billion. These eight programs were all targeted for elimination in the President's budget request and have also been part of proposed cuts in the past in the House and the Senate by Members of both parties. These eight programs include: Election Assistance Grants, the Broadband Direct Loan Subsidy, the Smithsonian Institution Legacy Fund, the Striving Readers program, the LEAP program, Even Start, Smaller Learning Communities, and a one-time highway funding addition. In addition, the bill also eliminates more than $2.7 billion in funding previously reserved for earmarks, eliminations that the House, the Senate, and the White House have all called for this year. The earmark funding cuts in this legislation come from Energy and Water; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services; legislative branch; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development program accounts. This legislation will represent the second of many appropriations bills this year that will significantly reduce spending, continuing a pattern of cuts that will help put our Nation's budget back in balance and stop the dangerous spiral of unsustainable deficits and debt. It is my hope that this CR can be passed quickly and that the President will sign it before the March 4 deadline. This legislation should garner broad support today, given the short timeframe for action and given the fact that these spending cuts have received previous bipartisan support by Members of the House and Senate as well as the White House. Madam Speaker, we're now 5 months into the current fiscal year and it's critically important that we complete this budget process so that we can turn our attention quickly to passing funding bills for fiscal year 2012. It is high time we start looking forward instead of constantly looking back to clean up past mistakes and inaction. We must move forward quickly in regular order, passing bills on time in an open and transparent fashion to avoid these budget uncertainties in the future. Madam Speaker, this is one more step that we have to take to get our fiscal house in order. While this isn't a perfect or an easy process, it is essential that we pass this bill, avoid a government shutdown, and continue to work on a long-term solution to complete this long overdue funding process. Our constituents expect and deserve no less. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield 2 minutes to the chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Is the gentleman aware that Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, now says that H.R. 1 would have no harmful effect on the economy?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the MilCon and VA Subcommittee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson).