Rosa DeLauro Slams GOP: We Don't Want A 'Government That Is Run By Reconciliation, Rescissions'

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) spoke about the Appropriations Bill.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Thank you very, very much. And I want to echo what my colleagues have said.

00:05And I have been on the Appropriations Committee for many years, and there's always been the give

00:09and take of the appropriations process of Democrats, Republicans, House, Senate. It's

00:15the only piece of legislation that needs all of that cooperation in order for the president to

00:20sign the bill. And as my colleague Patty Murray has said, it is the appropriations bill that

00:28every year, at $1.7 trillion, provides the goods, the services that the American people need,

00:37whether it's their health care, whether it's transportation, whether it's defense.

00:40The whole 12 subcommittees affect people's lives in a very, very profound way. That's what our job

00:47is. That process has been, on the House side, I will say, thwarted in this regard, that the bills

00:54that we are, it's not a negotiation, it's a bill that comes forward that does not look to being

01:04bipartisan in a way that both Democrats and Republicans can come together. I will sit down,

01:11I will negotiate, I have over the years, anytime, day or night, because what we want to do, because

01:17of the effect of appropriations on the American people, is to pass those bills. We believe in the

01:24appropriations process and what it can deliver for the American people. And that's the goal that we

01:30need to have. And that's the goal that my Republican colleagues on the House side need to have, is to

01:36let's deal with bills that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on. That's what we're asking for,

01:43and not a government that is run by reconciliation, rescissions, and that abrogates the appropriations

01:55process and puts that power of the purse where the Constitution said it belonged, that is in the

02:03Congress. Thank you. We'll take a few questions.

02:06Mr. Sherman, what are you going to do with that?