mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: since president trump's draconian budget was released, democrats have warned republicans that a bipartisan budget agreement was needed to adequately invest in american families and communities. without a budget agreement, programs as diverse as head start, job training, terrorism prevention grants are in danger of inadequate funding at best. yet, republican leadership and the white house have no appropriation strategy other than endless continuing resolutions. mr. speaker, the most powerful country in the world now being completely run by a republican government can't keep the lights on longer than four weeks at a time. how did we get here? if this bill passes, is there any reason to believe we will not be back in the same place next month stumbling from one crisis to another is an irresponsible way to govern. attempting to avoid a shutdown every m

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from minnesota, the ranking member of the interior subcommittee of appropriations, ms. mccollum. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. ms. mccollum: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to this legislation, which ignores the urgent need of the american people. the federal government's fiscal year started october 1 of last year. but instead of fulfilling a responsibility to fund our government in a too manyly manner, -- in a timely manner, president trump and the republicans spent months working to pass their tax scam. now, because they didn't do their jobs, mr. speaker, republicans are asking us to vote to kick the can down the road again. this is no way to run a government. the american people deserve immediate action on critical issues that matter to our country. we need a budget agreement in order to do that. we need to keep our government open. we need to meet the needs

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: since president trump's draconian budget was released, democrats have warned republicans that a bipartisan budget agreement was needed to adequately invest in american families and communities. without a budget agreement, programs as diverse as head start, job training, terrorism prevention grants are in danger of inadequate funding at best. yet, republican leadership and the white house have no appropriation strategy other than endless continuing resolutions. mr. speaker, the most powerful country in the world now being completely run by a republican government can't keep the lights on longer than four weeks at a time. how did we get here? if this bill passes, is there any reason to believe we will not be back in the same place next month stumbling from one crisis to another is an irresponsible way to govern. attempting to avoid a shutdown every m

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: since president trump's draconian budget was released, democrats have warned republicans that a bipartisan budget agreement was needed to adequately invest in american families and communities. without a budget agreement, programs as diverse as head start, job training, terrorism prevention grants are in danger of inadequate funding at best. yet, republican leadership and the white house have no appropriation strategy other than endless continuing resolutions. mr. speaker, the most powerful country in the world now being completely run by a republican government can't keep the lights on longer than four weeks at a time. how did we get here? if this bill passes, is there any reason to believe we will not be back in the same place next month stumbling from one crisis to another is an irresponsible way to govern. attempting to avoid a shutdown every m

mrs. lowey: i am very pleased to yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from new jersey, the well-informed ranking member of the committee on energy and commerce, mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my colleague from new york. i have the greatest respect for my republican chairman from oregon. but he just forgets completely, as so many speakers on the g.o.p. side have, that they are in the majority and they have a sigma jort. they can do whatever they -- they have a significant majority. they can do whatever they want. for him to suggest that somehow he can't bring up a chip bill that also includes all these other health programs, he mentioned the community health centers, i could also mention all the medicare extenders that are not included in this bill. this bill basically either lets expire or continues to expire so many things that are important for the health of

i'm appropriators mrs. lowey is an appropriator. mrs. lowey is our ranking member with such distinction, and mr. frelinghuysen on your side. appropriators know how to get it done. they know the numbers. left to their own devices. it's when other factors weigh in that it becomes more challenging. let's just say, let's see if we can get that done because that dispositive of shortening the time between where we're now and if we get a solution. value to us, re a dispositive f and we told the president right from the start, it's not an issue. it's not a bill. it's a value of who we're as america. and i think that we can come to terms on that subject as well. and we but make no mistake, if there never were one dreamer in our country, we still would have this challenge on the money side of the debate. so let's not try to assign responsibility to the dreerms for the fact that we don't have the increase in defense. we're willing to go to that a place as we go honoring parity. honoring parity. that's what we agreed to in the budget agreement. what

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, first i'd like to say a few words about the retirement of my chairman, rodney frelinghuysen. chairman frelinghuysen has carried out his responsibilities with fairness, earnestness, and it's been such a pleasure to serve as ranking member during his chairmanship. i look forward, however, to working together for the remainder of this year on our shared goal, bipartisan, and responsible full year funding for all discretionary investments. today we're considering the f.y. 201 defense appropriations bill. -- 2018 defense appropriations bill, for the third time. -- time wasted consequence of an agreement between the speak earn republicans, the third time -- and right-wing republicans, the third time. last week republican leadership kicked the can down republicansd passed yet another continuing resolution. delaying investments in our military, education, infrastructure, and biomedical research. and so much more. yet again the bill before us removes congresswoman barbara lee's amendm

i'm appropriators mrs. lowey is an appropriator. mrs. lowey is our ranking member with such distinction, and mr. frelinghuysen on your side. appropriators know how to get it done. they know the numbers. left to their own devices. it's when other factors weigh in that it becomes more challenging. let's just say, let's see if we can get that done because that dispositive of shortening the time between where we're now and if we get a solution. value to us, re a dispositive f and we told the president right from the start, it's not an issue. it's not a bill. it's a value of who we're as america. and i think that we can come to terms on that subject as well. and we but make no mistake, if there never were one dreamer in our country, we still would have this challenge on the money side of the debate. so let's not try to assign responsibility to the dreerms for the fact that we don't have the increase in defense. we're willing to go to that a place as we go honoring parity. honoring parity. that's what we agreed to in the budget agreement. what

mr. frelinghuysen, the almighty powerful appropriations committee on which i was proud to serve with you and congresswoman lowey. i'm disappointed, though, that the legislation that is brought to the floor today falls so very, very short of our responsibilities to the american people. when it comes to considering this bill, which the republicans are bragging supports chip, it's important to review the facts. the facts are the these -- are thiels. the chip proposal that the -- are these. the chip proposal that the republicans boast was on the floor in october or this or that was funded by taking money from other children's programs and that's why it was not to be supported by us. it's also important to remember that the chip re-authorization expired september 30. so here we are with our fourth continuing resolution, our fourth continuing resolution. that means on september 30 we were supposed to not only re-authorize chip, but to pass an omnibus bill to fund the government. republicans were not able to make the decisions necessary to do that. so we had one extension. another extension, another extension, this is