WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Senate passage of the short-term Continuing Resolution (CR), which will fund the government through March 14, extend the 2018 Farm Bill for one year, and provide $100 billion in disaster supplemental funding and $10 billion in economic assistance payments for farmers:
“At the 11th hour, Republicans abandoned a bipartisan agreement to fund the government that both sides worked on in good faith. Instead, House Republicans capitulated to a mega-billionaire, who has no business telling Congress how to govern, and—in one of their more heartless moves—stripped critical provisions from the bipartisan agreement such as vital pediatric cancer research funding and needed reforms that would have lowered prescription drug costs.
“While this CR is far from what we wanted, it does deliver aid to communities devastated by natural disasters and provides our farmers with economic relief. It was imperative for us to keep the government funded. If we shutdown, thousands of people—including our troops—would be left without pay as we head into the holidays. I voted yes, but we must do better than ‘keeping the lights on’ when funding the government. We owe it to the American taxpayers to complete the government funding process. It’s our job.”
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All official press releases from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
