Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, has voiced her dissent regarding the decision to extend Fiscal Year 2023 funding levels for the federal government into March 2024. In a statement released Senator Britt emphasized her commitment to upholding the promises made to the American people and urged for a return to regular order in the appropriations process.
“Today, I voted against Senator Schumer’s continuous Continuing Resolutions. It is past time for the Senate to live up to the promise that we made to the American people and work to pass responsible appropriations bills through regular order in an open and transparent manner that includes a robust amendment process,” stated Senator Britt.
Highlighting the efforts of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Britt pointed out that the committee diligently worked to markup and advance all 12 appropriations bills by the end of July of the previous year. However, she expressed frustration over the prolonged period of 175 days since then, calling for a decisive end to the ongoing reliance on Continuing Resolutions.
“In the past 64 days, the time period since the most recent Continuing Resolution passed, Senator Schumer has not allowed a single appropriations bill to come to the floor. It is clear that he is not serious about conducting a regular-order appropriations process on the floor, and I will not vote to kick the can down the road to an omnibus,” Senator Britt asserted.
Asserting her commitment to fiscal responsibility and transparency, Senator Britt stated, “The American people deserve better than this broken federal spending process, and I will continue fighting to restore fiscal sanity and common sense to our nation’s capital.”
Senator Britt is a co-sponsor of the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, a bill authored by Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), which is stated to aim to permanently eliminate the practice of government shutdowns. The legislation proposes an automatic 14-day Continuing Resolution (CR) if Congress fails to enact all 12 appropriations bills on time, with provisions to limit official funds for travel and focus solely on appropriations bills during the CR period.
In October, Senator Britt, along with Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Nebr.) and 15 colleagues, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), urging him to forgo scheduled recess periods and keep the Senate in session until all 12 appropriations bills were debated and passed.
