Newsroom

I was deeply saddened to learn that the Ferguson Fire has taken the life of yet another firefighter, Capt. Brian Hughes of Squaw Valley, on Sunday and that bulldozer operator Don Ray Smith of Pollock Pines died Thursday while fighting the Carr fire. Their deaths remind us how much we owe every one of the thousands of dedicated men and women who stand between these fires and our homes and families. They know the dangers better than any, yet day after day and year after year take the front lines to stop these monster fires.

My amendment takes all the policy reforms in the budget resolution and writes those savings into the reconciliation instructions. This does not change a single recommendation that we have been debating. It simply implements them – about $3.55 trillion over ten years after removing interest payments and non-reconcilable items under the Byrd Rule.

This is a combination of appropriations bills that funds the legislative branch, the Veteran’s Administration, energy, water and military construction. Like any large, omnibus bill it has good features, among them: it proceeds with the long overdue Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility, repeals the Obama Administration’s WOTUS order (which was already struck down by the courts), shifts $1 billion of mandatory spending to discretionary and upgrades our nuclear arsenal. But it is a fiscal train wreck. It continues the Congress’ profligate spending that threatens...