WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed his frustration that House and Senate Republicans insisted on yet another continuing resolution (CR) rather than completing the appropriations bills that passed out of committee.

“Continuing resolutions keep the federal government running, which is good news for all Americans, but it is no way to run a government, especially not for years at a time, which is what Congress has been doing. Two years ago we passed a bipartisan budget that was supposed to get us off this track of governing from missed deadline to missed deadline. This year, most appropriations bills passed out of committee with overwhelming margins. There was absolutely no logical reason that we could not pass all or most of the regular appropriations bills instead of yet another CR. Americans are counting on Congress to do its job in a fiscally responsible way; a CR is not the responsible way. It inherently undercuts key priorities.

“Governing responsibly requires actual governing, not kicking the can down the road because you don’t like the other players. We all need to move on to the current business of paying our bills, keeping our country safe, and boosting the economy rather than playing partisan games with the economic security of the United States of America.”