Thread by @CraigCaplan

Senate Appropriations Cmte Chair Richard Shelby today released the text of all 12 of its FY21 federal spending bills and its subcommittee allocations, ahead of talks with the House to avert December 11th government shutdown.

Shelby:“By and large,these bills are the product of bipartisan cooperation among mbrs of the cmte. As negotiations w/the House begin in earnest,I look fwd to working with Chairwoman Lowey, Vice Chair Leahy, & Ranking Mbr Granger to resolve our differences in a bipartisan manner."

Shelby: "Time after time, we have demonstrated our willingness to work together and get the job done. We have before us the opportunity to deliver for the American people once again.”

Senate Approps Vice Chair Leahy: "Today, Chairman Shelby released draft bills & explanatory statements for each of the 12 FY21 appropriations bills.Chairman Shelby & I agree on the importance of completing our work on the 12 bills before the continuing resolution expires Dec 11."

Leahy: "I am very disappointed that the majority chose to cancel Committee mark ups of the FY 2021 bills and that the bills were not considered by the full Senate, eliminating the ability of members to offer amendments."

Leahy:"This is an important part of the process when developing legislation. It would have given all mbrs a chance to weigh in & publicly debate these bills.That is our job as Senators.That is how a democracy is supposed to function,regardless of which party is in the majority."

Leahy:"We should not be running away from the tough issues.However,our goal is to work with the House to conference all 12 appropriations bills and avert a government shutdown. We only have four weeks to do it. In order to accomplish our work, we need Senate bills to work from."

Leahy:"12 bills released by the Chair will help us move fwd in this process. Many of the bills were result of bipartisan work & I appreciate those areas where we were able to come to agreement. However,there are significant issues we will want to address in negotiations w/House."

Senate Approps Vice Chair Leahy concludes on FY21 federal spending bills ahead of December 11th gov't funding deadline: "I look forward to working with Senate Republicans and our House counterparts to draft responsible bills that address the needs of our nation."