Washington, D.C. – Tonight, U.S. Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI15) spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives and issued the following prepared statement in opposition to the Republican-proposed Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2012.   If defeated, Congressman Dingell will make an effort to defeat the previous question after the rule on the House floor is a procedural tactic which was last successful over twenty years ago.   Congressman Dingell will offer an amendment to strip language rescinding funding for job creation programs.

Below is the Congressman's floor speech as prepared:

“I thank the gentle lady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, Republican Leadership is attempting a rather curious tactic tonight.  The House rebuked their Continuing Resolution last night, in part because of the cuts it made to the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program.  Instead of coming to the table and negotiating a bipartisan solution like our friends in the Senate did, Republican Leadership has decided to present the House with an even more partisan and more offensive bill.

“Yesterday, Republicans only wanted to gut the ATVM program.  Now we hear rumors that the new CR will kill other Department of Energy loans meant to create the jobs our country desperately needs.  Thanks to backroom haggling in the dark of night by Republican Leadership, we have no idea what these cuts may entail.  They could very well include a loan made to Severstal Steel in my district that will threaten thousands of jobs.  My Republican friends make a great show of talking about the need to create jobs, yet they continue to come to the floor with bills like this that destroy them!  How’s that for cynicism?

“Mr. Speaker, the Dow dropped 400 points today.  Republican Leadership’s dithering around with this funding bill no doubt contributed to that.  I urge all of my colleagues to oppose the previous question and support my amendment to this rule.  If we cannot defeat the rule, then I call on all of my colleagues to have the courage to vote this bill down and finally come together on a sensible, bipartisan one that funds government, provides disaster relief, and creates jobs.  Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time.” 

To view the video of Congressman Dingell’s floor speech that he gave late this evening, please click here.

###