A Government on Track is a Government for the People

By Mark Alford

What’s going on in Washington— Folks, I serve on the House Appropriations Committee and four of its subcommittees, and our job is pretty simple: make sure your tax dollars are used wisely and that government is funded the right way. That means putting people first, not politics.

For years, Congress has kicked the can down the road with short-term fixes called continuing resolutions. They’re messy, they create uncertainty, and they don’t let us fully do our job. What we’re working toward now is a return to “regular order.” That’s where each subcommittee writes its own bill, we debate it, amend it, and then pass it through the full committee and the House.

It’s the tried-and-true way to fund government responsibly. Now, I’ll be honest with you: we’re not quite finished with our work. Chairman Tom Cole has proposed a short-term continuing resolution to give us the time we need to get the full-year bills done.

I don’t like continuing resolutions one bit—but if a short-term one is what it takes to avoid a government shutdown and get us back to regular order, I’ll support it.

Because here’s the bottom line: a shutdown would hurt families in Missouri’s Fourth District and across America. It would delay veterans’ benefits, stall infrastructure projects, and prevent our troops from getting paid. That’s not acceptable.

My Republican colleagues and I are committed to restoring fiscal sanity, advancing the America First agenda, and keeping the government open to work for you. We may need a little more time, but I can promise you we’re working hard every day to get this done the right way.

At the end of the day, this is about making sure our government is accountable, responsible, and always putting the American people first.