Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Sen. Richard Shelby on Wednesday for his extraordinary leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“As he took the reins of the Appropriations Committee, he made it clear that, working with Senator Leahy, regular order would be the name of the game,” Leader McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Under Shelby’s leadership and through agreement with the committee’s Democrat ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee passed all twelve major government spending bills by July 4, faster than any year since 1988.
“He set his sights on restoring the kind of collaborative process that has historically made our institution so unique,” McConnell said of Shelby. “As we all know, that’s a little bit easier said than actually done.”
McConnell also gave Shelby a shoutout for casting his 10,000th vote on the Senate floor earlier this year.
“Like so many of his accomplishments, that landmark seemed to slip past without a whole lot of fuss,” McConnell said. “But — what a remarkable milepost in a very distinguished career.”
The full Senate passed four more appropriations bills on Wednesday, funding Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies; and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.
All four bills were passed through committee with unanimous support.
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