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Season of Appropriations Chairman’s Discontent

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers is not the speaker of the House, and he reminded reporters of that Wednesday.

Asked whether he was calling on leadership to bring up a “clean” continuing resolution, Rogers was evasive.

“Well, that’s a decision out of my pay grade,” Rogers said.

Reminded that he’s the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Rogers stuck to the facts.

“I’m not the speaker of the House,” he said.

Rogers has been hiding his discontent with the current strategy of piecemeal continuing resolutions, but his frustration seems to be finally be spilling over. It was not Rogers’s decision to try to defund Obamacare through the CR, nor his idea to offer a one-year delay to the health care law through the spending bill — and yet his name has been on the legislation.

Rogers was asked whether he was “comfortable” with the GOP plan of funding programs and functions piece by piece or whether he would rather just pass a clean CR.

Rogers delivered one of his enigmatic, yet revealing statements.

“I filed a clean CR.”

He left it at that.

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