[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 176 (Monday, December 7, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have heard reports that the Speaker has 
announced that Congress will be in session next week. I don't know if 
that is valid. I haven't heard from him myself, but the December 11 
deadline was a deadline that the Republicans set and we didn't.
  If the Congress fails to finish our business by December 11, it will 
be because Republicans continue to insist on extraneous poison pill 
riders in the government funding bill. These are Republican riders, 
Republican earmarks, and as long as they are there, there can be no 
legislation.
  Without legislation, the government shuts down again--as it did a 
couple of years ago--because of Republicans.

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