[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6931-S6932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LEGISLATION BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday the House passed a 
continuing resolution on a very large bipartisan basis, with more than 
three-fourths voting in its favor.
  Let me repeat that. Three-fourths, a majority of both parties, voted 
for the legislation needed to keep the government open. While some 
Senate Democrats may want to delay into a government shutdown, House 
Democrats overwhelmingly rejected that approach.
  The funding in this CR is critical to our Nation's defense. It 
supports overseas operations, the fight against ISIL, and our forces in 
Afghanistan. It provides resources to begin implementing the medical 
innovation bill we passed earlier this week and to start bringing 
relief to victims of severe flooding across our country, and of course 
it includes provisions that will guarantee that retired coal miners in 
Kentucky--in Kentucky--and other States will not lose their health 
benefits at the end of this month. Would I have preferred that 
provision to be more generous? Of course I would have. My request to 
the House was to fund it for a full year, but we will be back at it in 
April, and I think it is highly unlikely that we will take it away--
just as I would have preferred that so many miners' places of 
employment hadn't been driven into bankruptcy in recent years, which as 
we all know is due in no small part to President Obama, his policies, 
and the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats who support all those 
policies that have been a huge factor in creating the dilemma we have 
in coal country in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia. Most of the Senate 
Democrats support the war on coal.
  It has been my intention that the miner health benefits not expire at 
the end of April next year. As I just said, I am going to work with my 
colleagues to prevent that, but this is a good time to take yes for an 
answer. We should pass the CR without delay because if we don't pass 
the CR, the health benefits will go away at the end of this

[[Page S6932]]

month. The House is gone. They are through for this session.
  Failure to pass this legislation means delaying funding for our 
troops overseas. Failure to pass this means delaying funding for Flint, 
MI. I promised Senator Stabenow we would deal with that issue, and we 
have, in the WRDA bill and the CR that are here, having passed the 
House. Failure to pass this legislation means delaying funding for 
storm recovery in many of our States, and of course failure to pass 
this legislation means creating a shutdown of the government. Over 
what? We have funded health care for miners through the end of April. 
We have funding in here for the opioid crisis and a whole lot of other 
things that Senators say they care about. They want to shut the 
government down to stop this? Really. It hardly makes sense to me. In 
fact, passing this CR guarantees that health care will be there for 
miners through the end of April. It guarantees it. Failure to pass it 
guarantees it goes away at the end of the month.
  I think it is time to get serious. I think we all don't want any of 
these consequences to come about. The thing to do is to pass this 
continuing resolution. After we pass that, we will turn to the water 
resources development bill. The House overwhelmingly passed the 
bipartisan water resources development bill as well, with more than 
three-fourths in its favor. It was overwhelming on both sides of the 
aisle.
  Now it is our turn to act. Remember, this bill supports waterways, 
infrastructure, enhances commerce, and maintains American ecosystems. 
It also authorizes spending in the continuing resolution, which will 
help families in Flint. Flint is in both of these bills. These are the 
folks who have been impacted by the drinking water crisis. We will have 
a vote on WRDA after the CR has been approved.
  I encourage my colleagues to work together now so we can pass both of 
these as soon as possible. It strikes me that delay is not a solution 
to any of these problems I have outlined.

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