[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 12, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7950-S7951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Funding the Government

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, last week, the House and Senate passed a 
short-term funding bill to keep the government open as Republican and 
Democratic negotiators continue to work on a long-term spending deal. 
The negotiations are advancing well, but many issues remain to be 
resolved.
  First and foremost, we must resolve the issue of the spending caps. 
If we do nothing, there will be painful and unnecessary cuts to both 
defense spending and programs that invest directly in jobs and economic 
development for the middle class in early January. We must lift the 
spending caps for defense and also those urgent domestic priorities in 
equal measure. That has been the basis of the successful budget 
agreements going back several years and as recently as April of this 
year. There was parity between defense and nondefense, and that is how 
it ought to stay. That is what brought us home to a good agreement and 
no shutdowns in previous years.
  As the opioid crisis continues to rage, dimming the bright future of 
so many Americans, we have a moral obligation to step up our country's 
support for addiction treatment and recovery. I have had a father cry 
in my arms because his son was online waiting to get into a treatment 
program, but it was too crowded. He had to wait, and his son died of an 
overdose before he could get in. We can't have that in America.
  So many of our young people, the flower of our youth, are dying or 
being hurt so badly, addicted, with this opioid crisis. We cannot sit 
by, just as we cannot sit by with foreign threats that plague our 
country.
  As veterans continue to struggle to find the quality healthcare they 
deserve after bravely serving this Nation, we should be making 
additional investments in veterans' healthcare and veterans hospitals. 
Just as we need to help

[[Page S7951]]

our soldiers abroad, we need to help those who have fought for us, 
risked their lives for us, and now have healthcare problems.
  As hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of miners, truckdrivers, 
construction workers, and food service workers approach retirement age, 
we have to make sure the pension plans promised to them have enough in 
the bank to fulfill that promise. These people painstakingly paid every 
month into their plans, and so did their employers. They would forgo 
larger salary increases so they could make sure they are taken care of 
when they retire.
  Now that the pension funds--in good part because of the crash of 
2008--don't have the money they need, these people should not be left 
out. Hard-working American families deserve to retire with the dignity 
and security they have earned. If we don't meet these pension 
obligations today, they are going to cost the government a whole lot 
more tomorrow. That is why Democrats are fighting for a pension 
solution in the year-end spending bill.
  These are all urgent priorities. There are more. They can't wait 
another day, just as we must make sure our men and women in uniform 
have the resources and support they need to do their job. Let's do both 
in a bipartisan way.
  As Democrats continue to push for desperately needed funding to 
combat the opioid crisis, improve veterans' healthcare, and shore up 
pension plans, we will also be pushing to reauthorize CHIP--the 
Children's Health Insurance Program--and community health centers, as 
well as dealing with certain healthcare programs that have expired.
  We have to do more for the Americans in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, 
Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands who are still recovering from 
devastating natural disasters.
  We are in the process of negotiating with Republicans to provide a 
significant investment in border security in exchange for DACA. These 
talks continue to progress, and I am hopeful we can reach an agreement 
on that issue as well.
  We have a lot to get done before the end of the year. We don't have 
much time to do it, but with the concerted effort of both parties, 
negotiating in good faith, I believe we can reach an agreement 
acceptable not to every Member of either Chamber but to large numbers 
of Members on both sides of the aisle so we can pass our agreement by a 
wide margin.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.