[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 11 (Thursday, January 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S289-S292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, Democrats here in the Senate have really 
raised obstruction to an art form in this Congress. The Presidential 
nominees--they have obstructed and obstructed some more, even when they 
ultimately planned to support the nominee. We have had many nominees 
who have come to the floor who have been objected to and had to go 
through the long postcloture process, only to get to the end of it and 
have those nominees be voted out in many cases unanimously. I have seen 
that happen in the committee that I chair, the Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation Committee. We have nominees over here who are 
noncontroversial who are being held up by the Democrats. Many of them 
are in important

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positions in our government. The FRA--Federal Railroad Administrator--
is a key safety position in the administration who is being held up by 
the Democrats even though he is supremely qualified for the job and I 
think will have a huge bipartisan vote here in the Senate, were it to 
occur.
  We have seen this consistent pattern of obstruction when it comes to 
nominees and giving the President an opportunity to fill his 
administration with the positions that are key to not only his getting 
his agenda done but the American people seeing their government 
function in a way that represents their interests.
  Tax reform. Well, Democrats absolutely refused to work with 
Republicans on a bill. They fought hard against passage despite the 
fact that the Democrats have previously called for reform and supported 
many of the very proposals that were included in the law.
  Now, of course, the Democrats are threatening to shut down the 
government and block funding for the Children's Health Insurance 
Program--a program they claim to support--because they are not happy 
that they are not getting an immigration bill that they want this week. 
That is right, Mr. President--Democrats are threatening to shut down 
the government and block funding for health insurance for 9 million 
low-income children because they are not getting the bill they want 
when they want it.
  Members on both sides of the aisle are eager to find a legislative 
solution to the status of children who were brought to this country 
illegally through no fault of their own. There is broad support among 
both Democrats and Republicans for getting a solution to that. In fact, 
there is a group who has been meeting every day on that very issue in 
an attempt to try to put together a solution that would help address 
that issue in a way that not only resolves the status of these young 
people who came to this country illegally but also addresses the 
broader issue of border security and chain migration and visa lotteries 
and all those sorts of things. So there are a series of issues that 
relate to immigration that are being worked on now by both sides of the 
aisle in the hope that they can come to a solution about that, but 
there is no agreement just yet.
  While we hope to get to a deal as soon as possible, the deadline for 
reaching an agreement is not imminent, not to mention that passing a 
bill on the status of Dreamers is completely unrelated to the need to 
fund the government.
  If the Democrats continue with their plan to block government 
funding, the government will shut down tomorrow night. That means that 
all kinds of government services will be affected in areas ranging from 
veterans, to public health, to worker and product safety, and to 
national parks and monuments. Funding for our military will also be 
threatened, which represents a particular danger as we try to rebuild 
our military after years of neglect under the Obama 
administration. Also, of course, as I mentioned, the Children's Health 
Insurance Program will not get funded, and 9 million low-income 
children will be well on the way to losing their healthcare coverage.

  The Children's Health Insurance Program extension that we want to 
pass as part of this bill is something that has long been supported by 
Democrats. In fact, the policy in this bill is virtually identical to 
the bipartisan extension legislation that was introduced by Senators 
Hatch and Wyden and passed by the Senate Finance Committee last year, 
except that we have included an additional year of funding. I serve as 
a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and when we passed that bill 
last year, it was a 5-year authorization. The legislation that we will 
have in front of us this evening that will fund the government includes 
a 6-year reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program. 
That would mark the longest extension of the Children's Health 
Insurance Program since the program was created back in 1997. It would 
provide 6 years of guaranteed funding so that care for children and 
pregnant women can continue without disruption.
  It is extremely difficult to understand how the same Democrats who 
have strongly advocated for this program are now opposing legislation 
to extend it and seeking to shut down the government. In fact, 
Democrats are now actively bragging that they have the votes to shut 
down the government.
  Nobody thinks the short-term funding bill before us is ideal. We 
would much rather have a long-term agreement, and eventually we will. 
But this bill will fund the government, it will protect the military, 
and it will provide a very significant extension of an essential 
healthcare program for low-income children.
  Democrats' intention of opposing this bill because they are upset 
that they can't get exactly what they want, when they want it, is 
irresponsible given the good-faith efforts that are being made by both 
sides to come to an agreement when it comes to the issue of immigration 
and when it comes to the issue of the broader funding debate we are 
having here in the Senate. This attempt by the Democrats is totally 
shortsighted. It is a partisan, political maneuver that will harm our 
troops and some of the most vulnerable among us.
  We still have time before the government shuts down, and I hope the 
more moderate elements of the Democratic Party here in the Senate will 
rethink their leader's opposition to funding the government and to 
extending health insurance for low-income children and for pregnant 
women. That is what we are talking about. That is simply what this 
does. There is still time to come together to pass this bill and to 
move on to the other important priorities that are facing our Nation.
  I hope that cooler heads will prevail, that people here in this 
Chamber will come to their senses, and that we can pass a funding bill 
this evening that would avoid a government shutdown tomorrow and would 
fund for 6 years the Children's Health Insurance Program and set up the 
conditions that would allow the discussions to continue about how to 
resolve some of the outstanding and unrelated issues that still need to 
come to a resolution.
  That is my hope. I hope our colleagues on both sides will come to the 
realization that this idea that is being put forward by the Democrats--
and for which, as I said, they are taking credit right now--of shutting 
down the government is really a bad idea and not in the best interests 
of the American people, nor those 9 million children who would benefit 
from a long-term extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Capito). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, to paraphrase a Republican President I 
enjoyed knowing, here we go again.
  In 1995 Republicans shut down our government. They wanted to 
recklessly cut education programs and environmental programs, and they 
even wanted to raise Medicare premiums on millions of senior citizens, 
and they were willing to shut down the government to do it.
  Of course, more recently in 2013, Republicans once again sought to 
strip the healthcare of millions of Americans. They wanted to shut down 
the government in a failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 
Actually, that is an effort they continued this summer instead of 
negotiating a bipartisan budget deal that could have averted the 
situation we find ourselves in today.
  In 2015 Republicans continued their attack on healthcare by bringing 
us to the brink of yet another government shutdown in an attempt to 
defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the source of 
healthcare to millions of Americans in rural America. Millions of 
American women, men, and young people--certainly, tens of thousands of 
Vermonters in my little State--trust and depend on Planned Parenthood 
for their basic healthcare needs, including annual health exams, 
cervical and breast cancer screening, and HIV screenings--terrible that 
they might provide that care to Americans.

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They tried to shut down the government because of it. It was also in 
2015 that the Republicans began their attack on Dreamers. They 
attempted to shut down the entire Department of Homeland Security, 
which protects our skies, our borders, and everything else, and they 
were risking our national security because they wanted to block DACA, 
the Dreamers bill.
  If these were just talking points and political ploys, it would be 
one thing, but they have real consequences.
  The 2013 Republican shutdown dealt a devastating blow to economic 
growth amounting to $1.5 billion per day. For a State the size of 
Vermont, $1.5 billion is a lot of money. It was an estimated $1.5 
billion for each of the days of the shutdown, and there were 16 of 
those days. That is economic growth we lost that we never get back. 
Hundreds of thousands of Federal workers were furloughed through no 
fault of their own for a combined total of 6.6 million days. Lifesaving 
research on cancer, on diabetes, on heart conditions ground to a halt. 
The doors and fences of our iconic national parks and monuments that 
Americans have always relied on to go and see were shuttered.
  Now, in 2018, President Trump wants to shut down the government over 
a cynical and misbegotten ``big, beautiful wall.'' And he wants that 
``big, beautiful wall''--whatever it might be--to be paid for by U.S. 
taxpayers, not Mexico. He is using the Dreamers as negotiable 
commodities, as though they are some kind of money, instead of people, 
to meet his unreasonable demands to spend $18 billion on last century's 
technology. President Trump is making these demands after he promised 
taxpayers it wouldn't cost us a cent because Mexico would pay for it. 
Well, if he really believes that, open a bank account, and let Mexico 
send the money. When they send the money, we will build the wall. I 
mean, be serious. He said they will build it. Now he wants the American 
taxpayers--who are strapped on so many things--to build last century's 
technology. Let Mexico send us the money. When they do, we will build 
it. If he is telling the truth, they will send it. If he is not telling 
the truth, of course, they will not.
  But he is also just continuing the Republican tradition of being the 
``shutdown party.'' We have some very responsible Republicans and 
Democrats in the House and the Senate. I have not heard a single one of 
them say we need a good government shutdown. I take it back. One 
Republican has: Donald Trump. Donald Trump has said that our country 
needs ``a good shutdown.'' That is the only person, Republican or 
Democrat, I have heard say that they want a shutdown.
  I wonder if that is what he has asked his own party to angle for--a 
manufactured crisis to distract from the fact that they are not doing 
their job. I can say, as the vice chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee, I know the Democrats have been ready and willing to 
negotiate a spending agreement since last June. Instead of working 
toward that goal, congressional Republican leadership has spent the 
last year overturning consumer protections. They stripped healthcare 
from millions of Americans. They passed a massive tax cut for big 
corporations and wealthy Americans, paid for by middle-class Americans 
and future generations because it adds trillions to the deficit. But 
during that time, they continued to kick the can down the road.
  They have failed to do their jobs to pass sensible spending bills to 
keep our government open. They have cast aside Congress's fundamental 
responsibilities in pursuit of a hyperpartisan agenda. As a result, we 
haven't reached a bipartisan budget deal that would allow us to 
strengthen our military--something both Republicans and Democrats want. 
We haven't reached a bipartisan budget deal to allow us to invest in 
our communities--something I believe both Republicans and Democrats 
want.
  We all agree that the consequences of sequestration have been 
devastating. We have to lift the spending caps set into law by the 
Budget Control Act. Every Republican and Democrat I talked with has 
said they do, but we have to invest equally in our military and our 
communities because our national security is intrinsically linked to 
the investments we make in our communities. We are the greatest country 
in the world exactly because we make a commitment to invest in 
education and infrastructure. If we back off of that commitment, we are 
no longer great. We aim to provide the necessary resources to combat 
the opioid epidemic, and we strive to ensure that no child goes to 
school hungry, but if we don't have defense and nondefense parity in 
spending, we can't achieve these goals.
  We have not passed a comprehensive disaster relief package that takes 
into consideration the unique needs of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin 
Islands. These are American citizens. They have been living without 
power and without access to clean drinking water, and communities, 
devastated by natural disasters for months, are without adequate help 
from their own country--the U.S. Government--and people are dying.
  The Dreamers, who are American citizens in every way but on paper, 
have been thrown into crisis, a crisis of President Trump's own making, 
a crisis that threatens to tear them from the only lives they have ever 
known. Remember, the President is solely responsible--not Members here 
on this floor--for creating this untenable situation faced by the 
Dreamers. The President, all by himself--actually he is a party of 
one--rescinded the DACA policy.
  Now we have a path forward, put together by Republicans and 
Democrats, which meets the requirements the President laid out himself. 
But instead he continues to favor governing by chaos. He continues to 
move the goal posts. He continues to push the agreement further out of 
reach. He continues to say that our country needs a good shutdown. So 
much for the ``Art of the Deal.'' I would never hire someone to make a 
deal like that.
  The latest effort to kick the can down the road, which Republicans 
passed out of the House this evening, does not address any of these 
issues. Its attempt to address the needs of the Children's Health 
Insurance Program is public relations, but it is inadequate, and based 
on the President's own twitter feed--which I get dizzy trying to 
follow--goes in and out of favor with the President hourly. Why does 
the bill extend CHIP for 6 years when extending this bipartisan program 
for 10 years would actually save the taxpayers $6 billion? Why are 
community health centers--which millions of Americans and CHIP 
recipients depend upon for their primary care--not extended? Why don't 
we protect Americans and our taxpayers? Most importantly, why was this 
program allowed to expire and to be used as a negotiating part in the 
first place?
  Republican leadership, led by the President, has brought us to the 
brink of a government shutdown. I have been here a long time. I have 
looked at a lot of good legislation and bad legislation. I do not want 
to say the most terrible thing possible about the House bill because I 
know the respect we show back and forth. But the House bill is a joke 
and does not have my support. It leaves too much in doubt. What it 
attempts to address is woefully inadequate.
  The majority now wants bipartisan support. Why not do as we always 
used to and work with Democrats, instead of appealing for our support 
only after they have written a mishmash, laughable bill crafted behind 
closed doors?
  I have been here over 40 years. I understand reality. Republicans 
control the House; Republicans control the Senate; Republicans control 
the Presidency. If Republicans want the government to stay open, it 
will stay open. If Republicans want the government to shut down, it 
will shut it down. I wish they would stop kicking the can down the road 
and start negotiating in good faith, as so many Senators in both 
parties have been willing to.
  It is time to stop kicking the can down the road and time to start 
negotiating in good faith. Keep our government open, and show respect 
to those who live here in this country who consider themselves 
Americans.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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