[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 14 (Sunday, January 21, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S395-S396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Well, here we are, Mr. President. This is day 2 of the 
Senate Democrats' government shutdown, day 2 since the Democratic 
leader made the political calculation to do something that, according 
to a recent survey, even most Democrats don't support. He shut down the 
government to appease a portion of his party's leftwing base. It makes 
you shake your head. Who comes up with ideas like this?
  Well, on Friday, a bipartisan group of Senators voted to advance a 
bill that would have kept the Federal Government open, provided 6 years 
of certainty for the State Children's Health Insurance Program--of 
which at least seven different Governors have written they are in dire 
straits--and allowed ongoing talks to continue on a variety of other 
important issues that we have been discussing here for a couple of 
months. Together, Democrats and Republicans had enough votes to pass 
it. Five Democrats crossed over and voted against shutting down the 
government, to keep the government open while we do our work. The House 
had already passed it, and the President was ready to sign it. We were 
poised to send him this compromise solution and erase the threat of a 
shutdown, but unfortunately my friend the Democratic leader had other 
ideas.
  Now, we all know in the Senate the minority has the power to 
filibuster. I support that right from an institutional point of view, 
but the question is, When do you use it? On Friday, the Democratic 
leader made the extraordinary and destructive choice to filibuster our 
bipartisan bill and to guarantee the American people a shutdown of 
their Federal Government. Now, it is the second day of the Senate 
Democrats' filibuster and the Senate Democrats' shutdown of the Federal 
Government.
  Because the President wouldn't resolve months of ongoing negotiations 
over massive issues in one brief meeting and give the Democratic leader 
everything he wants, my friend across the aisle has shut down the 
government for hundreds of millions of Americans because he didn't get 
everything he wanted in one meeting on Friday with the President. So 
who pays the price for that? Healthcare for needy children, training 
and resources for our men and women in uniform, care for our veterans 
who came home, and survivor benefits for families of heroes who did 
not, full funding for the CDC, for the NIH, and for routine safety 
inspections of food and medicine.
  To most Americans, those sound like fundamental responsibilities. To 
the Democratic leader, apparently, they sound like hostages ripe for 
the taking. All of this was totally unnecessary. There is a broad 
consensus, on both sides of the aisle, that DACA and other issues 
related to illegal immigration require a compromise solution. Almost 
everybody here--Democrat and Republican--believes we need to get to a 
solution on the DACA issue and related immigration matters. Bipartisan, 
bicameral negotiations have been underway for months, but they can go 
nowhere until Senate Democrats realize the extreme path their leader 
has charted leads them nowhere--a filibuster of healthcare for 9 
million children, a filibuster of the tools and training that our 
warfighters need to keep

[[Page S396]]

us safe, a filibuster of funding for the Federal Government itself, for 
hundreds of millions of Americans--all over a tangential issue related 
to illegal immigration that does not even ripen until March. All of 
these other things are an emergency. The one nonemergency issue that 
our friends on the other side are trying to shoehorn into this 
discussion doesn't reach that status of emergency until March.
  This is pure folly. The American people know so. That is why, in a 
recent survey, a majority said keeping the government open is a higher 
priority than shutting down the government over the issue of illegal 
immigration. That is why headlines all across America are laying the 
blame for this government shutdown right at the feet of Senate 
Democrats and their filibuster.
  Now, the Democratic leader could end this today. We can get past this 
manufactured crisis and get onto a host of serious issues before us 
that require thoughtful, bipartisan negotiations. This shutdown is 
going to get a lot worse tomorrow--a lot worse. Today would be a good 
day to end it. All we have to do is pass the commonsense legislation 
the Senate is currently considering--ending the government shutdown and 
ensuring healthcare continues for vulnerable children. There is nothing 
in this measure that my Democratic friend cannot support.
  So here is the situation. If nothing changes, a cloture vote will be 
no sooner than 1 a.m. tonight. We could resolve this much earlier if 
the Democratic leader withdraws his procedural objection and allows the 
Senate to proceed to a vote. Our constituents want us to end this. 
Secretary Mattis, our military leaders, and our Governors want us to 
end this, and we can. Today is the right day to do it.
  Senate Democrats only need to withdraw their filibuster and allow a 
bipartisan majority to move America forward. If they really care about 
the big issues--increased defense funding, disaster relief, DACA, 
border security, and other important matters that we have been 
negotiating and that I would like to bring to the floor--then they will 
stop their filibuster and this shutdown and let the negotiators get 
back to work.
  Everyone has figured this out. This shutdown was a political 
miscalculation of gargantuan proportions, but it doesn't need to go on 
any longer. It could stop today. So let's step back from the brink. 
Let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on 
their behalf.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. 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.

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