[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week, the Senate has continued our 
regular appropriations process. We are considering four important 
funding measures that will account for about an eighth of discretionary 
spending.
  This bill will keep resources flowing to a long list of key 
government functions. We are talking about everything from food safety 
inspections to anti-drug enforcement, to child nutrition, to the Forest 
Service. It attends to a number of specific policy priorities that we 
all hold in common, like providing major resources to rebuild America's 
infrastructure and to fight against opioid abuse.
  My constituents in Kentucky will benefit from new funding for rural 
development grants and loans and more resources to fight everything 
from illegal drugs to invasive species like Asian carp. Communities in 
every single State will win because of this work.
  I want to express gratitude to Members on both sides of the aisle: 
our subcommittee chairs, who helped to shape the bills in this minibus, 
Senators Murkowski, Collins, Hoeven, and Lankford; all of our 
colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and their fearless leaders, 
Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy, for keeping this process 
bipartisan and for keeping it moving; and Senator Murkowski, once more, 
for her work in managing this legislation here on the floor.
  I am proud of the regular appropriations process we are rebuilding 
together. I am proud that we have been able to process several 
amendments and hope we can continue to process even more. But I am 
especially proud of the good things this legislation will do for 
families and communities nationwide.

                          ____________________