[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 155 (Tuesday, September 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONFERENCE REPORT ON APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on one final matter, currently before 
the Senate is a crucial appropriations measure for the upcoming fiscal 
year: the conference report that will fund the Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services, Education, and Defense. It is the second 
minibus conference report we have taken up in what has already been an 
important year for regular appropriations.
  Thanks to the leadership of Senators Shelby and Leahy, all 12 
spending bills were favorably reported from the Appropriations 
Committee by the end of June, the fastest pace in 30 years. For the 
first time in 15 years, the Senate passed our Labor-HHS-Education bill 
before the beginning of the fiscal year.
  These milestones may sound like inside baseball, but what they 
signify is a Senate that is getting its appropriations process back on 
track, a Senate that is attending to vital priorities for our country. 
The package we are voting on today will account for over half of the 
Federal discretionary spending for next year. Critically, after 
subjecting America's All-Volunteer Armed Forces to years of belt-
tightening, this legislation will build on our recent progress in 
rebuilding the readiness of our military and investing more in the men 
and women who wear the uniform. This conference report increases 
appropriations in the Department of Defense by $19.8 billion over 
fiscal year 2018 levels. Once enacted, our warfighters will have 
certainty in their funding--on time, on October 1, for the first time 
in 10 years.
  First and foremost, this reflects a major investment in personnel--
more resources for recruiting the forces that our military commanders 
have called for and the largest servicemember pay increase in nearly a 
decade. It fully funds the Pentagon's stated requests for operational 
support, including hundreds of billions in base support and maintenance 
funding, ensuring that critical ongoing missions continue at Fort Knox, 
Fort Campbell, and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and at 
installations all around the world.
  It also supports our National Guard and Reserve components, including 
many of the important missions executed by the Kentucky National Guard. 
The bill further ensures that combat units are equipped with 
overwhelming, cutting-edge capabilities: critical funding for aircraft 
and aviation programs, for new battle force ships, and hundreds of 
millions for our missile defense capabilities.
  In addition to our Armed Forces, this bill will also provide for 
communities wounded by drug addiction, for families working hard to 
save for college tuition, and for workers who are trying to catch up in 
ever-evolving industries.
  Under the Labor-HHS-Education title, this package would fund critical 
medical research at the National Institutes of Health, ongoing support 
for State opioid response grants, and apprenticeship and job training 
programs. It sets aside special funds for priorities like combatting 
infectious diseases that ride on the coattails of the opioid epidemic 
and retaining dislocated rural workers--both key priorities in States 
like Kentucky and around the country.
  So to sum up, there is more support for the best trained, best 
equipped, and strongest military force in the world and more support 
for the health and prosperity of American communities and workers--all 
the more reasons why I will be proud to vote for this legislation and 
why I urge every one of my colleagues to join me.

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