[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7891-S7892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT

  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, here we are again at the end of a quarter 
and the end of a calendar year--not the end of our fiscal year. But 
here we are again with late-night sessions and people running around in 
a very unprofessional manner, in my opinion, talking about how to get 
our government funded.
  Let me put this in perspective. This is the end of December. October, 
November, and December are the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 
2019. We are already one-fourth through this fiscal year, and we are 
still talking about the completion of authorizations and appropriations 
to fund the government for this year--not next year, this year.
  In 2018, the Senate and, indeed Congress did something we haven't 
done in a long time. For the first time in 22 years, we did get 75 
percent of the Federal Government discretionary spending funded. By the 
way, that is only about 25 percent of what we spend as a federal 
government, but that is a conversation for another day.
  On July 31 this year and earlier than that--we started the 
appropriations process earlier this year and had an opportunity in the 
Appropriations Committee. The subcommittees and the committee did a 
fabulous job this year. Democrats and Republicans got together behind 
closed doors, no cameras, and really argued the points and came to 
compromises on most of the issues, so that by July 31, we had funded 
12.25 percent of this year's Federal budget for discretionary spending.
  We decided as a body, with the leadership's approval, to stay here in 
August of this year. Because of that, we went from 12.5 percent to 75 
percent of the discretionary budget being appropriated and approved. 
Indeed, the appropriators did their job this year and would have gotten 
100 percent had we not had the disagreement over border security.
  Let's be clear. As we sit here at the end of this quarter, the Senate 
should have already totally funded the Federal Government's 
discretionary budget by September 30 of this year. That was 3 months 
ago. Instead, what we are about to do is have a vote in the next day or 
two on a continuing resolution for the remaining portion of this year's 
Federal budget, the 25 percent. This will be the 186th continuing 
resolution this Congress and other Congresses have used to continue to 
fund the government in a temporary manner.
  I have a major problem with that. First of all, it is an admission 
that Congress can't do its job. The No. 1 responsibility of Congress is 
to make sure the government is funded. It is one of the reasons 
Thirteen Colonies got together in the first place to form this country.
  This continuing resolution, as bad as it is, should not be used, but 
even in its current potential existence, it is so bad for a couple of 
other reasons.
  No. 1, it does not address the border security issue on which the 
President and the Democrats had prior agreements. Even just a few weeks 
ago, we

[[Page S7892]]

had agreements on some numbers for border security that are not being 
honored right now. It is like you negotiate to a point, and then one 
side says: Well, we are going to back up on that. Well, we will agree 
to this. And then they back up again.
  The American people are not fooled. This is not an immigration issue 
any longer. It is clearly a national security issue. The President is 
right: Over 85 percent of the illegal drugs come into this country 
illegally across that border. Almost 100 percent of the fentanyl that 
comes into this country comes across that southern border of the United 
States illegally.
  There is a second reason this is such an insidious thing to do right 
now with this continuing resolution. It is incredibly disappointing 
that this continuing resolution does nothing to address disaster relief 
funding for the people of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, and 
California who have been devastated by historic wildfires and 
hurricanes.
  The reason this is so critical right now is that this hits 
agriculture in these States in a way that is so insidious. The reason 
is that it hit at exactly the harvest time, when crops are being 
harvested or are potentially going to be harvested. It devastated 
entire regions of that portion of the United States.
  In December and January, what farmers are typically doing is they 
have taken the money from the crops, paid back the planting loan from 
this year to the banks, and now in January will start negotiations for 
loans for next year for the planting season. What this continuing 
resolution does is kicks the can down the road until a theoretic date--
somebody picked February 8 as an arbitrary date. This devastates 
farmers and smalltown bankers who are trying to fund next year's crop 
because they have no way of paying this year's.
  I am absolutely convinced that President Trump wants to help these 
farmers and the people in California who have been devastated by these 
fires. He has said so repeatedly. In October, on a trip to Georgia and 
Florida, he saw the devastation from the hurricane and the tornadoes 
that came with it and all the damage that came from that event, and 
this is what the President said:

       The farmers really got hurt, especially in Georgia. . . . 
     But we're going to get it taken care of.
       There is no question that the President of the United 
     States wants to make good on that promise. The problem is, he 
     is dealing with another party that is not being genuine in 
     their effort to find a solution to this funding issue right 
     now.

  Democrats in the House want to clearly push this out into the new 
year for an obvious reason, and that is what we are pushed to tonight, 
tomorrow, and the next night. I fully believe the Senate should be back 
here the day after Christmas, frankly, to debate this, to get to a 
resolution, to some compromise, to get the benefits that we have 
identified are necessary to protect this strategic industry of ours 
called agriculture.
  I remember that during my career, we would work half a day on 
Christmas Eve. I remember that. It hasn't been that long ago. We might 
take Christmas Day off, and then the next day, most people in America 
are back to work if they are not taking vacation. But here in the 
Senate, right now, we won't be back until sometime in January, and we 
have given ourselves until February 8 to resolve this issue. That is 
unacceptable. I believe it is unacceptable to the President. It is 
certainly unacceptable to a person who comes from the real world as an 
outsider to this process.
  Here is another derivative negative to kicking this can down the 
road: It not only affects the funding we are talking about this year; 
it also talks about the planning and budgeting for fiscal year 2020, 
which starts October 1, 2019. From January 8 until July 31, there are 
19 weeks or 57 workdays--only 57, the way the Senate operates today. 
What that means is that the Senate and the House have to appropriate 12 
appropriations bills--I believe before July 31--in order to fund the 
government before September 30 next year. Here is why: The August break 
is a work break, and people in the Senate and the House go home and 
work in their States during the month in August.
  If that happens this year, then when we come back in September, we 
will have 12 working days in September. There is no way we are going to 
have any appropriations bills and the conferences necessary to get that 
done in September.
  It is very clear that this continuing resolution is improper, it 
should not be done, and it puts the people who have been devastated at 
risk. And I think that right now, we need to be very serious about one 
thing, and that is, going forward, we need to find a way to create a 
politically neutral platform to fund this government on time every year 
without all this drama.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.

                          ____________________