[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.
____________________