[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 1 (Thursday, January 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8-S9]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WELCOMING MEMBERS OF THE SENATE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first allow me to welcome all of the new 
Members who were just sworn in for the first time as U.S. Senators, as 
well as my friends who were reelected to this body. We are entrusted 
with an awesome responsibility to conduct the vital business of this 
country we all love. We come at it from many perspectives, backgrounds, 
and geographies, but the hope is that we can come together and get some 
good things done.
  I hope, in this new year and throughout the new Congress, the Senate 
will prove worthy of the responsibility and faithfully discharge our 
duties to our States, our country, the Constitution, and, of course, 
the well-being of the American people.
  Now, sadly, as I address you, this new Congress is under the shadow 
of a government shutdown. Only one person is to blame for this 
predicament--President Trump. Democrats made several offers to the 
President that would have kept the government open over the holiday 
break. We even agreed to Leader McConnell's proposal to pass a clean 
continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown, and it passed the Senate 
unanimously; every single Democrat and every single Republican was for 
it. All indications were that President Trump would sign it, but then, 
hounded by the far right, particularly the radio and TV commentators, 
President Trump threw a temper tantrum at the eleventh hour, and 
demanded more than $5 billion for an ineffective border wall, knowing 
full well that it lacked the votes in the Senate.

  After publicly rooting for a government shutdown for months, 
President Trump finally got his wish. Now, nine Cabinet Departments and 
dozens of other Agencies are shut down and hundreds of thousands of 
Federal workers are doing their jobs without pay. Food safety 
inspectors are running out of resources. Federal courts are running out 
of money. National Parks are suffering. In a few short months, the IRS 
will not be able to issue tax refunds that are vital to so many 
families.
  Yesterday, the President invited congressional leaders to the White 
House. Speaker-designate Pelosi and I sought to have a sensible 
discussion about how to reopen the government. We proposed two bills 
that separate the wall fight from the government shutdown. Let me 
repeat that. The two bills we proposed separate the wall fight from the 
government shutdown. You don't have to have one, even if you can't 
resolve the other.
  We proposed two bills: first, a six-bill minibus to provide 
appropriations for every Cabinet Department except Homeland Security 
and, second, a 30-day continuing resolution for Homeland Security.
  The six bills are not Democratic bills, as I heard some of the 
rightwing commentators say. The six bills are the same bills that 
Republicans, including Leader McConnell, supported in the Senate 
Appropriations Committee. The CR passed unanimously through the Senate 
last year. Four of the six bills came to the floor and passed the 
Senate 92 to 6, with the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans 
being for them.
  These are not Democratic bills. They were crafted in a bipartisan way 
by a Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee and a 
Republican-controlled Senate. If these bills pass, they would allow us 
to continue discussion on border security without leaving large 
portions of the government shut down.
  We obviously disagree about the best way to secure the border. We 
believe the wall is wrong on many counts. The wall is ineffective--most 
experts agree with that--and the wall is expensive.
  When the wall was promised by President Trump, he said it was a 
campaign pledge he must keep. That was not his campaign pledge. His 
campaign pledge was to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, not 
American taxpayers. So it is not a campaign pledge.
  The President has no plan to deal with eminent domain. There are 
hundreds of landowners on the southern border who will go to court and 
fight every attempt by the Federal Government to expropriate their 
land. That will take years.

[[Page S9]]

  By the way, the Trump administration has not even spent the border 
security funding allocated by Congress last year.
  The wall is wrong. It is ineffective; it is expensive; Mexico will 
not pay for it; there is no plan to deal with eminent domain; and they 
haven't even spent the border security funding allocated last year.
  One more point for so many Americans: We do not want the wall to be a 
symbol of America. We much prefer the Statue of Liberty be that symbol. 
The symbolism is bad for the country, for our economy, for our 
security, and for our ability to get along in the world.
  Democrats certainly support strong, effective border security: 
fencing, drones, technology, roads, what the experts say will actually 
work--not a wall. We totally disagree on that. But even with that 
disagreement, I repeat, there is no reason to keep unrelated parts of 
the government shut down because of those disagreements.
  If Leader McConnell, tonight, would put the bill that is passing the 
House on the floor, it would pass. After all, it was crafted by 
Republicans, especially those on the Appropriations Committee. So they 
are not opposed to it.
  Yesterday at our meeting, I asked the President on multiple occasions 
to give me one good reason he should keep large portions of the 
government shut down while we have a separate debate about the border. 
He couldn't name one. He kept coming back and talking about the border. 
I said: No, Mr. President, these six bills have nothing to do with the 
border. Why can't we pass them? Why must we hold millions of Americans 
who depend on the services of these Agencies that are closed--hundreds 
of thousands of workers who get paid by these Agencies--why must we 
hold them hostage? Why must a temper tantrum determine how we vote and 
what happens in this government? Everyone can shut down the government 
on anything--any leader, any President. It is not the way to do things.
  The President couldn't name a single reason that made any sense about 
why he should keep the other Agencies closed--not Homeland Security, 
but the others, and that is the best indication of why there is a 
shutdown. President Trump is holding the government hostage over his 
wall, using the well-being of millions of Americans as hostage in a 
futile attempt to get what he wants: a concrete border wall.
  Where do we go from here? Well, we have a new Congress and several 
new Senators were just sworn in. The House of Representatives, of 
course, will change control, and Democrats will see a healthy majority. 
The new House majority is poised tonight to pass the two bills we 
offered the President. Leader McConnell ought to take it up here on the 
floor of the Senate.
  Let me be clear about a few points. The six-bill minibus is 
completely silent on the issue of border security. It would solely fund 
the eight Cabinet Departments not named Homeland Security at levels 
agreed to by both parties and signed off on by the overwhelming 
majority of Republicans on both the Appropriations Committee and in the 
Senate. There is absolutely nothing in those six bills that my 
Republican friends oppose. Let me repeat: There is nothing in those six 
bills that Senate Republicans oppose. All but six voted for the four of 
them that came to the floor, and every single Republican on the 
Appropriations Committee, including Leader McConnell, voted for them in 
the Appropriations Committee.

  When Leader McConnell calls this some Democratic proposal, he is 
absolutely wrong. Leader McConnell voted for it; Leader McConnell 
supported it on both the floor and in the Appropriations Committee. It 
is not a Democratic proposal. In fact, the House Democrats went out of 
their way to pass a proposal that Republicans supported, and Senators 
Graham, Moran, Lankford, and Murkowski voted for those bills as chair 
of their Appropriations Committees. They put them together.
  Even if there are disagreements about border security, why not pass 
the six noncontroversial bipartisan bills? That is the question I would 
ask every one of my Republican colleagues. That is the question the 
American people are asking every one of my Republican colleagues. Above 
all, they are asking that of President Trump. What is the rationale for 
keeping eight Cabinet Departments shuttered for an unrelated dispute 
over the wall? There is none.
  We can continue to debate the best way to secure our border. We have 
disagreements on those, but let us reopen these Cabinet Departments and 
ensure hundreds of thousands of Federal workers receive their paychecks 
and, even more importantly, that these Departments get back to work for 
the American people.
  As I mentioned, the House will also pass a 30-day continuing 
resolution for the Department of Homeland Security. Again, there is 
nothing in that bill that Senate Republicans don't support. The Senate 
passed it unanimously before Christmas break. The only thing that has 
changed between now and then is that we will have a House Speaker who 
will pass this bill, as well, and once the House passes these two 
bills, Leader McConnell should put them on the floor where I believe 
they will receive strong bipartisan majorities. It is going to be very 
hard for a lot of Republicans to vote no on the same bills they 
supported just a few months ago.
  The leader says that he is waiting for White House approval. 
Unfortunately, the White House is all over the map. We don't know where 
the White House stands on any of these things. Yesterday, President 
Trump publicly rejected an offer made to Democrats a week ago by his 
own Vice President. There is no telling where the President will come 
down on any given day. Surely, Leader McConnell knows--after passing a 
CR through this Chamber, thinking it had the President's support--that 
if we rely on the President alone, we can be shut down for a long time. 
At this point, we need to take the lead here in Congress in the hope 
that we can show President Trump the sweet light of reason.
  We have given our Republican colleagues a way out of the shutdown 
based on Republican-approved proposals. All Leader McConnell needs to 
do to reopen the government is to bring to the floor the legislation 
that he and nearly every other Republican Senator already support.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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