[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, first, I want to thank and 
congratulate our colleagues who have been working hard to secure a 
bipartisan, bicameral solution to complete the appropriations process 
and fund the government. It had been clear to everyone that in order to 
reach an agreement, our Democratic colleagues would have to walk away 
from two extreme positions that had been dictated to them presumably by 
the far left--the notion that Congress shouldn't spend more than ``one 
dollar'' on new border barriers and the idea that we should impose a 
hard, statutory cap on ICE detainees in the interior of our country, 
which would require the release of criminals into the United States.
  Fortunately, our Democratic colleagues did abandon those unreasonable 
positions, and the negotiations were able to move forward productively. 
Last night, Chairman Shelby, Senator Leahy, and their counterparts in 
the House announced they have reached an agreement in principle, which 
is certainly good news. It provides new funds for miles of new border 
barriers, and it completes all seven outstanding appropriations bills, 
so Congress can complete a funding process for all the outstanding 
parts of the Federal Government with predictability and with certainty.
  I know I speak for Members on both sides of the aisle when I say that 
we are grateful to our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for 
their leadership. We are eager to see them complete this work. As we 
speak, our colleagues are working hard to produce legislative text. I 
look forward to reviewing the full text as soon as possible and hope 
the Senate can act on this legislation in short order.

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