[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 29 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, one of the reasons why I continue to be 
here in Washington rather than visiting with family and friends of 
Congressman Jones is that we have a very important vote that we expect 
the Senate to take up here sometime this afternoon.
  It is a vote that is borne out of compromise. To quote Winston 
Churchill--I think it was--it is the worst possible option except for 
all the other options considered up to this point.
  It is not perfect, but it is important that we get the votes and that 
we encourage the President to sign this bill into law.
  Now, I walked through the hallway this morning, and I had the press 
come up to me. Some in the press probably want to report honestly, but 
others want to create a narrative.
  So the latest narrative is this: Senator, how do you feel about a 
bill that just got published last night--1,200 pages--and you are going 
to be asked to vote on it today?
  I told them, specifically, because I have been following this measure 
since the last Congress. I said: Are you referring to the almost-1,200-
page bill, of which all but 41 pages were matters that were taken up in 
the Appropriations Committee, voted out of committee unanimously in all 
but one case and with 26 votes in the other case? Are you referring to 
that bill?
  If the Senators are doing their job and the Congressmen are doing 
their job, they read that months ago when they were passed out of the 
Appropriations Committee. Most of this is not new information. About 41 
pages of it relates to the compromise that ultimately--because we 
couldn't get a compromise back in December--resulted in the government 
shutdown.
  It absolutely funds some of the President's priorities for border 
security. There are people that get caught up on either end of the 
spectrum. It reminds me of how my kids used to fight in the back of the 
minivan when we used to take them on vacations. It is a childish 
argument: It is a wall.
  No, it is not.
  It is a wall.
  No, it is not.
  Look, it is steps taken forward in a positive way for border 
security. It is a structure that makes sense. It is technology. It is 
personnel. It is what we need to ultimately secure the border.
  Some people can call it a wall because you could argue that in total 
it is. Other people could say it is not a wall. I don't care as long as 
you ultimately recognize that voting for this measure and sending the 
signal to the President that we have his back, that we understand his 
priorities, and that we will continue to work on other measures on a 
bipartisan basis makes sense.
  So I intend to support it today. It is not a vote that I am going to 
enjoy, but sometimes we have to do things here to make progress, to 
compromise, and to move on. We owe it to the American people to keep 
the government open. We owe it to border security to listen to their 
recommendations to fund people, technology, and infrastructure. This is 
a step in the right direction.

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