[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 217 (Sunday, December 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, the fact that we are here on a Sunday 
indicates to me something is different about what we are about and, to 
me, speaks to a sense of urgency that we ought to have to complete our 
work before the Christmas holiday, and there are few things more 
pressing than our agenda today.
  Government funding, as we know, is scheduled to expire at 12 midnight 
tonight, and unless we take action in the next few hours, our country 
will be thrown into another government shutdown. I hope every Member of 
this body can understand why this is simply not an option. I have heard 
some people talk about, well, it is not a real shutdown if it happens 
for just a few hours or a couple of days over the weekend, but I think 
the appearance is horrible and speaks to our not living up to our 
responsibility to do this on a timely basis and without any lapse in 
government funding. This is not the time to furlough hard-working 
public servants or send our various governmental Departments and 
Agencies into chaos.
  We need to pass a funding bill that will provide stability for the 
remainder of the fiscal year, through the end of September next year, 
and give our government the ability to operate with certainty. All you 
have to do is talk to the leaders at the Pentagon, and they will tell 
you how chaotic and inefficient it is when Congress passes short-term 
continuing resolutions, which speaks to the importance of providing 
some certainty and predictability to the funding stream, but we know 
government funding is only one of the things left to do on our list.