[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last week, the Senate passed an 
agreement that preserved America's full faith and credit and began to 
rein in Democrats' runaway spending. But the Senate's work is far from 
over. Today, with the threat of economic crisis behind us, it is time 
for the Senate to focus its full attention on some of the most basic 
responsibilities we are sent here to fulfill: keeping America safe, 
keeping America fed, and keeping the lights on.
  First, we have a little less than 4 months left in the fiscal year. 
Our colleagues, Appropriations Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins, 
have expressed a shared goal to fund the Federal Government through 
regular order. That means 12 full-year funding bills processed, passed, 
conferenced, and signed into law before the end of September. I think 
all 100 of us agree that we should not be funding the American people's 
government through one big omnibus at the end of the year, but 
achieving that is going to require hard work and incredible 
cooperation.
  To produce funding bills that can pass the House and become law, we 
will have to build on the progress we made last week. After 2 years of 
taxing, spending, and runaway inflation, the American people chose to 
elect a divided government. In the coming weeks, that divided 
government has an opportunity to restore stability to the 
appropriations process and deliver more of the fiscal sanity they 
expect, but only if the Democratic majority lets the process actually 
work.
  This year, we also have the responsibility to deliver a farm bill. A 
full 10 percent of the American workforce depends on agriculture. The 
Commonwealth of Kentucky is home to nearly 75,000 farms, and, in the 
past 5 years, since the last farm bill was passed, farming hasn't 
gotten any easier. Neither has ranching or forestry. Small businesses 
and farm families across the country will be watching the Agriculture 
Committee's work especially closely. Chair Stabenow, Ranking Member 
Boozman, and our colleagues are already hard at work producing 
legislation that delivers the certainty and support they need to 
continue innovating, supporting rural jobs, and feeding America.
  And Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, and the Commerce Committee 
are working on another measure that will require our attention before 
the end of the fiscal year--reauthorizing the Federal Aviation 
Administration. Reliable and affordable air travel for both people and 
cargo is important to the prosperity of communities and industries 
across our country.
  So on behalf of Kentucky growers and the entire country, I hope each 
of these measures receives swift consideration here on the floor.