[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 144 (Thursday, September 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4243-S4244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 BUDGET

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, Appropriations Chair Patty 
Murray and Vice Chair Susan Collins announced they are ready to move 
ahead with the first three appropriations bills here on the Senate 
floor: MILCON-VA, Agriculture, and Transportation HUD.
  This is extremely good news for what has already been a fruitful and 
bipartisan Senate appropriations process. Chair and Vice Chair Murray 
and Collins have done an outstanding job negotiating this difficult 
work, so I thank them, as well as my other colleagues, particularly 
those on Appropriations, on both sides of the aisle.
  To keep the bipartisan momentum alive, I will file cloture on this 
package today, with a plan to hold our first vote early next week. The 
Senate appropriations process is a lesson in how governing should work. 
All 12 appropriations bills have been passed with bipartisan support 
through regular order. Nine of them were either unanimous or just had 
one ``no'' vote.
  That doesn't mean the parties have to agree on everything--we know 
that won't happen. But what it means is that our disagreements have not 
paralyzed the process. That is the mark of good governance.
  Of course, the work is far from over. When the House gavels back into 
session next week, time will be short for both parties in both Chambers 
to unite around a plan to keep the government open beyond September 30.
  There is only one way--one way--that this will happen: through 
bipartisanship. Neither party can afford to go at it alone if we want 
to avoid a shutdown. We are going to have to work together, just as we 
have done in the Senate, without resorting to extremism and unseemly 
tactics. And that message is intended for the House, the House 
Republicans, and the House Republican leadership, in particular.
  When I last met with the Speaker at the end of July, we had a good 
conversation on the matter, so I hope he

[[Page S4244]]

sticks to his guns as this process begins in earnest. Both parties in 
both Chambers must come together on passing emergency supplemental 
funding to help our fellow Americans reeling from natural disasters, to 
stand with our friends in Ukraine fighting against Putin, and to fight 
against the fentanyl crisis, among other priorities.
  Later this morning, I will attend a classified briefing on the state 
of the war in Ukraine, where I expect we will see precisely why, now 
more than ever, our friends abroad need our help. We must continue to 
show Putin and the forces of autocracy that the United States stands 
firmly behind Ukraine. The worst thing we could do right now for our 
own national security and for our democratic values is to waver or 
hesitate in our support.

  What is the point in cutting off support now when we are at a turning 
point in the war--an inflection point--after we have invested such a 
large amount of resources to get us to this inflection point? It is a 
crucial moment right now.
  So one more time, let me implore my House colleagues: Follow in the 
Senate's example when you return next week and work with Democrats in a 
bipartisan way so we can avoid a costly, pointless, and very harmful 
and unnecessary government shutdown. We do not need to go down that 
road, and we cannot follow the lead of a mindless few who believe a 
shutdown is a good thing and who want it and who openly admit they want 
it. They are hurting the American people, plain and simple. We should 
not follow them.
  Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate should not 
follow this small band of people who are at the extreme. Instead, let's 
keep our economic recovery going. Let's keep our investments in 
infrastructure and manufacturing flowing, and let's make sure we help 
Americans with disaster aid, help our friends in Ukraine, deal with 
fentanyl, and fulfill our other needs too.
  The Senate, as I said, is off to a very good start. I hope the House 
gets off to a good start next week as well by embracing bipartisanship. 
We will know very soon whether they are ready or not to follow through 
on this very important responsibility they have to the American people.

                          ____________________