[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S991-S992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, later this morning, I will join with 
Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries for a meeting 
with President Biden at the White House. I expect today's meeting to be 
an important, timely, and fruitful discussion about how congressional 
leaders, in conjunction with the White House, can meet the immense 
responsibilities facing Congress at this moment.
  This Friday, unless both sides act quickly, the Federal Government 
will enter a partial government shutdown, with yet another funding 
deadline looming a week after that. Agriculture,

[[Page S992]]

transportation, veterans programs, and more will be thrown into chaos 
this Friday if we fail to extend funding.
  As I have said throughout the 118th Congress, there is no 
justification--none--for provoking a government shutdown. Democrats 
strongly oppose shutdowns, and I know many of my Republican Senate 
colleagues, including the Republican leader, want to avoid one as well. 
And we Democrats want to work with them to ensure that a government 
shutdown does not happen.
  And look, we realize the Speaker of the House is in a difficult 
position. But he must reject the MAGA hard right, which wants a 
shutdown, wants to hurt America, and which does not represent a 
majority of Republicans in the House, a majority of Republicans in the 
Senate, and a majority of Republicans in America--let alone, all 
Americans.
  So if both sides work together, if we reject poison pills that can 
never become law, and if we tune out the extreme radical voices of the 
hard right, then the task before us becomes much, much easier.
  Again, these hard-right chaos agents in the House do not represent a 
majority of Republicans in the country. They do not represent a 
majority of Republicans in the Senate. They do not even represent a 
majority of Republicans in the House, and yet they are trying to bully 
everyone else into submission to get what they want. And what they 
want--make no mistake about it; they say it openly--is a government 
shutdown, with the harm it will do to millions of people.
  The chaos we have seen over and over again in the House just goes to 
show you that the hard right is not serious about governing. The only 
tactic in the hard-right playbook is to try to bully the rest of 
Congress to bend to their views.
  By now, I expect many House Republicans are beyond exhausted by their 
colleagues' bullying tactics. It is one of the biggest reasons why the 
Republican majority in the House can't get anything done.
  But for all their bullying, all their bluster, all their attempts at 
intimidation, the hard right's efforts have consistently--
consistently--ended in failure. I hope this time will be no different. 
I hope that, in the coming days, serious-minded House Republicans can 
work with Democrats to find a path out of the shutdown threat. There is 
every reason in the world for both sides to work together this week and 
in the weeks to come. So I look forward to making that case to 
congressional leaders at the White House.
  Speaker Johnson, we are looking forward to working with you to avoid 
a government shutdown.