[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1060-S1061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Madam President, on another matter, this week, the Senate finds 
itself in familiar territory. For the fourth time since last September, 
Congress is rushing to avert a government shutdown. Unless a funding 
bill is signed

[[Page S1061]]

into law before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow, portions of the 
Federal Government will shut down. And if nothing changes by the 
following Friday, we will be plunged into a full government shutdown.
  I have made my feelings about government shutdowns crystal clear. No. 
1, they don't save money. No. 2, they don't solve any problems. No. 3, 
they hurt innocent Americans and dedicated public servants. Government 
shutdowns are not in anyone's best interest, and I am glad that all 
four congressional leaders agree that we need to avoid a lapse in 
funding.
  Before the end of this week--before tonight, I hope--I expect 
Congress to pass another stopgap funding bill. This will provide more 
time to advance regular appropriations bills, and I hope we can see 
some real progress this time.
  But I must say that responsibility for where we are today lies at the 
feet of the majority leader of the U.S. Senate. Yes, the House has its 
problems, but here in the Senate, Senator Murray, the chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee, Senator Collins, and the entire 
Appropriations Committee have produced bipartisan--in some cases 
unanimous--appropriations bills that Senator Schumer has simply refused 
to put on the floor. So, without a doubt, he is complicit in where we 
find ourselves today.
  It is just another example of how the Senate is broken. While the 
ongoing game of brinkmanship is extremely dangerous, it calls into 
question our military readiness and jeopardizes our national security 
at an increasingly dangerous time.
  Making matters worse, this saga is completely avoidable. As I 
mentioned, the Appropriations Committee in the Senate passed 12 bills 
last summer, providing a lot of time for Senator Schumer to bring those 
bills to the floor. That is the earliest the Appropriations Committee 
has acted in the last 5 years. Thanks to Senator Murray and Senator 
Collins, they laid the groundwork for a thorough and ontime 
appropriations process. But Senator Schumer has ball control, and he 
simply failed to put those bills on the floor in a timely fashion, 
leading us to where we are today.
  As I said, the Senate did not pass a single regular appropriations 
bill before the September 30 deadline. This was September 30 of last 
year. I don't know if people really appreciate how broken the Senate 
is, thanks to a lack of leadership. We are working on appropriations 
bills from last year. The fiscal year began the end of September of 
last year. As a result of the failure to do his job, Congress had to 
pass stopgap funding bills in September, November, and January.
  And just think about it for a minute. If we weren't lurching from one 
crisis to the next, what other things might we do to benefit the 
American people? That is what economists call an opportunity cost. Each 
time, the Democratic leader vowed to use the extra time to make 
progress on regular appropriations bills, but each time he failed to do 
so.
  We are now 5 months into the current fiscal year, and it is 
embarrassing--it should be embarrassing--to note that not a single 
full-year funding bill has been signed into law.
  Members of this body are charged to do the hard work of negotiating, 
debating, and passing bills to provide government Agencies with ontime 
funding. It is hard to do when Senator Schumer has us in session 2\1/2\ 
days a week--2\1/2\ days a week. It is hard to get your job done when 
you are working 50 percent of the time. But he is the one who controls 
the agenda. He can say we are starting Monday morning, like most 
Americans do, and we are not leaving until we finish Friday night, but 
instead, he has canceled votes on Monday so we come in on Tuesday. We 
have our first vote at 5:30 on Tuesday, and then we leave after lunch, 
typically, on a Thursday. No wonder the Senate is broken and not doing 
its job.
  The Senate has a number of big cliffs that are fast approaching as a 
result of the mismanagement of the Senate schedule. We have major 
funding deadlines tomorrow, but we also have one a week from now, on 
the 8th. In addition, here is what else has not been done on a timely 
basis: the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. That 
has to be done by next Friday. We need to reauthorize and strengthen 
section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before April 
19 or else it lapses, making us blind to the efforts of our adversaries 
to undermine our national security. And, yes, we need to pass a new 
farm bill before the end of September. We can't do that working half 
weeks--2\1/2\ days a week.
  It is important to note that all of these tasks--funding, the FAA, 
section 702 of the farm bill--should have been completed last year. We 
are doing last year's work. We are not doing the American people's work 
today, looking forward, with the challenges with which our country is 
confronted.
  We should have wrapped up our work on each of these items in 2023 
instead of punting the deadline to 2024. We are now 2 months into the 
new year and still struggling to complete the work that should have 
been done months ago.
  As I said, this backlog comes with a serious opportunity cost. When 
the Senate is dealing with overdue assignments, we don't have the time 
to work on other critical issues that deserve our attention on behalf 
of the American people. We don't have the ability to work on 
legislation to address the border crisis, the fentanyl epidemic, public 
safety concerns, or other issues that are top of mind for the American 
people.
  Virtually all of the time is focused on one of two things: rushing to 
complete work that should have been done last year or processing 
nominations. That is it.
  Under Senator Schumer's leadership, regular order has been thrown out 
the window. He has broken the Senate. And this Chamber has simply 
lurched from one deadline to another.
  This should be embarrassing. This is malpractice. It is not negligent 
because it is by design. It is intentional. This is, regrettably, what 
we have come to expect under Democratic leadership. This is the new 
norm.
  For the sake of the country, I hope that in the coming weeks, the 
Senate will prove more productive than the past several months have 
been. And, yes, I hope we have new management next year after the 
November election. That is the best way the 330 million people in this 
country can contribute to changing the status quo, which is a broken 
Senate, and fixing it, which we know how to do if we change management.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KELLY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.