[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5901-S5902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, House Republican colleagues are 
struggling with a bad case of Groundhog Day: The government faces a 
critical funding deadline in a few weeks. If that deadline isn't met, 
the government will shut down. Only bipartisanship will help us meet 
that deadline. But instead of pursuing bipartisanship, Speaker Johnson 
is yet again--yet again--wasting time caving to the hard right, despite 
his razor-thin majority.
  Hasn't he learned? This is what got the Republicans in trouble the 
last few times that we had to fund the government. An appeal to the 
rightwing--the rightwing, in their sort of strict, narrow partisan 
ideology, thinks they can force everybody--even dissident Republicans, 
let alone Democrats and the President--to go along with them. But, of 
course, it doesn't happen, and then we come to a bipartisan agreement.
  Oh, yes, it is certainly Groundhog Day once again as the Republicans 
repeat the same mistake they have made over and over again; and that is 
the House Republicans led, unfortunately, by Speaker Johnson.
  As I have said, we have seen this play out time and time again. Is it 
any surprise that the Speaker's purely partisan CR seems to be running 
into trouble? The answer is very simple: The House should stop wasting 
time on a CR proposal that cannot become law. The House should stop 
wasting its time gathering together among themselves--not even all of 
them--putting together a bill without consulting Hakeem Jeffries, 
myself, or the President. But that is what they do. And it doesn't 
work. It just doesn't work.
  Instead, Republicans should work with Democrats on a bipartisan 
package--one that has input from both sides, one that avoids harmful 
cuts, one that is free of poison pills. We are ready to sit down and 
work with them immediately.
  Now, to be fair, the Speaker's proposal was not entirely bad news. I 
was heartened to see that Speaker Johnson's proposal held on to the 
bipartisan top-line spending agreement that I reached with the Speaker 
earlier this year. It is a good sign that Speaker

[[Page S5902]]

Johnson seems to accept reality that any CR we produce in the coming 
weeks will have to include that funding level.
  But sadly--sadly--the good news ends there, because, on the whole, 
the House Republicans' CR is an unserious and uncooked product. It is 
not serious for Republicans to say they want to kick the can down the 
road for 6 months on funding the government.
  Funding the government is the most basic responsibility we have in 
Congress. So to say ``let's hold off for half a year'' should be a 
nonstarter. It is also not serious for Republicans to release a 
proposal that endangers troop readiness, risks troop pay, hamstrings 
our efforts to outcompete the Chinese Government. You cannot run an 
Army on a 6-month CR. You cannot put everything on hold for 6 months, 
have the defense contracts put on ice for 6 months, and allow for 
Russia and the Chinese Government to gain on us. It is that simple. And 
the head of the Joint Chiefs sent a letter that said just that.
  It is not serious for Republicans to say they want to pass a CR that 
fails to properly extend E-Verify, H-2B visas, and other border 
security programs that stop drugs like fentanyl. They talk a lot about 
the border, but then the fundamental ways that we toughen up 
enforcement on the border and interior of the country with E-Verify, 
they ignore.
  It shows how political this document is. It is particularly egregious 
that the Speaker's own proposal disbands a critical law enforcement 
effort to stop drug smuggling, drug cartels, money laundering. But the 
parade of horribles keeps going. It just doesn't end there.
  It is not serious for Republicans to say that they want to pass a CR 
that forgets to fund critical health programs. Under the Republican 
proposal, telehealth would be harmed. We know how important telehealth 
is, particularly for rural Americans. It has made healthcare much 
better, cheaper, and more effective in rural areas. But they don't fund 
it. Wait for 6 months to tell someone in a rural area who needs medical 
help?
  People with diabetes would struggle to get the aid they need. And 
community health centers, often the only resource for millions of 
working-class Americans to get their healthcare if they don't have 
insurance but fall above the Medicare and Medicaid lines to get their 
healthcare--that is where they get it. That funding, again, would be in 
danger.
  And if all that weren't enough, Republicans have no plan for 
extending farm bill funding. One of the consequences of failing to pass 
the farm bill is going over the so-called dairy cliff, which is what 
happens when the dairy margin coverage program dries up. For this to 
happen would decimate farmers across the country and, I know, in my own 
State. Farmers have told me. Some of them would go out of business if 
we want over that dairy cliff. Monthly payments that help farmers cover 
the gap between the price of milk and feed would halt.

  And it would not only affect our farmers, it would affect our 
consumers. The cost of milk needed for our babies and for healthy kids 
and all of us--I like milk; I look forward to drinking it a lot--but 
the cost of milk could potentially double if we went over that dairy 
cliff. It would create seismic disruptions in our supply chains and 
cause market panic.
  So these are just some of the terrible consequences of proceeding 
with Speaker Johnson's 6-month, unserious CR proposal. It is a little 
surprise that the White House has already issued a veto threat.
  Now, as far as their timeline, let's be very clear about what 
Republicans are trying to do with this 6-month CR. They are trying to 
lay the groundwork for Project 2025 in hopes they get a favorable 
result in the election. That is why the rightwing is pushing this. It 
is not just, you know, that they don't like government funding. They 
have this horrible document, Project 2025, which would turn America 
inside-out.
  I believe it would create huge economic, social--all kinds of 
problems--problems of protecting freedom. But that is what they want to 
do. That is their goal. Why Speaker Johnson goes along with it is 
beyond me. But by trying to set up a funding fight in March, rightwing 
Republicans hope for the chance to hold government funding hostage in 
exchange for some of the nastiest, most harmful policies that Donald 
Trump promises in his Project 2025.
  Let there be no mistake: Project 2025 is the Trump agenda. Some of 
his top advisers helped put it together. Some of the lead people on 
this have talked about their high-up positions in a Trump 
administration should, God forbid, it occur.
  Over 140 people who have worked in the Trump administration 
contributed to it. To call the ideas in Trump's Project 2025 radical 
would be an understatement. Project 2025 would pave the way for the 
hard right's national abortion ban by restricting access to FDA-
approved medication.
  Project 2025 would abolish the Department of Education, decimate our 
public education system by wiping out school meal programs.
  Hungry kids? We want to send people to school with an empty belly? 
They can't learn. Oh, we have to spend little money to provide a 
nutritious breakfast, which, incidentally, helps our farmers? Isn't 
that horrible? says the rightwing. They would rather--the billionaires 
who helped fund all of this stuff--pay even less money to the 
government.
  It would defund public schools. They would end student loan 
forgiveness. All the young people who have this burden of student loans 
on their back--you and I and others are trying to reduce or eliminate 
that burden--forget it if this rightwing budget goes into effect.
  Project 2025 would make healthcare less affordable for tens of 
millions of Americans. It would rip away benefits from our veterans. It 
would attack small farmers and small businesses and so much more. The 
list goes on and on and on, unfortunately.
  These ideas aren't theoretical. No, no. They are not abstract ideas 
up in the clouds; they are real proposals that the hard right intends 
to push if they come into power. They are so narrow and so focused on 
their own agenda, as I said, in large part over the years funded by 
billionaires--greedy. Not all wealthy people are greedy; many of them 
understand their obligation to help the country that has been so good 
to them. But they are a narrow group, very greedy. They don't want to 
pay any taxes, some of them. ``Let's have a national sales tax,'' some 
of them say. That would create huge inflation on the average middle 
class so they don't have to pay an income tax. Lord help us.
  And Republicans right now are hoping that a funding fight early next 
year would turn into a hostage negotiation between keeping the 
government open and passing Project 2025's terrible policies.
  But let me assure the American people, we Democrats are not fooled. 
And let me assure our mainstream Republicans, who quietly grit their 
teeth when they hear about this, that the American people are not 
fooled. Surprisingly, a large number of American people have already 
heard of Project 2025 and don't like it.
  The more people learn about Project 2025, the more they realize how 
devastating it is and how horrible it would be for our economy, how 
disastrous it would be for public safety, and how catastrophic--
catastrophic--it would be for our country.