[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 141 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5959-S5960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. President, on a separate topic, we are 3 weeks away from our 
annual deadline to fund the government, one of the most essential tasks 
of Congress. It is hard to imagine just weeks before the Presidential 
election that the Republican Speaker of the House would risk a 
government shutdown and really guarantee an image of chaos in his 
service to this country.
  Here in the Senate, under the leadership of Appropriations Committee 
Chair Patty Murray of Washington and Ranking Member Susan Collins, a 
Republican of Maine, we passed 11 out

[[Page S5960]]

of the 12 spending bills out of the committee on a bipartisan basis. We 
are doing our jobs in the Senate. Unfortunately, recent history is 
repeating itself in the House under the leadership of Speaker Johnson. 
Instead of coming to the negotiating table with their Democratic 
colleagues--the only way to pass meaningful legislation in a divided 
Congress--or following the budget deal signed into law last year, they 
have been crafting partisan bills full of cuts and poison pills.
  Now, rather than take the Senate's lead in prioritizing responsible 
funding bills that can actually become law, House Republicans are once 
again trying to delay long-term funding agreements at the expense of 
the American people. House Republicans introduced a continuing 
resolution to push our job to fund the government until March of next 
year, a 6-month delay from our annual deadline of September 30.
  As if this weren't already a blow to our Nation, which relies on 
critical programs that depend on this funding, the Speaker is once 
again hitching his already misguided government funding wagon to an 
outrageous and partisan provision. This time, it is the so-called SAVE 
Act. The so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE 
Act, would make it more difficult for American citizens to register to 
vote and would inevitably lead to eligible registered voters being 
purged from the voter rolls.
  Two things; first, it is already against the law in every State for 
noncitizens to vote; second, noncitizens rarely, if ever, vote. In the 
extremely rare scenario when a noncitizen votes--listen to this--that 
individual can be federally prosecuted and sentenced for up to 5 years 
in prison, 5 years for a noncitizen voting.
  Put simply, there is no need for additional criminal penalties to 
deter noncitizen voting. The reality is that the SAVE Act would create 
problematic barriers for American citizens who are legally eligible to 
vote. Instead, we should be working together on bipartisan legislation 
to address real threats to our elections, such as AI technologies that 
can be used to spread disinformation to voters.
  The American people are tired of partisan bickering. They want us to 
do our jobs on a bipartisan basis. I encourage Speaker Johnson and 
House Republicans to put politics aside. Like the Senate, take your 
duty seriously to fund the government and avoid an unnecessary and 
damaging shutdown.
  To the Speaker, like it or not, this requires working with the other 
side of the aisle to find common ground. The American people expect 
that of us. Let's get it done.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.