[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. President, now on the shutdown, we have less than 2 weeks now 
before September 30. If the House and Senate do not act by then to 
extend government funding, the government will shut down, and there 
will be no ambiguity that will be a Republican shutdown.
  My friend the Republican leader said yesterday that if Republicans 
shut the government down, ``It would be politically beyond stupid for 
us to do that, because we'd''--meaning Republicans--``get the blame.''
  Leader McConnell is absolutely correct. A Republican shutdown would 
be beyond stupid for Republicans, and they would get the blame because 
it is only Speaker Johnson who is headed in that direction to assuage 
his hard right, the Freedom Caucus people, who hold his speakership in, 
shall we say--who say it is questionable whether he should be Speaker 
if this happens.
  Nevertheless, Republicans are no closer to preventing a shutdown 
today than they were at the beginning of September. For the last 2 
weeks, Speaker Johnson and House Republican leaders have wasted 
precious time on a proposal that everyone knows can't become law. His 
own Republican conference cannot unite around his proposal.
  Today, the House is expected to vote on the Speaker's CR, and it is 
expected to fail. I hope that once the Speaker's CR fails, he moves on 
to a strategy that will actually work: bipartisan cooperation. It is 
the only thing that has kept the government open every time we have 
faced a funding deadline. It is the only thing that works this time 
too. Bipartisan, bicameral cooperation--that is what works. That is 
what we are willing and happy to do. And the clock is ticking.
  If Republicans keep squabbling and careen us into a shutdown, the 
consequences will reverberate across the country. A shutdown harms the 
economy. A shutdown causes costs to spike as supply chains buckle and 
lending slows down. Federal safety programs could come to a halt, 
making our people and our communities less safe.
  If the Republicans shut the government down, tens of thousands of 
children across the country could immediately lose access to Head 
Start. Nearly 7 million women and infants and children could lose 
nutrition program benefits. Food safety inspections would be 
jeopardized. Some members of the military could be asked to work 
without pay. Border security--something very important that our 
Republican colleagues talk a lot about--could be thrown into chaos, 
increasing wait times at ports of entry. Frontline border personnel 
would have to do their jobs without pay.
  America does not want another Republican shutdown. America cannot 
afford another Republican shutdown. And make no mistake, if Republicans 
don't work with Democrats in a bipartisan way, if the four leaders 
can't come together because the House Republicans are so adamant, 
Americans will blame Republicans--particularly those in the House--for 
shutting the government down.