[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 127 (Thursday, July 24, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S4689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Appropriations

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the appropriations process is well underway 
here in the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee, under Chair 
Collins, released four bipartisan appropriations bills.
  This week, we are doing something a bit unusual. We are bringing 
appropriations legislation to the floor. Why do I say that is unusual? 
Because last year, despite the fact that the Senate Appropriations 
Committee approved 11 out of the 12 yearly appropriations bills with 
bipartisan support, the Democratic leader never brought a single one of 
those bills to the floor--not one.
  One of the things that I have been determined to do as leader is to 
restore us as much as possible to a regular-order appropriations 
process, to have bills move through the committees and then come to the 
Senate floor for debate and amendment.
  That is what we are doing this week with consideration of the 
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill for 
fiscal year 2026. This legislation was approved by the Senate 
Appropriations Committee in a robustly bipartisan vote of 26 to 3. I 
hope it will receive equally robust bipartisan support on the Senate 
floor.
  The MILCON-VA appropriations bill provides critical funding for 
veterans' healthcare, veterans' benefits, and construction projects at 
military bases and installations around the globe.
  As a resident of a rural State, I am particularly pleased by the 
bill's funding for telehealth services as well as for the Office of 
Rural Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This funding will 
help reduce barriers to care for rural veterans, as will the bill's 
provision preventing the VA from closing hospitals--something I worked 
to include.
  I am also pleased to see that the bill continues to fund 
modernization of veterans' healthcare records by providing funding to 
triple the number of VA sites that use electronic health records.
  On the military construction front, I am happy to announce that the 
bill contains funding for a number of key facilities for the new B-21 
bomber--the future of our long-range bomber fleet--which will have its 
first home at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. National Guard 
facilities in South Dakota, like National Guard facilities around the 
country, will also see funding for essential construction projects 
thanks to this legislation.
  Mr. President, considering the Military Construction-VA bill on the 
floor is a big step in the right direction appropriations-wise. And our 
work this week doesn't have to end there. As I said, the Appropriations 
Committee has reported a total of four appropriations bills so far. All 
of them have been bipartisan.
  I know that the fiscal year 2026 Agriculture appropriations bill is a 
major priority for all of us--Democrat or Republican--who live in 
States that depend on agriculture. Whether it is funding for 
agricultural research programs, resources for the Animal and Plant 
Health Inspection Service, assistance to ranchers to comply with animal 
disease traceability requirements, the $223 million for the 
Agricultural Marketing Service to expand markets for American 
agriculture products, or resources for the Farm Service Agency to 
ensure that farmers have access to necessary capital, this year's 
Agriculture appropriations bill will be a key resource for farmers and 
ranchers.
  Then there is the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, 
which, among other things, provides essential funding for Federal law 
enforcement officers as well as support for State and local law 
enforcement.
  There is the fiscal year 2026 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 
which funds the work we do here in Washington for our constituents and, 
this year, also adds additional funding to confront growing threats to 
Member security.
  Mr. President, I am very grateful to Chair Collins, Vice Chair 
Murray, and all the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee for 
all their work on these bills. I hope we will be able to consider some 
of these alongside the MILCON-VA appropriations bill this week and 
next.
  Democrats have indicated they want a bipartisan appropriations 
process, and we are giving it to them. I hope we will see bipartisan 
passage of appropriations bills on the Senate floor.
  It was disturbing to see the Democratic leader implicitly threatening 
to shut down the government in his July ``Dear Colleague'' letter, but 
I am hopeful he does not represent the views of Senate Democrats as a 
whole. Members of both parties should have a strong interest in a 
regular-order, bipartisan appropriations process, and I am pleased that 
we managed to begin on a bipartisan basis this week. I hope the process 
will continue in a bipartisan way as we move toward September's 
deadline.
  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. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.