[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 160 (Tuesday, September 30, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6866-S6867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS AND EXTENSIONS AND OTHER MATTERS ACT, 2026

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the motion to 
reconsider the vote on passage of S. 2882.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The motion was agreed to.


                      Vote on Motion to Reconsider

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote on passage 
of S. 2882.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The motion was agreed to.


                 Vote on S. 2882, Upon Reconsideration

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Shall the bill pass, upon 
reconsideration?
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 53, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 534 Leg.]

                                YEAS--47

     Alsobrooks
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt Rochester
     Booker
     Cantwell
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gallego
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kim
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Markey
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schiff
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Slotkin
     Smith
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--53

     Banks
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Curtis
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Husted
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Justice
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     McCormick
     Moody
     Moran
     Moreno
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Rounds
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sheehy
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 47, the nays are 
53.
  The 60-vote threshold having not been achieved, the motion upon 
reconsideration did not pass.
  The bill (S. 2882) was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.


                               H.R. 5371

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in a few minutes, the Senate is going to 
vote on the Republican partisan, status quo bill--partisan, status quo 
bill. The Republican CR was the wrong option for America a week ago. It 
remains the wrong option today because it does nothing--absolutely 
nothing--to solve the biggest healthcare crisis in America.
  As we speak, tens of millions of Americans are getting letters in the 
mail informing them that their healthcare premiums are about to shoot 
up by an average of 114 percent. For a working-class family that needs 
healthcare, this is a huge increase. It is going to dramatically hurt 
them. And our Republican colleagues want to do nothing about it.
  Four million people are about to lose coverage, and 24 million people 
will see their healthcare costs go up. And even if you don't have ACA, 
the insurers are going to raise rates on you because they are getting 
so much less money because of all the cuts my colleagues made.
  This is a crisis.
  Now I know the leader is going to show a poll that says that 
Democrats will be blamed for the shutdown. There are many more polls 
that show Republicans are blamed. The question in that poll is biased--
biased--in the New York Times, but it is biased.
  That is true. I don't always believe the New York Times; you can be 
sure of that. Neither do you. OK?

[[Page S6867]]

  But in any case, here is a poll from Morning Consult today: 75 
percent of Americans support extending the tax premium credits; 63 
percent of Republicans support it. Forty-five percent of voters say 
they will blame Republicans in Congress for a government shutdown, and 
only 32 percent blame Democrats.
  It is natural that people understand that Donald Trump and the 
Republicans want a shutdown and Democrats do not.
  We need to deal with this healthcare crisis now, not later, but the 
Republican bill fails to do that. I urge my Republican colleagues 
instead to join with us and work in good faith to keep the government 
open, keep costs down.
  This is a totally partisan bill. Not once were we approached about 
what our input should be. When I was majority leader, 13 different 
times, we passed CRs. Why? Because every single one of those 13 times 
we negotiated with Republicans to keep the government open. We still 
want to have those negotiations today.
  Democrats remain ready to get to work to negotiate a bipartisan 
agreement--a truly bipartisan agreement--to keep the government open, 
but we need to fix our healthcare system now. We need to stop premiums 
from going up dramatically. We need to be on the side of the American 
people because they are on our side in terms of getting this healthcare 
crisis fixed--one created by the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which 
they now want to change the name of because they know it is so 
unpopular. In fact, Republican leaders are saying ``Don't talk about 
healthcare'' because they know that we are on their side and 
Republicans are not.
  The issue can't wait. It must be dealt with now, not November, when 
it will be too late. The Republican CR is silent on healthcare and the 
wrong option for the country. It is as simple as that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. THUNE. We are down to the wire here. In just a moment, the Senate 
will vote on whether or not to keep the government open.
  Right here--24 pages. Not partisan. Not complicated. Simple. 
Straightforward. Clean. Nonpartisan. Short term. Until November 21 so 
we can finish the appropriations process--something, I might add, that 
never happened when the Democrats were in the majority.
  Last year, we never considered an appropriations bills on the floor 
even though 11 of them were reported out of the Appropriations 
Committee--not a single one on the floor.
  We want to fund the government to give our appropriators, Democrat 
and Republican, a chance to work on bills that have been coming out of 
the Appropriations Committee with big bipartisan margins--a pretty 
novel concept, right?
  Well, in just a moment, we are going to vote on whether to keep the 
government open, and all indications are the Democrats are going to 
reject the clean, nonpartisan funding extension here before us and 
choose to shut the government down.
  Now, my friend the Democrat leader and a number of other Democrats 
have spoken at length on many occasions about the pain--the pain--that 
government shutdowns cause Americans. Since he mentioned it, I will 
show this poll. This is a poll right here, the New York Times.
  By the way, this morning, the Democrat leader used one of my other 
charts. Thank you for doing that. It makes my point. I am guessing he--
do you want to use this one? Maybe not.
  But this one is the New York Times, and based on the questions on 
views on whether Democrats should or should not shut down the 
government if demands are not met, 65 percent, should not; 27 percent, 
should.
  Now, granted--I mean, I don't think the issue here is who gets the 
blame, who gets the political blame. That is not what this should be 
about. This issue, honestly, folks, is about the American people.
  But a lot of Democrats, a lot of Republicans, and a lot of 
Independents want us to keep the government open, so why are the 
Democrats doing this?
  As was mentioned, 13 times when they had the majority, we did short-
term continuing resolutions. Republicans delivered and voted with 
Democrats to fund the government.
  Well, I know why we are doing this. The Democrats' far-left base said 
``Jump,'' and the Democrat leader said ``How high?'' But the far left's 
determination to oppose anything President Trump has ever said or done 
is not a good reason for subjecting the American people to the pain of 
a government shutdown.
  So I would say to my Democrat colleagues who still care more about 
their constituents than the dictates of far-left interest groups: Think 
about what you are doing. Democrat leaders may be determined to take 
government funding hostage for their own partisan purposes. You don't 
have to join them. We can pass a clean, nonpartisan bill and get back 
to the business of the American people.

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