[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 176 (Thursday, October 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S7722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. GRAHAM. Madam President, there are a couple of topics that I 
would like to talk about. The first is the government shutdown.
  I don't know what my friends on the other side expect. We will talk 
about the Affordable Care Act at the right time, starting with the idea 
that it is not affordable. You created a law without any Republican 
votes. You had the subsidies, and they expire. That was your choice. 
Most of us believe that the ObamaCare Program you created is very 
expensive, and we are not going to extend it. We would look at trying 
to make it better. The President has a brilliant idea of how better to 
use the money to help consumers.
  Senator Marshall just left. So, whether you open the government up or 
not, I am not going to change my vote. I am not going to vote to 
authorize these subsidies as they are. I am not going to vote to repeal 
the good work we did under the Big Beautiful Bill. So let's open up the 
government and talk. If you don't want to do that, then a lot of people 
are going to have their lives turned upside down for no good reason.
  I do not feel like we should be held hostage here to get a 
legislative outcome to open up the government. We tried that as 
Republicans: You have got to build a wall or we won't open the 
government. It was probably not a good idea for us. It didn't work out 
well for us. If nothing else, learn from what we did.
  So I am hoping the government will open soon. It is a dangerous time 
to have the Federal Government not functioning in the security space, 
and it is a danger for air travel, but if you haven't noticed, the 
world is a pretty dangerous place.