[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the Senate is in the middle of a busy work 
period, and we have a lot to accomplish in the coming weeks and months. 
We have some great opportunities for bipartisan collaboration: market 
structure legislation; the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act; 
the National Defense Authorization Act; FISA.
  But at the top of the list right now is funding the government. If 
there is any responsibility we have as Members of Congress, it is that. 
And our country cannot afford another shutdown like the two shutdowns 
we have experienced over the course of this fiscal year. Shutdowns take 
a toll on our economy, on our national security. They create havoc at 
airports. And, of course, they take an incredible toll on hard-working 
Americans inside and outside the government whose paychecks depend on 
the government being open.
  I think a lot of Americans remember pretty clearly what things looked 
like during the Democrats' two recordbreaking shutdowns this past year: 
government workers lining up at food banks, charging essentials on 
credit cards, and taking up any work they could find in hopes of being 
able to make ends meet; government services reduced; national security 
Agencies strained.
  I don't think any American who traveled will forget the effect those 
two shutdowns had on air travel: hourslong TSA lines snaking around 
airport concourses and out airport doors; canceled and delayed flights; 
a nationwide reduction in air traffic, when our air traffic control 
system could no longer safely maintain regular flight schedules.
  The list goes on.
  We cannot--cannot--have this again, and that is why I have asked 
Appropriations Chair Collins to draft a bipartisan and clean continuing 
resolution to fund the government until after the November election. I 
intend for the Senate to vote on that before we head to our States to 
work during August.
  The Senate Appropriations Committee is hard at work reviewing 
anomalies from OMB to ensure we have a bipartisan product ready to move 
quickly. No one is served by our waiting until the last minute to take 
this up.
  And after all that our country has been through with the past two 
shutdowns, the American people deserve to have confidence that the 
government will be open and running, not to mention the fact that 
government employees--like our own staffers and the Capitol Police 
officers standing guard around this building--deserve to know that 
their paychecks will be coming.
  It was not a good year on the government funding front, with two 
recordbreaking government shutdowns, but we have an opportunity now to 
chart a new path.
  I am encouraged that, so far, my Democrat colleagues have signaled 
that they do not want to force another government shutdown, and I 
appreciate Chair Collins' work to engage with Democrats and produce a 
bipartisan continuing resolution.
  No one--no one--is served by a shutdown, not either political party, 
and most of all not the people that we represent.
  So I look forward to bringing up a bipartisan CR in the coming days, 
and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and give 
the American people the certainty that they deserve.
  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. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.