[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I won't use a lot of time here this morning 
because we have a lot to do.
  We worked for a long time yesterday, into the late hours of the 
night, trying to secure an agreement to vote on a long-term government 
funding bill. I was last talking to the chairman of
the Appropriations Committee at 11 o'clock last night.
  Regrettably, a small group of Senate Republicans has determined it is 
in their political interests to hold this legislation hostage. They 
objected to an agreement that would allow us to vote on Monday night. 
We are now relegated to watching time tick away on our clocks just so 
we can keep the government open and funded. I remind everyone that at 
12 o'clock midnight--12 a.m.--the U.S. Government, tonight, runs out of 
money.
  We even tried to get an agreement last night to extend government 
funding for a few extra days while we worked to pass the long-term 
funding bill, but the Republicans wouldn't let us do that.
  So now we wait. But while we wait, we shouldn't waste time. 
Republicans and their leader have known for weeks, if not months, that 
we intend to vote on the President's nominations. So it is clear that 
this impasse we are having here today is not about nominees, it is 
about preventing us from funding the government. So now, on the eve of 
our government running out of funding, Senate Republicans are forcing 
completely unnecessary procedural votes just to waste time and slow us 
down from funding the government.
  It doesn't have to be this way. We can still come to an agreement to 
take care of funding for our great country right now.
  Mr. DURBIN. Will the majority leader yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. I will yield for a question.
  Mr. DURBIN. I would like to ask the majority leader for some 
clarification.
  Is my understanding correct that at midnight tonight officially the 
funding of our government ceases?
  Mr. REID. Absolutely true.
  Mr. DURBIN. And the majority leader asked the Republican side of the 
aisle to at least extend it several days while we completed our work on 
the omnibus budget bill sent to us by the House?
  Mr. REID. Yes, we had yesterday evening a piece of legislation from 
the House doing just that--extending the time for a few days.
  Mr. DURBIN. Was there an objection by the Republicans to the short-
term extension so our government would continue operating?
  Mr. REID. We were told it wouldn't be necessary to do that because we 
couldn't get agreement to do it. So the answer is yes.
  Mr. DURBIN. Late last night, the junior Senator from Texas came to 
the floor. Is he part of the group that is objecting to moving forward 
on the omnibus bill?
  Mr. REID. Well, it appears so. At 10 o'clock or so last night he gave 
a relatively extended speech. If someone looks at that speech, he 
wasn't critical of me. Most of his criticism was for the Speaker and 
the Republican leader here. He was challenging whether they were people 
of their word as to what they were going to do.
  Mr. DURBIN. I might just ask the majority leader, this is the same 
Senator who shut down the government last year in protest over the 
Affordable Care Act?
  Mr. REID. The very same man. Now he is hung up on not only the 
Affordable Care Act but the President's action to give 5 million people 
relief in this country so they can come out of the shadows and make our 
country a more productive place.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the majority leader and hope we can find some 
support to moving forward to fund the government and accept our 
responsibilities.

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