[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9758-9759]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I just want to commend our leader from 
Illinois for bringing up what is so critically important, which is the 
entire budget of the country. It is important that we get it right in 
supporting the authorization in front of us.
  I understand the defense of our country is much more than just the 
Department of Defense. As a border State in Michigan, border security, 
which is not in the Defense appropriations bill, is incredibly 
important, as is cyber security, which we are hearing more and more 
about; the frontline of our men and women, the first responders, police 
officers, firefighters--who do we think actually answers the call in a 
community when there is some kind of local challenge or a terrorist 
attack; airport security--I could go on and on. These are all things 
that are not in the appropriations bill for the Department of Defense.
  Unfortunately, without a bipartisan agreement to continue what was a 
very positive 2-year agreement put together that has been called the 
Ryan-Murray agreement to be able to balance out all the security needs 
as well as the economic security needs of our country--without that, it 
is a mistake to begin the appropriations process one bill at a time.
  So from my perspective, on behalf of the people of Michigan, whatever 
appropriations bill comes up next, no matter what it is, we should not 
begin that process until we have a bipartisan agreement, as we had for 
the last 2 years, so that no part of our national security is hurt or 
the economic security for the future of our country. Until we do that--
and we can do that; we have done it before--we should not

[[Page 9759]]

begin the appropriations process on a piecemeal basis.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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