[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20588-20589]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PRESSING ISSUES AT YEAR END

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, as we know all too well, the Senate of the 
United States has an annual job to do--to adopt a budget and then 
appropriate it; to lay out the framework for what to spend and then to 
make deliberate decisions in the Appropriations Committee and move 
forward by the end of the fiscal year.
  This may not be well or widely known, but the Federal fiscal year 
begins October 1. It is by October 1 that we are supposed to figure out 
what we are going to spend and how we are going to spend it and why we 
are going to spend it.
  As we all head home to celebrate the holidays on December 21, I just 
wanted to take a moment and go over the list of things that are 
unaddressed and unresolved at the end of this calendar year.
  The way it is supposed to work here and the way it is actually 
working here are strikingly different. In my 7 years now in the Senate 
on both the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee, I have 
seen people of good will of both parties try mightily and so far 
consistently fail to get us back to regular order and to end this 
process of moving crisis to crisis, continuing resolution to continuing 
resolution.
  While I didn't hope that tonight the Federal Government of the United 
States would shut down, it is depressing, concerning, even alarming to 
me that we head home having not resolved so many issues.
  We have heard from other Members here about the pressing needs of 
their home States. We have concerns all over our country, such as the 
Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, which is a literal 
lifeline to 9 million low-income children. Authorization and funding 
ran out months ago. Some States are already notifying parents that 
their children's health insurance coverage will lapse. There are 
community health centers on which 26 million patients rely. There is 
the pressing need to fund a response to the opioid crisis, the need to 
fund veterans' care, infrastructure, shore up pension plans, invest in 
education, and, of course, respond to natural disasters. From Americans 
in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to Americans in Texas and Florida 
and Louisiana, to those in California and the West--whether it is 
hurricanes or forest fires, parts of our Nation are literally flooding 
and burning. Yet we head home having not addressed their challenges.
  Of course, I feel concerned that we have failed to act to protect the 
Dreamers here in our country, the young men and women brought here who 
have never known any other country, men and women who reflect the best 
of our country. I met many in my home State of Delaware. They are high 
school and college students, members of our military, parts of our 
neighborhoods and communities. But given the Trump administration's 
decision, the President's decision to end an administrative policy 
allowing these young people to come out of the shadows and live without 
fear of being deported, we wait for bipartisan legislative action to 
give them the security they deserve and the ability to participate 
wholly in the American Dream.
  I believe we can pass a bipartisan Dream Act that both protects 
Dreamers and makes our borders more secure, but all of these issues 
seem to become more partisan and more difficult fights than they need 
to be. We should be able to work together to resolve our differences 
and not have to go home with yet another continuing resolution, keeping 
the government afloat while we head out to celebrate. Our constituents 
didn't send us here to fight endless partisan battles, to avoid the 
strictures of the Budget Act and the appropriations process, and when 
things get tough, to just kick the can down the road.
  Before I leave the floor, I want to speak about one other pressing 
concern I have, and that is about the importance of maintaining the 
independence of the investigation currently underway under the 
leadership of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. I have heard concerning, 
even alarming attacks on the special counsel by colleagues in the other 
Chamber and by folks in the press.
  I just want to take a moment to say that our Nation relies on a few 
key institutions and principles that protect this experiment in 
democracy, and none are more important than the rule of law and the 
institutions that make up our system of justice. As partisanship, 
gridlock, and distress have become more prevalent in our country and 
corrosive to our politics, these institutions that sustain our 
democratic system are more important than ever.
  I have traveled to other countries that have on pieces of paper 
Constitutions and legal systems that literally mirror our own, but they 
are ineffective and their systems are nondemocratic because their 
courts are not independent and their national leaders are not held 
accountable.

[[Page 20589]]

  Across our country for generations, from classrooms to courtrooms, in 
Congress and communities, we have affirmed to Americans of all 
backgrounds the importance of the principle that no one is above the 
rule of law. Our country has been able to grow and change and improve 
because we are a nation of laws--laws that can be debated and changed 
but must be followed and respected.
  The Department of Justice isn't respected because of its role on a 
piece of paper, no matter how treasured and important, or because of 
its title engraved above the door of the building or its motto; it is 
respected, trusted, and relied upon because it has strived to uphold 
our highest ideals and to enforce the law.
  It is easier to save an institution like the rule of law than it is 
to restore it once torn down. This is why I helped author bipartisan 
legislation that would seek to further affirm the rule of law and the 
independence of the Department of Justice specifically by protecting 
special counsel investigations from unwarranted political interference.
  We have spirited debates over taxation, immigration, our Federal 
budget, but this issue is too important for me to yield the floor 
before this end of the year without urging my colleagues to seriously 
consider the important task we face to maintain the independence of the 
Department of Justice and uphold the rule of law.
  I hope folks in this Chamber will consider the importance of 
protecting this investigation and this special counsel and, frankly, of 
continuing to protect the independence and integrity of the Department 
of Justice and our system of courts and law into the future. It is part 
of the bedrock on which our democracy rests, a bedrock which we cannot 
afford to have shaken.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

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