[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6281]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     GOVERNMENT FUNDING LEGISLATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, after months of committee 
work and bicameral negotiations, the government funding agreement that 
abides by the spending caps set in the bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 
was filed over in the House. This legislation will promote a number of 
American and conservative priorities.
  It will help to strengthen the border with the largest border 
security funding increase in a decade.
  It will help to strengthen the military with funding for a pay raise 
for our troops, along with a critically needed downpayment on the long 
overdue task of rebuilding our military.
  It will help to streamline the Federal bureaucracy with the 
elimination or consolidation of more than 150 government programs and 
initiatives.
  It contains many other conservative wins, too, like freezing funding 
for the IRS, cutting funding for the EPA, prohibiting funding for 
President Obama's climate slush fund, and prohibiting a taxpayer 
bailout of ObamaCare's risk corridors. It maintains the Hyde Amendment, 
will help veterans, and will fund implementation of the law that shifts 
control of education back to parents, States, and local school 
districts.
  Additionally, this legislation will provide more of the resources we 
need to help communities across our country that continue to suffer 
from the opioid epidemic. It also permanently extends healthcare for 
thousands of retired coal miners from States like Kentucky--something 
for which I have fought for a long time and something I was proud to 
secure in this bill, as we put together the final package.
  Each of these measures is included in the funding bill we will take 
up later this week.
  I wish to commend President Trump and his team, including Director 
Mulvaney, Secretary Mattis, and Secretary Kelly, for quickly 
identifying national security priorities and working with the 
Republican Congress to enact some of them. Secretary Mattis has made 
clear that rebuilding our military and restoring combat readiness for 
today and tomorrow will require a multiyear, bipartisan commitment to 
meet the needs of the force. The additional contingency operations 
funding provided in this legislation represents an important first step 
toward meeting that goal.
  While this funding bill is the product of bipartisan negotiations, it 
delivers some important conservative wins, including critical steps 
forward on defense and border security. Senators should continue 
reviewing the bill text now so that we can pass it without delay after 
we receive it from the House.

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