Appropriations

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week, the Senate has continued our regular appropriations process. We are considering four important funding measures that will account for about an eighth of discretionary spending.

This bill will keep resources flowing to a long list of key government functions. We are talking about everything from food safety inspections to anti-drug enforcement, to child nutrition, to the Forest Service. It attends to a number of specific policy priorities that we all hold in common, like providing major resources to rebuild America's infrastructure and to fight against opioid abuse.

My constituents in Kentucky will benefit from new funding for rural development grants and loans and more resources to fight everything from illegal drugs to invasive species like Asian carp. Communities in every single State will win because of this work.

I want to express gratitude to Members on both sides of the aisle: our subcommittee chairs, who helped to shape the bills in this minibus, Senators Murkowski, Collins, Hoeven, and Lankford; all of our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and their fearless leaders, Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy, for keeping this process bipartisan and for keeping it moving; and Senator Murkowski, once more, for her work in managing this legislation here on the floor.

I am proud of the regular appropriations process we are rebuilding together. I am proud that we have been able to process several amendments and hope we can continue to process even more. But I am especially proud of the good things this legislation will do for families and communities nationwide.

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