Government Shutdowns
Floor Speech
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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, you are very aware because in the committee that we both sit on, we have worked through a process of trying to form an answer to a problem that is coming at us again in 2 weeks.
Two weeks from now, we will hit the end of the fiscal year. At the end of the fiscal year, according to the Budget Act of 1974, we should have already passed 12 appropriations bills out of this body, 12 appropriations bills out of the House, have conferenced those two bills, sent it to the White House for a signature. That is the instructions that should be done by the end of the fiscal year.
The problem with that is the Senate has not passed a single one of those appropriations bills even out of committee--not one. So our government is not funded 2 weeks from now, which means the countdown clock will begin again toward when we are headed to another government shutdown, and the conversation will be: Are we going to have another government shutdown? Are we going to be open? What is going to happen to Federal workers?
Agencies across Washington, DC, and across the country will shortly get instructions for here is what to do in case of a shutdown in your Agency. Here is who, of employees, would be nonessential, what needs to happen to them; essential, what needs to happen to them.
And the chaos will begin in all these Agencies because 2 weeks from now we are headed toward the end of the fiscal year and not a single appropriations bill, of the 12, has been taken up in committee. Not one of them is even scheduled even to be debated on the floor of the Senate. We will not have appropriations bills done 2 weeks from now. It is not going to happen.
So here are the alternatives: There will be what is called a short- term continuing resolution of some length or we will have a shutdown 2 weeks from now.
For the past 3 years, Senator Maggie Hassan and I have proposed a very straightforward solution to end the threat of government shutdowns. Our straightforward proposal to stop government shutdowns is a simple way to be able to solve this issue. If we get to the end of the fiscal year, September 30, midnight, and we have not finished the work that needs to be done on those 12 appropriations bills, automatically a continuing resolution will kick in to prevent a government shutdown. But starting the very next day, October 1, the Senate and the House have mandatory quorum calls every single day until we finish the 12 appropriations bills. We stay here to be able to finish our work. But the work has to be done.
Why is that important? Because Federal Agencies shouldn't constantly be worried about another government shutdown, and the American people should be able to interact with their own government. Now, all of us know the government actually doesn't shut down, but it moves into shutdown mode. Some people have to show up for work; some people do not. But everyone is paid. Some people can get access to a permit when they contact their Federal Agency; some people cannot. Some people can get licensing; some people cannot. Some people can work through the process with the Corps of Engineers; some people cannot.
And this chaos for the American people and for people who work for the Federal workforce happens all over the country simply because Congress did not get its job done.
Well, the solution is simple. Hold the American people and the Federal workers harmless and push Members of Congress to actually finish the work. This is not a partisan solution. It is just a solution. That is why Republicans and Democrats alike have agreed to the simple solution that Maggie Hassan and I have come to, to be able to end government shutdowns and to say let's continue the conversation that needs to be done, but let's not have yet another shutdown.
This body knows, in the past 40 years, we have had 21 government shutdowns--21. The last one needs to be our last, but I don't know if it will be because 2 weeks from now we are headed to the end of the year, and there is no solution on the table for how to avoid a government shutdown again.
Senator Hassan and I and multiple others again filed our bill today and said: We know how to stop government shutdowns. Keep us at work. Hold the American people harmless, and let's get the task done.
Honestly, I have had people say: That is such a creative solution, and it is such a simple process to get done. I have smiled at them and said: Actually, it is not all that creative. It is the same thing that my mom did when my brother and I were growing up at the house. When my brother and I were in an argument, she would put the two of us in our room and would say: You guys work it out. When you work it out, then you can come out of the room.
It is really no different than that to say Members of Congress should stay at the task until we solve the budget work and we should not leave with the budget work undone and leave the American people experiencing another government shutdown.
Let's not have shutdown 22. Let's end government shutdowns, and let's get our actual budget work done, on time, as is expected by the American people.
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