En Bloc Nominations
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, well, I am coming to the floor today as we find ourselves in the middle of the Schumer shutdown, and this is a time where, indeed, instead of being in the Schumer shutdown and having these shenanigans taking place, we should be in the middle of working hard for the American people. If we were not in this shutdown and our attention focused on that, we could be working our way through the NDAA, our National Defense Authorization Act, and we could be passing our appropriations bills through regular order.
But what we know is this is something that the minority leader has been working on for weeks. It is what he wanted. He thinks that it is going to benefit the Democratic Members of this Chamber.
I just really think he is sorely mistaken on this because the measure--the continuing resolution in front of us--is a clean CR, which means it is funding that is going to continue at levels where they were, for a period of about 7 weeks, while we finish exercising our due diligence and passing the appropriations bills.
Now, this is something that--this shutdown didn't have to happen, but as I said, it is something that appears to have been in the works and something that was really desired by those on the left.
We have heard, of course, that the minority leader is not wanting to face opposition from the left there in New York, and because of that, of course, what we are seeing is that our Nation's business has come to a halt.
Last night and then again today, all but three of the Members of the Democratic conference voted against a stopgap funding measure, our clean CR, that would have kept this government running through November 21. Keeping the spending at current levels, this measure would have given us the time we need to be working on these appropriations bills. It would have kept us moving forward and kept us from wasting time.
One of the things I think is so important is that shutdowns are expensive, and this is something that ends up costing us money every time we do it. And, of course, we have quite a bit of national debt.
Now, when we talk about completing our appropriations bills and setting our spending limits for the year and fulfilling that budget document, that portion--we have our budget document. Then we move to our appropriations bills.
Well, Senator Collins of Maine, who has led the Appropriations Committee, has done an outstanding job working with Republicans and Democrats on that committee, building out this appropriations process, making certain that bills moved out of the Appropriations Committee and that they are making their way to the floor.
One of the things that is so interesting is that 8 of the 12 bills that came out of the Appropriations Committee came out with broad bipartisan support. So if you have got measures that are coming out with broad bipartisan support, why would you not move them to the floor? Why would you not want to finish out this appropriations process?
And, of course, it should have been finished by September 30. It was not finished by then. So we are hopeful that by November 21, this process can be complete and that we will be moving from a Biden budget to a Trump and Republican budget, which, by the way, is what the American people voted for when they gave a mandate to President Donald Trump on November 5.
Now, I mentioned the 12 bills, and 8 of the 12 have come out with bipartisan support. Three of those bills--our Agriculture, our Leg Branch, and our MILCON-VA--have already passed off the floor, and they did so with wide bipartisan votes. This is something that, yes, indeed--yes, indeed--we need to make certain that we continue to push these bills. Now, by passing these approps bills, we are ensuring that we get onto the budget the American people voted for.
Well, this is not what our colleagues across the aisle are saying they wanted. They don't want the clean CR. They are not wanting to move forward on these bills. Instead, their measure for keeping the government open and running is holding government basically hostage, if you will, for $1.5 trillion in additional spending--$1.5 trillion.
Our national debt is north of $37 trillion. It is climbing. And, of course, adding another $1.5 trillion for a few weeks is really irresponsible. In this, they are basically trying to undo what we did-- the steps and the progress that we made when we did the Big Beautiful Bill, which is truly--truly--a bill for hard-working Americans.
So I would encourage my colleagues across the aisle: It is time to come to the table. It is time to pass the stopgap measure, the clean CR. And I would remind my friends that since last year, they have voted for these funding levels five times.
So let's come together. Let's get this passed. Let's get back on track to pass these appropriations bills. Let's keep the Federal Government open and working.
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