Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Bureau of Land Management Relating to ``Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment''

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, following up with what the majority leader just said, I have here the Washington Post from this morning, and they have an editorial. And what they have in bold print says:

Democratic leaders play a dangerous game.

That is what the Democrats are doing.

We just heard the majority leader talk about what we are trying to do, what we are facing, how Chuck Schumer is being held hostage by the liberal groups that set up the war room with him. And what we see is a dangerous game being played and threats to the American people.

This goes on to say:

There is a clean funding bill on the table.

This is the Washington Post, this morning.

There is a clean funding bill on the table. Only a handful of Senate Democrats need to vote for it.

The minority leader is leading the Democratic Party into a box canyon. You can't get out, and it is a dangerous game. And it is not just dangerous for them; it is dangerous for the American people. That is where the danger lies.

So I come to the floor because the American people are facing an immediate crisis, and they know why. Anybody watching knows why. It is because Senate Democrats have now voted five times against a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution that would open the government today.

This is day 8 of the Schumer shutdown--day 8. The country is held hostage by the Democrats, and they are playing a dangerous game. This isn't a game, but that is what the Democrats have turned it into.

So the question before us is simple: What have the Democrats accomplished during this dangerous game that they are playing? On October 10, on Friday, in 2 days, Border Patrol agents and other Federal workers will receive only half a paycheck. That is the result of the Democrats' dangerous game. It will be their last paycheck until the Schumer shutdown ends and Democrats vote to reopen the government. They could do it today.

The House of Representatives passed a clean continuing resolution at current funding levels. Democrats voted 13 times under Joe Biden for a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

A continuing resolution funds our military, pays for law enforcement, continues food assistance for moms and young children, and keeps small business loans flowing.

Thirteen times they voted for this. Now they reject it because they want to please their radical, extreme base--the base that has put up a war room that Chuck Schumer has bowed down to. That is what we just heard from the majority leader--that they are the ones calling the shots--and that is why we find ourselves in this situation.

Democrats are demanding radical, new policies before they allow the government to reopen. I have seen their demand letter--$1.5 trillion in new expenses, as the majority leader just outlined here on the floor. Their ransom note is filled with liberal policies. I look at it--it is stitched together like Frankenstein's monster: $1.5 trillion in reckless new spending; free healthcare for noncitizens; free Medicaid for working-age, able-bodied adults who refuse to work. There are over 5 million of these individuals in the United States, and yet they refuse to work. And the Democrats want them all to get free Medicaid.

Fifty billion dollars the Democrats want to cut from vulnerable rural hospitals, hospitals in rural communities. Do the Democrats not care at all about those communities even though there are rural communities in their States? They are beholden to the big cities and the mayors, the sanctuary cities that control the Democratic Party.

That is what we are dealing with here. That is why the Washington Post calls what the Democrats are doing--as I pick it up again, Mr. President--``a dangerous game.'' They are holding the American people hostage to extract far-left wing concessions. They are telling our servicemembers their paychecks are negotiable. They are telling small businesses their dreams are collateral damage in a partisan fight. They are telling mothers and young children that WIC benefits are leverage for the far-left demands of healthcare for noncitizens.

Republicans remain committed to ensuring families receive the support they deserve. The Democrats have chosen repeatedly to keep the government closed for political purposes only.

American families are feeling the pain nationwide.

In Georgia, more than 100,000 Federal employees are wondering where they will find the money to pay their bills and buy their groceries.

In Arizona, 344,000 children enrolled in SNAP face uncertainty. The benefits are running out.

Time is of the essence. Shutdown Democrats are telling these families their problems aren't urgent. Well, they are urgent to those families, and the Democrats don't seem to care.

In New York, almost half a million individuals who rely on WIC will lose access at the end of this week. It is already Wednesday. We are talking about pregnant women. We are talking about new mothers. We are talking about young children. They depend on this program.

In Illinois, every week the shutdown continues, it costs the State's economy over $500 million. That is jobs lost, paychecks missed, opportunities evaporated.

In Michigan, small businesses face delays of $92 million in loans because the Small Business Administration is frozen due to the shutdown. These businesses are the backbones of our communities and our economy. They should be able to make payroll, keep their doors open-- not as the Democrats continue to play what has been termed ``a dangerous game.''

In Nevada, for each month the shutdown continues, consumer spending from lost wages will fall by over $200 million. It is money that won't flow into local businesses, won't pay rent, won't put food on the table.

In New Jersey, telehealth programs are on hold. I am a doctor. Without these programs, patients could be put at greater risk.

In New Hampshire, workers maintaining our nuclear attack submarines-- they face furloughs and unpaid work.

Look, this goes beyond missing a paycheck; this is about national security. The Schumer shutdown--the dangerous game that he is playing-- puts America's safety at risk.

At airports nationwide, we are already seeing the direct effects of the shutdown. Flights are being delayed. Security lines are growing longer.

Even the head of the Teamsters union, Sean O'Brien, says that Democrats' political theater is something he can see right through.

He said:

A shutdown will hurt working people. Period. American workers are not bargaining chips.

That is the leader of the Teamsters union, Mr. President.

He goes on to say:

Senators should stop screwing around and pass the House- passed clean, short term funding bill.

That is where we are today. He is right. But regrettably, Senate Democrats are treating the American people as bargaining chips, as hostages, and that is why they sent the list of demands as ransom.

Democrats have now voted five times against opening the government, five times against supporting our military, five times against paying law enforcement officers, five times against food assistance for women and infants and children, five times against the small business loans that help Main Street. Five times, Democrats have looked at the mounting damage of the Schumer shutdown and shrugged their shoulders. That is the situation we have today.

The American people overwhelmingly say Democrats should pass a clean continuing resolution and end the shutdown immediately.

There is a clean, bipartisan resolution before the Senate ready for a vote right now. It reopens the government today. It would protect the paychecks and the programs the American people depend upon. It would end the uncertainty that is gripping millions of American families.

The question is not whether the Democrats can end the shutdown; it is, Will they have the integrity to do it or will they continue to play this dangerous game with our Nation and with our families? Nominations

Mr. President, on a separate matter, before Senate Democrats shut down the Federal Government, they shut down the very Senate floor on which I stand, and they did it by freezing the confirmation process.

For months, their blockade created a growing backlog of qualified nominees, so many of whom have come out of committees with bipartisan votes; nominees for positions that, during prior administrations, sailed through the Senate by unanimous consent or by voice vote--but not with this Democrat minority, oh, no.

So in September, Senate Republicans broke the blockade, and now the blockade is being cleared. At the peak of the Democrat obstruction, more than 150 well-qualified nominees, approved by Senate committees, were waiting for a vote on the Senate floor. Yesterday, we confirmed 107 of those nominees, and we did it in a group. This is one of the largest confirmations in the history of the United States. Now there are only 26 nominees on the Executive Calendar.

Our committees are hard at work to approve more nominees, and we are going to confirm them in short order.

As of this morning, President Trump has had 298 nominees confirmed in his second term. By comparison, at this point, Joe Biden had confirmed only 201 at this point in his first and only term. President Trump had confirmed only 183 nominees at the same time in his first term. So the Senate's constitutional duty of advice and consent is now back.

President Trump now has his team confirmed and ready to be sworn in. From Assistant Secretaries, to Ambassadors, to U.S. attorneys, the Federal Government is in a better position today to keep our Nation safe and secure and prosperous.

Senate Republicans are going to continue to work to get America back on track no matter what obstacles the Democrats continue to throw in our path.

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Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 47, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 549 Leg.] YEAS--52 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NAYS--47 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NOT VOTING--1 Cruz

The joint resolution (H.J. Res. 104) was passed.

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