Unanimous Consent Request -- H.J. Res. 73

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am going to make a counteroffer to the Senator from Missouri which is even better. It is going to open the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and all of the medical research at the Department of Defense. We are going to make sure all of the medical research and medical services of the Federal Government in every agency at every level are open for business immediately, and the Senator from Missouri, by agreeing to this modification, will go way beyond the National Institutes of Health. He is going to be opening all of these medical services.

Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the request be modified as follows: that an amendment which is at the desk be agreed to; that the joint resolution, as amended, then be read a third time and passed; and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

This amendment is the text that passed the Senate, is a clean continuing resolution for the entire government, including the National Institutes of Health, and is something that is already over in the House and reportedly has the support of a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives. This is an opportunity for the Senator from Missouri to finally break down this government shutdown and put all the medical services of the Federal Government back in business immediately.

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