Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Sens. Murphy Tillis Brown Booker Shatz On Gov 20180122

Order to reach an agreement that republicans and democrats can support. And so i am here with several of my colleagues to make some fairly simple requests of the United States senate. It seems like if we are really adults, if were really going to operate like grownups, if were going to be true, responsible stewards of the federal government, then we could keep the government open for a very short period of time while we negotiate a way out of this. As many folks know, we on the democratic side as well as some of our republican colleagues dont hi its wise dont think its wise to do another monthlong continuing resolution. But why dont we just agree to keep the government open tomorrow . Why dont we just all get together and say that on monday people will be able to access the federal government and we cannd hopefully get to a agreemt on a budget that is permanent, that is long term that gives certainty to everybody who receives something or gives something to the federalal government by the end of today tomorrow. I think we can toed that. So im going to make a but more remarks, but before i do, mr. President , im going to ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 36 h. L. 1301, that the amendment at the desk that would provide for a continuing resolution to fund the government through monday, january 22nd, 2018, be considered and agreed to, bill as amended be considered, read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon with no intervening action or debate. Ing mr. President . The senator from is there objection . Mr. President . The senator from North Carolina. Mr. President , like the gentleman from connecticut, i dont understand, why were here this weekend myself. I dont understand why a continuing resolution that has a the broad support all the provisions in itut have the brod support of members of both sides of the aisle. Its actually gotten us to a point to where were putting so many people in jeopardy of gettingtt the Critical Services that they need, i dont understand that at all. And i think a simple request of extending the government for four weeks, allowing the c. H. I. P. Program to be authorized for six years makes a lot of sense while we work through the issues that we have on daca, on daca challenge, something that im personally investedna in, something im working really hard to come to up with a solution to. But instead of us spending time on providing a solution to that problem, were playing these sorts of games, and now were talking about funding the government for 24 hours . Thisop with a simply keep the government open and operating for 24 hours so we could come to an agreement, but let me address the Central Point that the gentleman just made because ive heard it repeated by many members of Republican Leadership and members of the Republican Senate conference. This idea that theres no controversy because democrats agree to everything thats in the underlying continuing resolution. Thats not true. It is not true. We have passed now three different continuing resolutions to just kick the can forward, time and time again. The department of defense, as we were considering this continuing resolution on friday night, made an unprecedented decision to contradict the views of the commanderinchief by stating that they didnt want another i think it resolution because without real longterm certainty for the department of defense funding, we, the United States congress, was putting our National Security at risk. So, the democrats do not agree with everything in the underlying continuing resolution because we dont think that its senator has the floor. Because we dont believe that it is right for this government to continue to kick the can down the road. Now, i will say personally there are other things in that continuing resolution that i object to as well. It is not just a straightforward continuing resolution, it includes the repeal of revenue that comes into the government for the Affordable Care act. So its not a straightforward continuing resolution and one is a further attempt by the republican majority to gut the Affordable Care act and money used to pay for it and other provisions, counterterrorism provisions that many members of the senate have objections to as well. Its simply not true to say that there is unanimous agreement about all of the provisions of that continuing resolution and further, this idea that no negotiations happened between republicans and democrats, that democrats are expected to vote for a large, expensive piece of legislation with no input makes no sense either. I understand youve got to get 60 votes in order to pass something, but how the senate works, in order to get to 60 votes, there has been a discussion between republicans and democrats. If i walked into a restaurant and the waiter brought me a meal that i didnt order and then told me that i had an obligation to pay for it, i might raise some objection because thats not how restaurants work. Thats also not how the senate works. The republicans cant unilaterally write a piece of legislation and tell democrats that they have to support it, especially when there are provisions in it that many of us do not support. Im sorry that we cant come to a simple agreement to keep this government open on monday so that we have the time and the space to put the pieces of a longterm agreement together, that i think its easier than many people think, while our constituents still have access to the services of this government. So, im sorry that we cant agree to this unanimous consent agreement and i hope that we can continue to work forward through the night, all through tomorrow, to make sure that we have a longterm budget agreement that makes sure that kids get their health care, that the communities centers stay open and military gets the funding that they need. I think we can get there, mr. President. Mr. President. Senator from ohio. Thank you, mr. President. Senator murphy is it right, its not just whats in the resolution that concerns a number of us, including funding for the Affordable Care act, a whole lot of congress have insurance paid for my taxpayers, cuts in medicaid and other repeals and parts of the Affordable Care act and takes away from our constituent, constituents who make, 10, 11, 12 an hour, i stood for months im a democrat, with my republican Governor John Kasich in fighting for that. Second, its also whats not in this bill as a number of people pointed out theres not what there ought to be for the Community Health centers. We know, and i know in North Carolina, as in my state, there are a number of rural hospitals weve got two hospitals closed, announce closure in two major hospitals, one in maslin and one in dayton. And thats 140,000 people. Closest hospital is 15, 20, 25 minutes away for Emergency Care in canton and the hospital in the middle of dayton announced its closure partly because what this body, even beyond the attacks on Health Insurance, whats in the tax reform form, for insurance prices and made the Health Care System less stable and we know, mr. President , we know how this bill has been written. Down the hall about 100 feet is senator mcconnell, majority leaders office. The Affordable Care act repeal was written behind closed doors by insurance and lobbyists. And this was written by a bunch of wall street and tax lawyers and knnknew now this resolutiono quote, unquote, keep the government open was written in senator mcconnells office. 49 democrats in in body, we represent, i believe, more than half the population of this country, yet, we were not even included in this discussion, so, this is the First Time Ever where a republican where one Party Controls the white house, house, senate and the Supreme Court and yet, they have not included one, theyre not competent enough to run the government to do they just do this limp along one month at a time resolution. This is the fourth resolution, the fourth temporary budget, fourth continuing resolution just since september, as a. Mr. President , i ask you to read rule 19. For the information of senators, rule 19 paragraph 4 states, if any senator in speaking or otherwise in the opinion of the presiding officer transgresses the rules of the senate, the presiding officer shall either on his own motion or at the request of any other senator call him to order and when a senator shall be called to order he shall take his seat and will not proceed without leave of the senate, which if granted be upon motion he be allowed to proceed in order, which motion shall be determined without debate. Any senator directed by the providing officer to take his seat may appeal from the ruling of the chair, which appeal shall be open to debate. Mr. President. Senator from ohio. Does that mean that what i said, that senator mcconnell didnt have lobbyists in his Office Writing legislation, is that what rule 19 means and what the presiding officer is discussing with the parliamentarian or what my friend in North Carolina is alleging . Alleging . The senator the chair is merely reminding all senators of the rule. Thank you, mr. President. Im not imputing anybodys motive, im just stating what i read in newspapers and what seems to be fact, but im not imputing motives here. I would add one other thing before making motions, mr. President , and i appreciate the reminder from the senator from North Carolina, secretary mattis, the secretary of defense, i dont know if secretary mattis is a democrat or republican, i dont really care, he obviously is confirmed by the senate and nominated by the president. He came to caucus in a democratic meeting and talked to us about the importance of giving us some permanence and predi predictability in the budget process and for us to limp along is not the way we should run the country. And secretary donovan said the further you go along in the fiscal year with the shortterm crs, the more likely a full cr year becomes, thats not good for us, without damaging impacts and readiness and modernization. The former air force secretary with whom i was having breakfast at the pentagon a couple of years ago explained all the costs, all the expenses, every time the far right wing of the Tea Party Republican party and the house threaten the Government Shutdown every time we get close to it, they need to they, the air force, the military has to spend money, taxpayer dollars to prepare for what if in fact they shut the government down. We cant run our government two weeks, three weeks, four weeks at a time. We dont have to. My republican colleague, my friend from kansas just joined again the banking committee. He said this week, people want to make sure we dont have a shutdown and people who want to resolve differences should know their other options besides doing another shortterm cr. Mr. President , i was speaking to some people in dayton today, dayton is the home of the largest single site employer in Ohio Wright Patterson Air force base. And springfield, mansfield, toledo and youngstown and air force employees in my state. I dont want people to go to work tomorrow morning and whether theyre inside the fence, civilians or whether they work outside the fence outside the gate, i dont want them to go to work and find out the governments closed. Thats why, mr. President , we have another option, im asking the republican leader to reopen the government right now. Im asking unanimous consent the president , that the senate proceed to immediate consideration of hr 1301 that the amendment would provide for continuing resolution to fund the government, to wednesday, january 24th, three days, and its at the desk, be considered and agreed to the bills amend be considered, read a third piem and passed the motions are reconsidered, considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. Is this objection . Mr. President. Senator from North Carolina. To the right to object. Mr. President , im glad to hear that the gentleman from ohio, the gentleman from connecticut, they all want to get the government funded. I also think that Wright Patterson is a great military installation and i actually come from a state that has the home of the Global Response force, 82nd airborne down in fort bragg, when the president calls and they want to send somebody into harms way, thats where they call first and also home to 45 of all marines that serve in the marine corps. I worry a lot about the message were sending men and women in uniform when we cant get our act together here. Everybody in suits, everybody in the senate, everybody here tonight is playing games with funding our government. Right, now you would ask you asked for a one day cr. That didnt happen and now asking for a threeday cr. How about this . Why dont we stay here until we get in done. Why dont we realize the daylight is not going to come until eight or nine hours, we can get this done before 9 00 tomorrow morning, instead of asking for these half measures, a oneday cr, a threeday cr. Why dont we get in a room tonight and solve our problems. Why are we actually kicking the can down the road a little bit, one day, three days, we were trying to get one month done and for that reason, mr. President , i object. Regular order, please. Mr. President. Objection is heard. Mr. President would the senator from hawaii would the senator from North Carolina yield to a question. I yield. It sounds like you want to stay here all night and get this done. I do. Would you be willing to work on unanimous consent request to effectuate that. I want to work on funding a government that goes for at least the next four weeks or year. I want to provide certainty to men and women in uniform who are out there fighting in harms way and were sitting here, the question i want to answer, way want to provide funding for the men and women. And the senator from hawaii has the floor. The senator from hawaii has the floor. So, i thought i heard the senator from North Carolina suggest that we stay in and get this done tonight. I think we still have a chance to get this done before 1 a. M. I do. And i still have the floor. And if we dont get this done by 1 a. M. , i personally dont think we should adjournment i think this should be personally uncomfortable, physically uncomfortable and we should be embarrassed by this and you make a good point, we should stay in until we get it done. Its disappointing to me when i hear all that and when i ask you whether youd be willing to work on unanimous request to effectuate what you just said, the answer is no. Senator from ohio. Thank you, and i agree with the senator from hawaii, senior senator from hawaii. Go back to the murphy give us one day so we dont finish by 6 00, 7 00 tomorrow morning. The government is closed we know thatten id like to ask senator till list and leadership if theyd give us a day or two and negotiate in earnest and fix this. All of us are willing to stay all night. We stayed here the weekend and well work as long as we need to work, i dont want the employees tomorrow, i dont want the public to see closed signs on all of the government offices and see federal employees show up to work and turned away. Workers inside and outside the gate at Wright Patterson air force base lives changed when we can give a couple of days to do this. Senator from North Carolina. And to say why dont we get back to what we tried to accomplish a couple of days ago, a four week cr that if undered our military, funded our veterans and funded chip, and then well get to what we need to do. And i for one, coming up with a solution for the daca population, its not going to happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but i prefer to fund the government and get on to matters that are critically important to all of us. Mr. President. Senator from new jersey. I think this is the problem. Weve just witnessed what the problem is. This should not be a situation where americans are being hurt and right now, americans are being hurt and weve heard it from the senator from North Carolina, weve heard from my colleagues from connecticut, from ohio, and from hawaii, we all agree. Americans right now are getting hurt. And so, we dont have to do that. But weve just heard one senator, and i imagine other republicans agree, reject a simple idea. Let not hurt folks. Lets stay here for three days and just extend the so we can stay in our seats and get this work done. Work something out. Easy way to go forward, nobody gets hurt. That was objected to. We said one day, 24hour period. Hey, lets do one day, that was rejected. Senator from North Carolina made a suggestion that made me stand up straight, i love that suggestion. He suggested that we stay through the night and instead of having people stressed and worried, instead of people missing works, missing paychecks. Lets stay here all night and make everybody feel uncomfortable. I would work on that unanimous consent as well. Seems like the senator from North Carolina has refused his own idea. And this is what i dont understand because i agree with the senator from North Carolina who keeps pounding about the military, when the military itself, the secretary through the spokesperson had said a fourweek cr and if i remember the quote exactly, would be wasteful and disastrous. So, military leaders are saying, what we are doing is wrong. Let us not kick the ball down the road four weeks, and instead, stop hurting people and get the work of the senate done. I am willing to stay here all night. It sounds like the senator from North Carolina is willing to stay here all night and so, we stand together today to say, lets minimize the damage of this. Lets do what we cannot to hurt people. And that brings up the unanimous consent i had alike to say for. If three days is rejected, one day is rejected, just stay here through tonight as as the Senate Facing discomfort and exhaustion is rejected lets take some of the most Vulnerable People in america off the table and thats why i have an amendment to permanently extend the Childrens Health Insurance Program providing funding for Community Health centers, and the reason why i say this is because somehow our children are most Vulnerable Children in our country have been pushed into a political debate, which it is a political debate because nobody denies theyre in favor of providing health care for our children. This program expired 112 days ago and for those of you who think there is going to cost us money to provide Health Insurance for children, it doesnt cost any money. The cbo actually said it saves the government money, why . Because every one of the 100 of us know when you protect children, neo natal children, babies, when you get them health care, you save longterm health costs, so, here is something that would provide millions and millions of dollars of savings, take Vulnerable Children and states who are worried about providing for those children, that anxiety out of this political debate. If we cant do something for our most Vulnerable Children, i dont know what that says about our body. This is a moral 112 days this bill has expired and somehow, thats suddenly in a fourweek cr at the time of the a political debate. It seems to me were trying to use our children as a political pawn. There are so many kids affected by this. 9 million nationwide. 159,000 kids in new jersey, about 47,000 in hawaii, senator from ohio, about 197,000 in hawaii. I believe this is common sense, it should be a matter of just conscien conscience. And so, id like to make sure that the children in this political fight are not hurt. Id like to make sure that the Community Health centers in rural spaces, urban spaces all over our countries, our Community Health centers provide children nationwide and 300,000 veterans, were concerned about our military, we should also be concerned about our veterans and 7. 5 million children in our Community Health centers. Let me say again, americans Health Centers move 7. 5 million. Lets move them off the table not to be used as political leverage to do something that the United States military, department of defense has criticized what were doing right now, what the proposal is, four weeks. So, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent of the senate perceive to be immediate consideration of calendar number 36, hr1301, that the senator excuse me that the stabenow, casey, brown amendment as providing for the permanent extension of the Childrens Health Insurance Program, a fiveyear extension of the Community Health centers program, extensions of other expired medicaid, medicare standards be agreed to. The bill as amended be considered, read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. Is there objection . Mr. President. Senator from North Carolina. Reserve the right to object. I agree with the gentleman from new jersey, we wanted to fund the chip program, which is exactly why we voted to try and extend it for six years, just a couple of days ago. The gentleman voted against it. I agree with him that the states are beginning to run out of money and that we need to come up with reauthorization soon, but this looks more like a way to atone for a bad vote that was just made a couple of days ago on the part of people on the floor today. What we need to do is go back, fund the government. I also care about the veterans, that would have been covered by the continuing resolution, the gentleman from new jersey voted against. I care about military, the military, military families who are affected by the cr. So i think instead of doing these sorts of measures that give some level of cover or comfort for those who voted against these same things just a couple of days ago, why dont we get back on funding the government, opening it back up, and making the right decision and resolving our differences, but at the end of the day not do these half measures, for that reason i object. Mr. President. Mr. President. Senator from ohio. Yeah, i ive heard my colleagues talk about chip and take credit for chip and its so great what they did. Of course, im glad that they now are actually for it, but ive worked on chip for a long time, for more than a decade. Im on the finance committee, i think the only one in this room right now thats on the committee that worked on this. We have been asking this chip expired september 30th. Early september we asked chairman hatch to move on chip. October, november, december, the middle of the tax bill, we asked chairman hatch to move on chip. Finally he did, a bipartisan vote ill give both parties credit. The other senator from ohio senator portman, only senator toomey opposed it in the whole committee. It hasnt had a floor vote. Expired in september. October didnt do anything. November didnt do anything. December didnt do anything. Now january 21st, more than a year after President Trump was inaugurated now they seem to want to do something on chip. I appreciate they do, dont get me wrong. I care about this, 209,000 ohioans. Senator yield for a question. Of course. The republicans control the white house and donald trump, they control the senate and the majority of the house. Youve had much more experience than i have, 112 days this program serving our children has been has lapsed, 112 days, months in september since the program lapsed. States had to take action, crises and problems. And ask this, your experience, would this bill have come to the floor 112 days. Thank you, i thank the senator from new jersey whos been a real leader on this issue, too, the bill would have come before the clock started because it would have come to the floor in september, likely before it even expired, but think about, you know, we talk a lot about issues and numbers in this body, but think about this for a moment, your the state of virginia, youre a parent ten miles from here and youre making 9 an hour and your wifes making 11 an hour and you qualify for chip because you dont have insurance, either you, nor your spouse has insurance, you qualify for chip, 209,000 in my state and 100,000some in virginia. Last month you got a letter from the state of virginia, you got a letter saying probably around christmas time, not sure when the letters were sent. You got a letter saying, sorry, your Health Insurance is about to expire for your children. Imagine what that you go out to the mailbox, you pick up the mail, tear the envelope open and you tear an envelope open and you see this we opened this letter and you see youre going to lose your Health Insurance. Why . Because the people in this body who get government insurance, insurance paid by taxpayers, the 100 privileged senators, 435 privileged house members, we have insurance, but we dont care enough to do this . Again, we had september, october, november, december, january, now its in this bill as a political thing, instead of really genuinely caring about chip so say a lot of things on the other side of the aisle, but dont try to tell us that they genuinely care about the 209,000 chip beneficiaries in my state, and the 100,000some in another couple hundred thousand in connecticut, new jersey and hawaii because it just aint show. Mr. President. The senator from hawaii. Thank you, mr. President. So here is the state of play. Theres a group of 19 to 22 United States senators Bipartisan Group trying to find a pathway forward, senators schumer and mcconnell had a meeting, we dont know exactly how that went. Theres some reasons to be encouraged, i think there are not that many reasons to be overly optimistic, but there is a pathway out of this. We can get out of this mess and i think lots of us understand, a lot of us having served in the legislature or at the executive level, actually at the county level as well, and we all understand how insane this is to do four crs in a row and we all understand that we worked very hard to get to the United States senate and looking at all of you and thinking how difficult everybodys race was just to arrive at the worlds greatest deliberative body. And we all know that shutdowns make this institution weaker and we all know that shutdowns make senators weaker. And we dont fight tooth and nail and go through that awful process of there are some joyful moments in a campaign, but nobody necessarily looks forward to it, its a tough thing. You dont go through that so that you can diminish the body in which you serve and we are diminished by this process. General mattis may have put it best when he said no enemy has done more harm to the readiness of the military than the combined impact of spending caps in nine of the last ten years, operating under crs. So nobody wants to do this anymore. So we cant do crs forever, but right now we need one to keep everybody at the table without hurting the American People and thats the purpose of the brown you see and the murphy you see is to say whatever our disagreements are, we have an opportunity by unanimous consent to make sure that we dont punish the American People for our inability to agree with each other. Why not keep the government open for 24 or 48 or 72 hours . From my standpoint looking at my constituents in the state of hawaii we have Extraordinary National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration workers. We have incredible presence in the department of defense, civilian dod employees as well as Service Members, we have National Park Service People mo do extraordinary work. We have lots of Government Employees and its not their fault. It is not their fault. And so, i have a very simple unanimous consent request. And its a little different than the others. The others were to try to avoid this cataclysm. But should we be unable to avoid this cataclysm. I think we should keep our government workers whole because they didnt do this to us, were doing this to them. And so, my uc request does a simple thing, it makes sure that whatever idiocy happens the next six hours or six days or six weeks that they are held harmless so i ask you that consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar to provide for compensation of employees by lapse that the bill considered read a third time ap passed and motions to reconsidered, considered laid and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. Is there any objection . Mr. President. Senator from North Carolina. Reserve right to object. I want to thank the federal employees and anybody who works for the federal government for the hard work that they do and apologize to them on behalf of the actions of some people in this body who voted not to fund the government just a couple of days ago. Either we get to a point where we can fund the government and above evermove on and resolve our differences on very important issues, the daca issue one thats personally important to me. As a practical matter, i think that we will take care of the federal employee because they work hard and they deserve that. What i will tell you the effect of the crs and something that i will say is one of the reasons why continuing resolutionings. Here is what happens every time a cr is threatened to occur or a shutdown is threatened to occur. One of the reasons why these shortterm crs makes no sense to me because tomorrow, if you did a oneday cr then the good news everybody would come to work tomorrow, and then tomorrow afternoon say youre probably not going to come back and tuesday or the threeday cr, the good news youre going to be here on wednesday, but the bad news were going to have to furlough you again on thursday. At the end of the day, we need to fund the government. We need to fund our military, we need to fund our veterans. We need to extend the chip program for six years based on the proposal voted down by my colleagues, and my colleague who is offering this particular motion. Thats not the way to do it. I want our leaders to get together. I want our members to get together and solve this problem. These are half measures that do not address the root problem. The root problem is getting people together. Getting them in a room and fund the government. For that reason, i object. Mr. President. Your objection is heard. Mr. President. Senator from hawaii. I just want to briefly respond to the senator from North Carolina. I actually agree that would be a half measure to open the government for 24 hours. It would be a half measure to pass just chip. It would be a half measure to open the government for 72 hours, but the alternative is that were doing nothing. Sure, its a little goofy to keep the government open for 24 hours as we negotiate. Its absolutely goofy, its embarrassing. Its less embarrassing than actually shutting the government down while we negotiate. Opening the government for 72 hours, a little strange, not our, you know, highest watermark in terms of our legislative prowess. Pretty embarrassing. Whats more embarrassing, shutting the government down. Passing chip after its expired by consent, awful. You know, not the worlds great he is deliberative bodys greatest moment. Whats worse, objecting to doing that and we want to make sure that our federal employees are made whole and i agree with the senator from North Carolina, this is a half measure. But you know what . If im a federal employee, ill take a half measure because right now were giving them nothing. I yield the floor. Senator from North Carolina. I just want to reiterate to the federal employees that i fully believe just like these dramas in the past that we will fund the government, they will be paid. And i apologize on behalf of those who voted against the cr just a few days ago that theyre being taken through this process, i for one have been here for three years, ive never voted against a debt ceiling increase because i believe that we need to pay the bills that weve obligated ourselves to. Ive not ever voted for a Government Shutdown because i believe that we should do the work that were paid here to do. I will say in closing that i also agree that senator heller has a great idea. When we get in this mode and and we cant fund the government why on earth should we be paid for what were doing. I dont think any u. S. Senator should be paid a dime or get Health Care Every day we dont do our job and thats something unanimous consent until we solve this problem maybe we shouldnt get a pay, maybe we shouldnt get a dime, maybe shouldnt get health care and actually put our money where our mouth is and then maybe we could get some things done, i yield the floor. Mr. President. Senator from connecticut. Thank you, mr. President , appreciate the gentleman from North Carolina offering apologies on behalf of other members of this body, so let me return the favor. Let me offer an apology on behalf of the republican majority for the governance disaster that has occurred in the United States congress over the last year. Why are we here today . Were here today because last year republicans spent all of their time and energy trying to steal Health Insurance from 30 million americans, trying to rescind protections for people with preexisting conditions. They spent the first half of the year trying to take insurance away from 30 million people, they were not successful because the American People rose up and hold this congress that was a terrible idea. They spent the second half of the year trying to push through successfully this time a massive tax cut for the wealthy. 80 of that tax cut going to the richest 1 of americans equally as unpopular as that health care repeal. That one was successful. During 2017, three disasters hit the United States, in texas, florida and puerto rico and the Republican Congress forgot to pass the assistance package that is normally automatic after a disaster hits. Meanwhile, republicans let the Childrens Health Insurance Program expire and millions of frightened parents got notifications that their toddlers health care would cease to exist. Meanwhile, Health Centers in this country, which provide some of the most important care to the indigent had their funding expire and all of a sudden had to make budgets, make budget plans for 2018, with half as much money as they thought they were going to get. Meanwhile, republicans didnt pass a budget, forgot to pass a single appropriations bill, and cr after cr, after cr were required. Im sorry, on behalf of my republican friends, that they didnt do their job in 2017. Im sorry that the American People gave control of the house and the senate and the presidency to the Republican Party and they didnt pass a budget, they didnt pass disaster assistance, they didnt reauthorize the Childrens Health care program. They didnt provide assistance to Health Centers. Were trying to be the adults here and say that its time to do our job. Its time to get assistance to these disaster areas. Its time to pass Childrens Health care reauthorization for the longterm. Get those Health Centers the money they need to keep their doors open. The department of defense needs a budget not just for four months, but for a full year. Were not asking for much. Were just asking for congress to do its job and at some point, somebody here has to be the grownup. Somebody has to be the adult. And so were saying, lets keep the government open for a day, three days, as long as it takes for us to do our job, but to pass another monthlong continuing resolution with no hope in sight for the department of defense that needs their money, the disaster areas, the kids, the Health Centers, just not what we got elected to do. This has been a governance disaster over the last year. This place has not been doing its job. And we ought to start right now. I love the suggestion staying all night. The senator from North Carolina is right youre not going to get an agreement on all of the complicated issues this evening and boy, we could dtry. Had we made the decision to keep the government open for a day or three days, the pain would not be felt by the americans who depend on these services because of the government disaster visited on this place over the last year. Mr. President. Senator from hawaii. One last unanimous consent request, i appreciate the senator from North Carolina and i appreciate your dialog, i think this is constructive and productive. This last request is very simple, the same one with a small modification that senator mccaskill made on friday night and thats very simple. Every time weve done a shutdown ive been involved in one, the green eggs and ham, Affordable Care shutdown. It was the worst period of time ive spent in the senate. And Sherrod Brown always says snow whining on the yacht and dont feel sorry for yourself for serving in the United States senate and its a great job, but shutdowns are miserable, but during that shutdown and every other shutdown that im aware of we always took care of our Service Members. And so senator mccaskill on friday night made sure that we just put that uc in so that we made sure that everyone who is serving in harms way or prepared to serve in harms way supports our military, gets paid. And frankly, i understand in the heat of the moment on friday night when theres still a lot of theres a lack of clarity whether were going to get through it without a shutdown, i understand nobody wanted to allow a uc request of any sort to go through, but then friday comes and its not at all clear that were going to move on this thing. And now were into sunday and i dont know where we are with this, but im getting increasingly worried. And so its really hard for me to understand why we wouldnt unanimously consent to pay our Service Members and so, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 36 hr1301, that the amendment at the desk providing for the continuing appropriations for pay and death benefits for members of the Armed Services be considered, agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and that motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. Is there objection . Mr. President. Senator from North Carolina. Mr. President , reserve the right to object. I want to go back and talk about the concept of doing our jobs. Oh. So loud i could hear myself. The concept, weve done a lot of stuff over the last 12 months, for people to athat we havent done anything, lets talk about the 12 circuit judges, neil gorsuch on the Supreme Court, extraordinary regulatory reform, a number of very positive things. You know, and i know that your perspective is different based on what side of the aisle youre on, but youll actually very proud of what we as a congress have accomplished and what this president has accomplished. Is this now,reserving the right to object. I do object, but i do mr. President , i would like to ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a meeting consideration of calendar 31 hr 1301 and amendment on the desk which provides for the full funding for authorized activities in the National Senate authorization act be considered to agreed to, the bill as amendment be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to consider be reconsidered, be considered and made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. Mr. President. The senator the objection has been heard to the request from the senator from hawaii. Is there objection to the request from senator from North Carolina . Mr. President , reserving the right to object. Im a member of the defense appropriations, the subcommittee on the Appropriations Committee and the way, as the senator from North Carolina knows, that we do defense appropriations is with great care. We have markups. We find out what each Service Branch needs in terms of personnel, in terms of bases and installations, in terms of new acquisitions, and that process takes a fair amount of time. And that markup is not done. And so, i would love to move on defense appropriations, but from the standpoint of responsibly spending hundreds of billions of dollars, were not there yet and so therefore, i object. The objection is heard. Mr. President , assuring that American Kids have access to quality medical care is among by Top Priorities in the senate. Thats why long ago i reached across the aisle to create the revolutionary Childrens Health Insurance Program or chip. Im proud to call chip my own, ted kennedy, Teddy Kennedy to get this bill passed and i finished an uphill battle to get this passed, but we were willing to take the heat because we knew it was the right thing to do. And he came on board shortly after i filed this bill and i have never regretted it. For more than 20 years chip has served as a literal lifeline for millions of children who otherwise could not afford Health Insurance. Without exaggeration, this groundbreaking program has saved thousands of