Reasonable members of both chambers to come together, to pass this bridge cr and move forward, freed from the hard right extremists who are hell bent on destroying trust in government and hurting millions and millions of middle class families. And on sunday, a current appropriations will run out and the federal government will shut down. Over the years ive been pretty clear in my view that Government Shutdowns are bad news, whichever way you look at them. They dont work as political bargaining chips, they create unnecessary hardships for millions of americans, for example, in nearly 46,000 Service Members and 22,000 civilian workers in my home state of kentucky who earn federal government paychecks, and they hardly ever produce meaningful policy outcomes at the end of the day. A Government Shutdown would be an unnecessary disruption of the important work of the senates agenda. So i would urge each of my colleagues who work this week to avoid one. For the past several months, senator collins, senator murray and our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee have worked diligently to help the senate fulfill our commitment it funding the government through regular order. As that important work continues, both chambers are rightly concerned about a number of district priorities. Theyre focused on reining in reckless spending and addressing the consequences of the biden administrations failure to secure our southern border. Theyre eager to provide relief to communities recovering from natural disasters, from hawaii to florida, and bipartisan majorities recognize the ongoing need to counter russia and china and continue to provide lethal aid to ukraine. In the coming weeks, i hope the administration will work with congress to address these pressing needs. But in order to work on appropriations to continue uninterrupted, Congress Needs to extend government funding by the end of this week. The sooner Congress Keeps the light on, the sooner these important conversations can resume. The clearest path forward is a standard shortterm continuing resolution. Our work this week needs to produce the resources and flexibility to maintain essential government functions at their current rates of operation while progress on full year appropriations continues. So just to reiterate, mr. President , delayed action on shortterm government funding tonight advance the ball on any meaningful policy priorities, shutting the government down over a domestic budget dispute doesnt strengthen anyones political position, it just puts important progress on ice and it leaves millions of americans on edge. So i expect that the Appropriations Committees will fund the shortterm extension in the very near future for the senate to review and i would