On cpspan2. You can listen with the free cspan radio app. Senate leaders spoke about the negotiations on the floor today. Congress has until friday to reach an agreement that ensures funding for the federal government. By now its clear were not yet ready to move ahead with major agreement on long term funding for our armed forces nor on our immigration policy. Serious bipartisan talks are under way on these issues and other key priorities. Compromise solutions are not out of reach. For now Congress Needs to keep the government running. Theres no cause what so ever for manufacturing a crisis and holding up funding for the Vital Services of the federal government. The solution will not only provide uninterrupted government funding, it will also contain a six year reauthorization of the state Childrens Health insurance program. This is a federal program that covers nearly nine million children in low income families. It ensures that Economic Hardship will not stand between struggling families and medical coverage for their children. The funding bill will reauthorize the program for six years even longer than the bipartisan compromise that the Senate Committee reached just last year. Mr. President , senators face a lot of hard decision but this is not one of them. The bill that prevents the Government Shutdown, funds of s chip for up to six years should be a simple choice for every senator in this chamber and until very rekrncently ouri demt colleagues disagreed. No brainer is what the senator from california used on the senate floor. He called it absolutely unacceptable to delay renewing funding for chip. I hope the Democratic Leaders are listening to their own members. Because recently some have intimated that democrats will filibuster any funding bill over the issue of illegal immigration. Bipartisan negotiations over the daca issue and other issues and immigration policy are certainly important. They are ongoing. Our responsible is to continue those discussions, not to jeopardize them by ginning up a manufactured crisis over an article deadline. We have until march until to complete our own going negotiations on immigration. We have until friday to fund the government. Before i get into the substance of my remarks let me just answer the majority leader here. What leads to problems in this place . What leads to a Government Shutdown . One side deciding everything and then saying to the other side, you must go along. The proposals that sent over, heres what it doesnt do. Doesnt give help needed for our veterans who wait online for service. Doesnt fight opioid addiction, the sko doesnt help our pensioners. Doesnt give defense what it needs either. Its a loser. In terms of what this country needs, we could easily sit down and come to an agreement that would get the support of a majority of votes of both sides. So many say dont talk, dont negotiate, thats led to gridlock, thats led to the fact that the first year has been largely unsuccessful and leads to the partisanship that america decries. My friend from illinois, south carolina, arizona who is here on the floor. We eagerly await his remarks and ill try to be brief. Leader mcconnell on this instance as on many others say our way or no way. Thats wrong. We will do everything we can to avoid a shutdown. We will do everything we can but the needs of opioid addiction and helping the veterans and Social Security and Rural Infrastructure and defense and of course the dreamers remain hanging out with this proposal. If theres a shutdown it will fall on the majority leaders shoulders and the president s shoulders. We all know what the president has said. He want a shutdown. You can twist words and twist facts any way you want but the truth is this is a purely partisan effort. A purely partisan effort. Thats what leads to the trouble in this place. The cspan cities tour takes you to newport, rhode island. Saturday at noon eastern on book tv well visit redwood library. The nations oldest working library. The middle class has been the center piece. Its our dna. Its become our Central Nervous system. When it prospers, the whole rest of the economy prospers. When it doesnt, it tends to create a barbell effect. A few people get really, really rich and the poor get really, really poor. The balance between these two, the key sort of position is the middle class. On sunday at 2 00 p. M. On American History tv, hear about newports history as the largest slave trading port in north america. Newport would grow to become not only one of the most active ports in british north america but became the most active slave port between 1705 and 1805, new port merchants were responsible for nearly a thousands slaving voyages from rhode island to the west african coach to the west indys a indies to rhode island. Watch cspan citys tour beginning saturday at noon eastern on book tv on cspan2 and sunday at 2 00 p. M. On cspan3. Working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. Well hear from representatives of the uk and japan at the meeting. This is about 40 minutes