Floor Statements

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, both parties in both Chambers continue the work of avoiding a shutdown. House Republican leadership needs to get the CR done quickly because we still need time in the Senate to move the bill through the floor. House Republicans should work with Democrats--House and Senate Democrats--to find the best path to getting the bill passed in a bipartisan way. The House Republicans have already wasted enough time as it is.

Once the House acts, the Senate will move quickly to get the CR done. I encourage my colleagues on both sides to prioritize speedy passage of the CR. If both sides keep working together, if we stay away from poison pills and partisan spectacle, then the American people can rest assured there won't be a government shutdown. But we still have more work to do.

Of course, nothing was inevitable about the tight deadline we face now. The bipartisan CR I negotiated with Speaker Johnson and Leaders McConnell and Jeffries is more or less the result people expected from the beginning--a short-term CR, one that does not last 6 months, that is free of poison pills, and which honors the bipartisan funding levels we agreed to earlier this year.

But this feels like the third or fourth time this Congress that House Republicans have had to learn the same elementary lesson: In a narrowly divided government, partisan bully tactics and appealing to the extreme just does not work, plain and simple.

I know a few on the hard right say: Oh, we can demand, bang our fists on the table, and force everyone to do what we want. That ain't happening. What they want to do is so destructive to America that the overwhelming number of Democrats and a large number of Republicans don't want to do it. But nonetheless this feels like the third or fourth time in this Congress that the House Republicans have had to learn the same elementary lesson--I say particularly the House hard- right

Republicans and the Freedom Caucus. In a narrowly divided government, partisan bully tactics and appealing to the extreme simply does not work.

I would have thought that would have been made clear a year ago, when Speaker McCarthy kept trying and trying and trying to appease the hard right with increasingly severe funding cuts, and it ended up being all for naught anyway. We ended up passing a bipartisan CR, and radicals turned on Speaker McCarthy.

This time around, it was Donald Trump again telling the hard right to shut the government down if we didn't agree to their poison pill provisions--never mind that a shutdown would mean costs would go up, programs like Head Start would halt, and public safety here and at the border would suffer. To Donald Trump, these are all OK because they are just apparently the cost of feeding his ego. It is bewilderingly cynical to see Donald Trump push for a shutdown, knowing the pain it would cause the country. But thankfully we are still on track to avoid that kind of mess. Of course, we still have more work to do.

I earnestly hope today brings good news in the House. We here in the Senate are ready to work to get this bill done quickly.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 789.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, September 24, be waived.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives H.R. 9747 from the House, the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that there be up to 2 hours for debate, equally divided, and with no amendments or motions in order to the bill; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the bill be considered read a third time and the Senate vote on the passage of the bill, with 60 affirmative votes required for passage.

Mr. President, there is very good news tonight. I have just locked in an agreement to pass the government funding bill tomorrow, without amendment, and avoid an unnecessary government shutdown.

American families can rest assured now that their lives won't be needlessly upended due to an unnecessary government shutdown. This agreement ensures that the Senate will take up the CR after the House passes it tomorrow, which is well before the September 30 deadline.

The CR will give Congress more time to continue working on the appropriations process to fund the government before the end of the year.

As I have said all year, the only way to get things done is with bipartisan support--bipartisan support.

Now, I appreciate the work of all the leaders to move forward with this CR. This is how things should be done--without brinksmanship, without delay. I hope--I truly hope--we will continue to see the same bipartisanship in the Senate when we return and we work to fund the government.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 741, 794 through 814 and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate considerations of Calendar No. 332, H.R. 5009.

I ask unanimous consent that the Carper-Capito substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 91 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Hagerty substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 815 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Tester substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged of S. Res. 812 and the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions: S. Res. 812, S. Res. 847, S. Res. 848, S. Res. 849, S. Res. 850, S. Res. 851, S. Res. 852, S. Res. 853, S. Res. 854, and S. Res. 855.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.