Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of S. 2787, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned to convene for a pro forma session, with no business being conducted, at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 22, 2023, and then that the Senate stand in recess until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 26; that on Tuesday, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 211, H.R. 3935; further, that the cloture motion filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 12:15 p.m. be for debate only. At 12:15 p.m., we have a vote on the cloture motion on moving forward on the minibus.

Mr. President, today, Senators from both sides of the aisle will have a chance to affirm that bipartisanship still rules the day in the Senate appropriations process.

In a few hours, we will hold a cloture vote on the suspension of rule XVI, to override the stall tactics of one Member who objected last week to waiving rule XVI. It is yet another reminder that, in both Houses, a small group of hard-right Republicans is dead set on grinding the gears of government to a halt. For MAGA Republicans, it is as if chaos is a virtue and cooperation a crime, but I do not believe that this is the view of most Members in this Chamber, Democrats or Republicans.

The appropriations process has been a true bipartisan success story to date. Our colleagues on the other side have asked for regular order, and we have worked with them to ensure we have done just that, just as we did on the NDAA bill. Our colleagues on the other side have asked for amendments, and we have worked with them to consider amendments.

We worked side by side with our Republican colleagues in the Appropriations Committee to bring these three bills to the floor: MILCON-VA, Agriculture, and Transportation-HUD. It has taken a lot of hard work. We have had plenty of disagreements, as both sides normally do, but we have worked through them. It is a reminder that,

even in divided times, it is the hard work--hard work--of achieving bipartisanship that produced results.

Today, we have a chance to make sure all the good work of the appropriators is not wasted. Whether the Republicans give us cloture or not, we on this side of the aisle are going to do our best to ensure that the minibus gets done. We have come very far, and there is no good reason to turn back.

Government Funding

Now, Mr. President, on the CR, every day we get closer to September 30, one truth becomes clearer and clearer: There is no scenario for avoiding a government shutdown without bipartisanship.

A government shutdown would be a terrible and unnecessary outcome for our country. Millions of Americans who count on government services would have their lives disrupted. It could impact the pay of our servicemembers, who so bravely serve us. Air traffic controllers and TSA employees would have to work without pay. FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund--needed by so many--could dry up.

A shutdown would be disastrous. A shutdown would be unnecessary. Make no mistake, a shutdown is certainly avoidable. Yet, with each passing day, House Republicans seem less interested in avoiding a shutdown and more interested in catering to the hard, hard, unreasonable, adamant, and stubborn hard right.

A few days ago, House Republicans released what they claimed was a deal for a CR--a slapdash, reckless, and cruel bill that everyone knew had no chance--no chance--of passing in the Senate. It would have cut 8 percent to virtually all nondefense spending. It would have cut investments to the Social Security Administration. It would have meant cuts to law enforcement, to NIH funding for cancer research, to nutrition assistance, to protections for clean water, for small business loans, even for the people protecting the border. Still, it wasn't extreme enough for the hard right.

House Republicans rejected their own extremist bill, and by rejecting it, that is a dead giveaway they are not serious about avoiding a shutdown. They seem more interested in just finding the lowest common denominator--finding something, anything, that can appease the hard right no matter how extreme, no matter how unrealistic, no matter how cruel, and no matter how unseriously this would be taken by the country and by this body. This is not a serious way to solve the crisis.

Look, I sympathize with the Speaker. I know his task isn't easy, as he has a lot of very, very difficult Members to deal with. But we all have--including the Speaker--a responsibility to the American people. Real lives would be disrupted in a shutdown.

The answer to avoiding a shutdown is right in front of Speaker McCarthy, and he knows it: bipartisanship. Speaker McCarthy says he wants to avoid a shutdown. He says nobody wins in a shutdown. Well then, he should reach across the aisle to find an agreement that actually has the votes to pass both Chambers. That is the only way--the only way--this crisis gets resolved.

When Members of your own side operate in bad faith, when has appeasement ever worked? If he gives in to them now, they will want something more tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Some of them have stated boldly that they want a shutdown. The Speaker has an obligation not to let those people who want a shutdown have their way.

Chasing the lowest common denominator won't ever solve the Speaker's problems. The hard right will just keep demanding more extreme things. It is the pattern we have seen play out all year long, and that approach will only lead to one outcome: a MAGA government shutdown. This has been the problem with MAGA extremism from the start. It is not serious about governing. It hates governing. ``Chaos'' is the only word in their playbook.

We have Members of the hard right who openly say--bragging--they want a shutdown. Well, it doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't be this way. Those few who want a shutdown should not control the House. Speaker McCarthy doesn't have to pretend like a MAGA bill is the only option. Again, there are real people who will be hurt if the government is shut down. They like to see us work together so their lives don't get disrupted.

Today is September 20. House Republicans have less than 10 days to figure this out. If Republican leadership chooses to work with Democrats, we can avoid a shutdown very quickly, but if they continue to appease the MAGA hard right, we all know exactly how this is going to end.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 282.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I move to proceed to legislative session.

I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 281.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I move to proceed to legislative session.

I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 249.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, September 20, be waived.

Madam President, the senior Senator from Alabama, Senator Tuberville, for more than 6 months, has continued his brazen, reckless hold of hundreds of routine, nonpolitical promotions of senior military officers.

Democrats have said all along that these promotions should move forward together as these nominations have for decades in the past. They should have happened a long time ago. They should have happened the way these promotions have been done in the Senate until Senator Tuberville arrived. They should have been done quickly and in a bipartisan way.

Instead, the Senator from Alabama decided he would take the unprecedented step of holding up these promotions because he held a political position on abortion that doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate and is opposed by the Commander in Chief and the Secretary of Defense. This poorly conceived tactic has also been opposed by the Senate Republican leadership. Leader McConnell and Senator Thune have both voiced grave concerns about the path that Senator Tuberville is taking. And Speaker McCarthy, when asked about it this week, demurred and said: I am the Speaker of the House.

Senator Tuberville's tactics have been opposed by top Republicans in Congress. It has been opposed by Republican Presidential candidates. It has been denounced by military families from one end of America to the other, and it has been denounced by veterans groups. Polls show that the American people strongly oppose what Senator Tuberville is doing. A recent poll showed that even 58 percent of Alabama voters believe Senator Tuberville should allow the promotions to go forward.

Simply put, besides the most extreme elements of the Republican Party, no one thinks this is a good idea. In the face of that opposition, it seems that Senator Tuberville is becoming more and more desperate to get out of the box he has put himself in. He is desperate to shift the responsibility onto others, but I have made it clear that we will not allow anyone to shift this onto Democrats. The blame--the blame--falls squarely on the shoulders of the senior Senator from Alabama.

I offered to give him a vote to get the Department of Defense to do what he wants on abortion in the NDAA. He never--never--took me up on that vote. When Democrats tried to move all of the nominations--because Democrats don't want to leave anyone in our military behind--Senator Tuberville objected. And now, in a further act of desperation, Senator Tuberville is seeking to use a procedural step to overcome his very own holds. Yes, you heard that right. Senator Tuberville is seeking to undo his own holds. The man who is holding everything up is trying to obfuscate things by playing this ruse on the floor.

Senator Tuberville is essentially trying to make himself the gatekeeper of which officers are promoted and who sits and waits. Instead of just getting out of the way and allowing the Senate to approve the promotions that these decorated military officers deserve, the Senator from Alabama, unfortunately and wrongly, is using them as pawns.

What Senator Tuberville is doing will set the military and the Senate down a path to vote on every single military promotion. It will make every single military officer's promotion subject to the political whims of the Senate and even of one Senator. It will change the nature of our nonpolitical military. It will hamstring the Senate and further bog down this body and make it harder for us to legislate. It will take away time from appropriations. It will make it harder to get things done to benefit the American people. The decision by the senior Senator from Alabama will have long lasting repercussions that may not be apparent right away but that we may come to regret. I believe we will come to regret them.

Due to the extraordinary circumstances of Senator Tuberville's reckless decisions, Democrats will take action. It is not the path the vast majority of Senators on either side of the aisle wants to go down, but Senator Tuberville is forcing us to confront his obstruction head on.

I want to make clear to my Republican colleagues: This cannot continue. We cannot continue down this path. It threatens the ability of the Senate and the leadership of both sides to work together to get things done for the American people, and it threatens the nonpolitical nature of our military servicemembers. Senator Tuberville's obstruction is pushing the Senate down this road, and where it goes from here will depend on all of us.

The Senate runs on unanimous consent, and we depend on each other to ensure this institution functions smoothly. That is how we make things happen around here. If everyone objected to everything to get leverage for their pet priorities, it would grind this body to a halt. Either we choose a different direction or we continue down the road of more and more obstruction.

It is my hope--indeed, it is my prayer--that we find a better way. Our military deserves better. We cannot allow Senator Tuberville to set us on a path that no Senator wants to travel. We cannot allow Senator Tuberville to decide which of our dedicated and brave servicemembers get promoted and which get to languish, which military families are able to settle in their new posts and which must remain in limbo. We cannot and we should not allow that to be the case.

So I have just filed cloture on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Army Chief of Staff. These men should have already been confirmed. They should already be serving in their new positions. The Senate should not have to go through procedural hoops just to please one brazen and misguided Senator, but this is where we are.

In the end, the Senate will overwhelmingly vote to overcome Senator Tuberville's blockade of these three nominees by voting for cloture. Then the Senate will overwhelmingly vote to confirm them, and these three honorable men will finally be able to assume their positions. And the abortion policy that Senator Tuberville abhors will remain in place. Senator Tuberville will have accomplished nothing, but the harm he is doing to the military and their families remains and, unfortunately, continues for hundreds of others.

For the information of all Senators, now that I have filed these motions, I will request consent to collapse the time and hold these votes later this afternoon. I hope Senator Tuberville does not object, but if he does, Senators should expect votes on Friday and possibly Saturday to finish the consideration of these nominations. Again, I will shortly move to speed up the votes on these amendments this afternoon, and I hope the Senator will not object, but if he does, we will stay until we get them done.

Finally, Senator Tuberville's unprecedented disrespect of the men and women who lead our military has unsurprisingly caused many of our colleagues to discuss ways to change the way we process military nominations. They recognize that the Senate process is being abused and that Senator Tuberville's reckless actions are harming hundreds of military families.

Once again, I wish we were not in this position. I wish my Republican colleagues who do care deeply about keeping our military strong were able to prevail on Senator Tuberville to completely change his tactics. They clearly made some progress, which forced him to vainly attempt a procedural play, but this is not a sustainable path. Senator Tuberville's continued abuse of his privilege will continue to disrupt the lives of hundreds of our Nation's finest and most dedicated military officers and their families. While we Democrats didn't choose this fight, we are ready to put an end to this sooner rather than later.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 3:30 p.m.; that if cloture is invoked on the Brown nomination, all postcloture time be considered expired at 6:30 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

I yield the floor.