Floor Statements

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the American people reject what is going on here, and that is the Schumer shutdown. We are now in day 7 of the Schumer shutdown--7 days of wasted time and growing hardship for the American people.

There is a new Harvard-Harris poll that has just come out, and it makes it loud and clear. And what is loud and clear is that 7 in 10 voters in America oppose the government shutdown. Americans overwhelmingly say Democrats should accept a continuing resolution at the current levels of funding until the actual spending bills are passed. It is interesting because 13 times in the Biden administration, the Democrats did exactly that, and it is the thing they are refusing to do right now.

Americans don't want their government closed. They want it open. They want it to work for them. They want a nation that is safe and secure and prosperous. They are sick and tired of Democrats holding them hostage with partisan and unreasonable demands.

What do the Democrats want? What did their demand letter say? It said they want free healthcare for illegal immigrants. This is opposed by an overwhelmingly large number of Americans.

The Democrats shut down the government, and they think they are hurting President Trump. In fact, the Schumer shutdown is hurting people all across America. Across this country, Americans are feeling the pain.

There are headlines that tell the story, and I have a few here. One in New York says ``Gov't shutdown threatens food access for Long Island's most vulnerable.'' Another in Nevada says ``Government shutdown threatens food stamps, jobs, national security.'' In New Jersey, one reads ``Hospital-at-home, telehealth programs on hold amid government shutdown.'' In New

Hampshire: ``At least 1,800 NH federal workers to be furloughed or fired during shutdown.''

They are not statistics. These are families. These are our troops. These are seniors. These are veterans. These are mothers with young children, working families, patients all across the country. And the stresses upon American families are mounting as a result of the Schumer shutdown.

Paychecks for our servicemembers--well, they run out in days. Reports already show there are signs of financial distress. Every day this shut down continues, the damage drags on. Financial stress will lead to financial crises for many families. Temporary hardships will lead to lasting harm. The American people don't want it. They can't afford it. They want it to end.

Democrats have now voted five specific times to keep the government closed. Now all you need to do is read their ransom note. Democrats are demanding taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. And who do they want to hurt in the process? They want to cut the funding for rural hospitals in my State and yours. That is how they want to pay for healthcare for illegal immigrants. That is their price to reopen the government, to get back to the normal workings of Washington and our government. As a result, the Democrats are holding the American people hostage.

There is a simple solution to the shutdown. The House passed a clean continuing resolution--current spending levels, bipartisan support--to fund the government through November 21. Why November 21? Well, I just heard the minority leader say there has been no discussion between Republicans or Democrats on the continuing resolution. Well, in fact, there has been, and it is the deadline date of November 21 because the chairs and the ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee all said they needed 7 weeks to finish the bipartisan work on the appropriations bills. So, yes. Senator Collins, Senator Murray worked together on the clean continuing resolution.

It is interesting because what we see are the Democrats fearing the wrath of the far-left wing of their party. That is why they are not voting to open the government.

The clock continues to tick. Every day Democrats hold out is another day wasted, another day we ought to be making sure the government is open. I hear the Democrats say they want to negotiate. Well, open the government. We are ready to negotiate. Every day the Democrats choose to keep the government closed is another day spent ignoring and rejecting the priorities of the American people. If Democrats actually wanted to negotiate, they would reopen the government today. It is that simple.

So, today, we are going to vote for the sixth time on a clean continuing resolution, something the Democrats approved 13 times when Joe Biden was President. Senate Democrats have a choice: Vote yes to end the Schumer shutdown or vote no, and tell the American people why their pain and their opinion just doesn't matter to the Democrats.

Let me end where I began: 7 out of 10 Americans oppose this shutdown. Americans overwhelmingly say Democrats should accept the clean continuing resolution that we are voting on here today. The American people have spoken. They want their government open, and they want it open now. It is time that the Democrats listened to them.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis) and the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. President, it is very obvious that Democrats are losing the Schumer shutdown. Even their media allies are turning against them.

Here is an editorial from today's Washington Post. The headline is ``The shutdown conversation no one wants.''

The Washington Post editorial board, today, wrote this:

Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to extend

the covid-era insurance subsidies without proposing any way

to pay for it.

They go on to say:

The Congressional Budget Office estimates this will cost

$350 billion over the next decade.

Now, that is the Washington Post talking, not Republicans. So it is no surprise that Democrats are avoiding this conversation.

Obamacare is broken. Obamacare is a failure. And now Democrats are holding the American people hostage to prop it up.

The Biden bonus COVID payments are a bait and switch. Democrats created them in 2021, but they did it as a temporary COVID program. They extended them temporarily to 2022. They set an end date from this year, when they extended them once again.

Now, these same Democrats are demanding that they become permanent, at a cost of $350 billion. It is unacceptable. This is a system that is riddled with waste, with fraud, abuse, and corruption.

Big insurance companies are rewarded with direct payments from the Federal Government to the insurance companies. Hard-working taxpayers are left holding the bill. In many of these policies, there are no premiums, no deductibles, no income limit, no accountability. Even families making a half million dollars a year, they still qualify for these Biden bonus COVID payments.

This is reckless, permanent new spending. The American people can't afford it. The American people know it. And even the Washington Post knows it and has reported on it today.

Democrats lost the election. They have lost their media allies, and now they have lost the argument.

On a related matter, here we are on day six of the Schumer shutdown. Senate Democrats have now voted four separate times to keep our government closed. Radical Democrats are shutting down the government with an outlandish list of demands, and the Presiding Officer has seen them. Included in that list is giving free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

When the interests of Americans and illegal immigrants collide, Democrats always seek to benefit the latter at the expense of the former. Think back to the last Democrat primary for President, back in June of 2019, when they were having a big debate on live television. There were so many candidates that they actually had to do it on two separate nights to get them all on the stage.

Every running candidate for President was asked in that one debate if their platform would give free healthcare to illegal immigrants. Every single Democrat candidate on the debate stage that night raised their hand and said yes. Every one of them promised to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Senator Bernie Sanders was on the stage that night; he raised his hand. Senator Gillibrand of New York was on the stage that night; she raised her hand. Yes, free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Those are current Members of the U.S. Senate who voted to shut the government down. They voted four times in the last 6 days.

And it is more than talk. When Democrats get power, that is exactly what they are going to do.

Look at California. In 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom expanded State- sponsored healthcare to illegal immigrants. He actually bragged about it. So there is no hiding from this.

One year later, the Los Angeles Times reported that, by doing this, costs had tripled. It was a headline dated March 13 of this year. It says:

Cost of undocumented healthcare in California is billions

over estimates--

They go on to say--

pressuring Democrats to consider cuts.

Instead of $3 billion a year, the California healthcare system costs taxpayers $9.5 billion, by providing healthcare to illegal immigrants.

California financed its healthcare for illegal immigrants through a money laundering scheme aimed at the Federal Government. They used it to increase the State's Medicaid payments from the Federal Government directly to the State of California. This is money vacuumed away from hard-working Americans and from the vulnerable people in this country, our friends and neighbors, who need Medicaid the most. What did California do with it? They used it for illegal immigrants, not for U.S. citizens.

President Joe Biden and the Democrats--they went even further. Apparently, they weren't liberal enough in doing that. Joe Biden created multiple illegal parole programs when he was President. It was a blatant attempt at amnesty by the sleight of hand. Parole is supposed to be rare, it is supposed to be temporary, and it is supposed to be case by case. And I am talking about the flood of illegal immigrants that have come into this country across our southern border. People saw them on television. Joe Biden abused Presidential parole authority and turned our law on its head.

Democrats made noncitizens who were paroled eligible for free healthcare. Look no further than the illegal immigrant who murdered 22- year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia. He crossed the border illegally in 2022. The Biden administration released him into our country instead of removing him. The Biden administration paroled him for what they claimed were ``urgent humanitarian reasons of significant public benefit.'' And then he murdered a nursing student. Joe Biden made Laken Riley's killer eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare.

Democrats even promised free healthcare as an enticement to attract illegal immigrants to our southern border. It was a magnet.

Well, Democrats have now shut down the government. Why? To defend a system where Laken Riley's killer can get taxpayer-funded, free healthcare. That is who they are. Those are their beliefs. That is their commitment--not to the American people but to the illegal immigrants.

Well, Republicans closed the loophole. Our working-families tax cuts put in place strong eligibility verification requirements. So that person can't qualify anymore or anyone like him. It also ended the gimmicks that allowed California to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants through higher Federal Medicaid payments, the way they syphon money from the Federal Government into California to pay for illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, what we have seen is that President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rightfully terminated all of these Joe Biden categorical parole programs. He should have never let them in in the first place. Now we have terminated it.

The Supreme Court was called into play in an action here. The Supreme Court upheld this decision by the Trump administration after several rounds of leftwing lawfare.

President Trump is securing our border. He is putting American citizens first, not illegal immigrants. That is the difference between our parties. Democrats want to undo all of that. That is why they are holding the Nation hostage by shutting down the government. That is what this fight is all about.

Let's be clear. By shutting down the government, Democrats are putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens--ahead of our veterans, ahead of our military, ahead of our seniors, ahead of our children. It is reckless, it is radical, and it is wrong. It is time for it to end.

So today, the Senate is going to vote for a fifth time on our bipartisan continuing resolution, and we want to reopen government. It passed the House with bipartisan support. The Senate this evening will have a simple choice once again: vote to reopen the government and put America first and Americans first or vote with Senator Schumer to put illegal immigrants ahead of the American people.

Voting with Chuck Schumer tonight will keep the government closed.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``nay.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) would have voted ``yea.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Madam President, America is now in the middle of the Schumer shutdown. Two in three Americans oppose it. Democrats are holding the American people hostage. They are demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending, and that is just to keep the government open for 4 short weeks. That amounts to $48 billion a day.

Here is what the Democrats are demanding. They are demanding more taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. At the same time, they are taking away money from vulnerable hospitals in rural communities in my State and in yours.

Under Joe Biden, Democrats opened our borders. Ten million illegal immigrants flooded across. Under Chuck Schumer, Democrats have now closed the government. They did it to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, Democrats are demanding the repeal of $50 billion of the rural hospital fund. This has been set aside as a lifesaver for our small community hospitals. That is who this fund has been set up to help, like the one I was at last week, in Pinedale, WY.

It is our first hospital in the county, ever. The closest hospital is 85 miles away. This is a needed, vital resource in rural Wyoming.

In addition, Democrats are demanding $350 billion in permanent new spending for Biden's bonus COVID payments. They created these payments in 2021. They promised they would be temporary. They said they are there for the COVID emergency only. They extended them once so they would end at the end of this year. Clearly, COVID is over, and now they want these Biden bonus COVID payments to become permanent, to go on forever.

These payments are riddled with waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption. We have seen it. We have documented evidence.

Unlike most insurance, there are no premiums, there are no deductibles. Democrats also removed the income limit. The money goes straight from the government to the insurance companies. The bill goes directly to the hard-working American taxpayers.

The Democrats' price to reopen the government is all of those things I have mentioned, plus more.

What we are doing as Republicans is proposing to reopen the government for 7 weeks at the current funding levels. The House has already passed it. Republicans and Democrats have voted for it in the House and in the Senate. President Trump is ready to sign it.

It takes 60 votes in the Senate to reopen the government. We have voted repeatedly over the past several days. Each time, a few level- headed Democrats have joined Republicans in the vote. It is time for more Democrats to join us today.

There is only one person standing in the way, and that is the minority leader. He is holding the American people hostage. He fears retribution from the radical, socialist left. It is easy to see why. The radical socialist left--including Senator Sanders, Senator Warren, and AOC--they have become the Democrat leaders in this shutdown. They are the ones running the party.

While the government is stuck in this Schumer shutdown, the people paying the price are the American families. Veterans will face longer wait times for appointments. Members of the military and Border Patrol agents will continue to protect our Nation, but they will do it without pay. Some wildfire prevention, which is critical this time of the year, will stop. Wildland firefighters will remain on the job unpaid. Mothers will lose access to vital programs that help feed their children. Sick patients on Medicare and Medicaid may lose home healthcare services. Small business owners will not receive new Federal loans because the Small Business Administration is unable, during a shutdown, to process them.

The American people, all across this country, are feeling the pain of the Schumer shutdown. Their request is simple. They are asking Senate Democrats to do what they have done 13 times under Joe Biden--to vote for a clean continuing resolution that will reopen the government. All it takes is a few more Democrats--people who are willing to put the country first.

We are about to vote today on another clean continuing resolution, like the Democrats did 13 times when Joe Biden was in the White House, and that is the one to reopen the government. Republicans are going to vote for it.

Democrats have the opportunity today, in just a few short minutes, to do the right thing for the American people. Let's see if they do.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.