Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, keeping the government open is a fundamental responsibility of elected officials. It always needs to be bipartisan, and today, that requires cooperation by the Democrats.

Right now, the Democrats are threatening once again to shut down the Government of the United States. We are trending toward another Schumer government shutdown. Democrats are in the minority in the Senate; they are in the minority in the House. Yet they have come up with what looks to me like a half-hearted bait-and-switch plan. It is a plan that is designed and is an attempt to deceive the American people. Democrats are trying to avoid being blamed for their reckless obstruction. The American people are not going to be deceived.

Let's be clear. The Schumer plan is a shutdown plan. It is far from a clean extension of current funding. In fact, it is a Trojan horse--a Trojan horse packed with reckless and radical liberal fantasies.

It is not serious, and the Democrats know it. The Democrats want a ransom payment--a ransom payment of over $1 trillion to keep the government open for just 4 weeks.

So let's take a look at it. There is more than a trillion dollars in more spending in what the Democrats are proposing. At the same very time, they are proposing eliminating the $50 billion rural hospital stabilization fund.

That is a lifeblood for rural hospitals in my communities and in your communities. The Schumer shutdown plan reads like a draft of the future platform for the 2028 Democrat National Convention. There are COVID bonus payments--this is in spite of the fact that the COVID crisis ended years ago. Liberal States are being rewarded for giving taxpayer- funded healthcare to illegal immigrants.

They want able-bodied, working-age individuals who refuse to work to continue getting Medicaid. Remember, these work requirements are overwhelmingly supported by hard-working Americans of all political persuasions.

They want to send taxpayer dollars overseas to pay for climate projects. This is fantasyland. They want taxpayer dollars to keep going towards $40

million for low emissions development in West Africa. They want taxpayer dollars to keep going towards $25 million for climate resilience in Honduras. They want the taxpayer dollars to keep going towards $13.4 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe.

The Democrats have a long and spirited history of wasting American taxpayer dollars. This plan is no different. The Schumer shutdown plan seems designed to score political points on the far, far left.

This is a clarifying moment for the American people. Democrats know they can't have any hope of passing this fantasy plan. They know it, and they know it because they want government to close.

Republicans are proposing a clean short-term extension of funding designed to keep the government opened and functioning. A clean short- term continuing resolution would easily pass the Senate in normal times. A clean CR keeps the government open. A clean CR gives appropriators from both parties the time to complete their work in regular order.

Let me point out that the Appropriations Committee is already producing bipartisan bills. Let me also point out that under Joe Biden, Democrats supported 13 short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government open, and 96 percent of them voted for them.

So times really are different under this Democrat leadership in their efforts to obstruct this President. Democrats once again are putting politics ahead of the essential work of governing. Senator Schumer is clearly making unreasonable demands knowing that his proposal can never pass the Senate. All Republicans are proposing is to continue to fund the government for the next 7 weeks. This is going to allow us to continue the appropriations process and keep the government open during that time.

Senator Schumer himself said last year that passing a clean CR ``will avert a harmful and unnecessary shutdown.'' Now he wants to cause a harmful and unnecessary shutdown. At that time, he said passing a clean CR gives appropriators ``time to finish drafting all 12 bills.'' Let me point out that those bills were then stuck in Senator Schumer's drawer, and he kept them there and never brought them to the floor of the U.S. Senate.

He even said, back then, if both sides work together, if we reject poison pills--of which his bill now is completely loaded with--if we reject poison pills, he said, that can never become law, then the task before us becomes much, much easier.

They want to shut down the government. That is what they are proposing. Senator Schumer needs to listen to his own advice from a year ago. But then he was majority leader; now they are in the minority. The proposal that he came out with last night is loaded with poison pills, and he knows it.

Let me repeat: 13 short-term continuing resolutions under President Biden. Schumer was the majority leader at the time; 96 percent of Democrats voted for them.

Voting yes for a short-term continuing resolution was not considered controversial for the Democrats a year ago.

Now, I recognize that the minority leader today has a political problem. His radical base is demanding a government shutdown. They expect it, they insist on it, they command Senator Schumer to deliver that. His political problem may soon turn into a major problem for American families, for our soldiers, for our Border Patrol agents, for seniors living on a fixed income.

As Senators, our job is to keep the government open, and Senate Republicans are ready to keep the government open. Democrats can either join us or drag the Nation into another Schumer shutdown. That is their choice.

On behalf of the chairman of the Budget Committee, I object.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) and the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee).

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the en bloc nominations provided for under the provisions of S. Res. 377.

Mr. President, today is Constitution Day, September 17. So I think it is a perfect day, today, to restore the Senate's constitutional duty of advice and consent because when a President is elected, he needs to put a team in place, a team in place to run the government. When a President wins, he gets to pick the team. Modern Presidents have over 1,000 positions to fill.

There is a role in the Senate for advice and consent, but Senate Democrats have done everything you can think of to prevent President Trump from putting his team in place. He needs to get these people on the job.

And let me be clear. Democrat obstruction ends today. This week, Republicans in the Senate will break the blockade and move America forward. Now, we are going to begin to confirm this backlog of President Trump's qualified nominees.

Historically, the Senate, acting as a body of the whole, has considered nominees pretty quickly after they have come out of the vetting in the committees. Most are confirmed right here on the Senate floor by voice vote or unanimous consent. In President Obama's first term, 856 nominees were confirmed that way; in President Trump's first term, 553. In Joe Biden's only term as President, the number was 530. Here we are in President Trump's second term--September of that second term--and that number confirmed that way is zero.

Well, why? Why has not a single nominee been confirmed by voice vote or by unanimous consent? Look, we know why, and it is the Democrat obstruction. Our country has never seen anything like this. Senate Democrats are freezing the Senate floor, freezing the Federal Government, and freezing our Nation's progress, and they are doing it intentionally. This harms our Nation's safety. It hamstrings the President and the voting people's agenda.

This is what people voted for. They elected President Trump. He won all seven battleground States. Yet the Democrats have done everything they can to stop him from making progress. Democrats are currently holding up

more than 150 qualified nominees who have already been successfully approved through Senate committees. These nominees are critical to our Nation's future, our Nation's success, our Nation's progress, as well as our safety and security.

So let's take a look at some of the important roles that the Democrats have said: Nope, we are going to filibuster all of them. One is the Principal Deputy Administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration. Another is the inspector general for the Central Intelligence Agency. Many are Ambassadors to our NATO allies. Then there is the Deputy Trade Representative. Even the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center is being frozen out by Democrat obstruction. Every one of them is qualified because every one of those individuals has received bipartisan committee support, Republicans and Democrats voting for them after their hearings in the committee. Yet Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, is blocking critical nominees because he opposes President Trump, and he has done it at every step along the way.

Democrats failed to defeat President Trump in November at the ballot box, so instead they are trying to sabotage his team right here on the Senate floor. When Democrats filibuster nominees, they don't even bother to debate their qualifications--simply delay for the sake of delay and obstruction.

Our Senate committees have done their jobs on all of these nominees. Every one of these nominees that is being held up here on the Senate floor, every one of them has appeared at hearings in committee; they have answered a barrage of questions from Senators; they passed FBI background checks; they cleared Senate ethics investigations; and they have passed out of committee; many and every one that we are going to be voting on in this group this week had bipartisan support.

Let's be clear what that means. Democrats here on the floor, Chuck Schumer, are blocking nominees whom Members of their own party already said: Yes, these are qualified; let's get them on the job.

This is unprecedented, and it is wrong.

Now, Democrats are free to vote no on nominees. That is OK. But an all-out obstruction weakens our country and wastes the Senate's time.

Don't take my word for it. Let's listen to what one of the Senators on the other side of the aisle said in 2013 when Barack Obama was President. That was Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts. She came to this very floor, stood over there at that very desk, and said:

Without a government that was staffed, justice would not be

established, our common defense would be threatened, and the

blessings of liberty [that] we hoped to secure through our

laws would go unfulfilled.

That was 2013 and a different President. Well, what changed? Well, what changed is that in November, Americans voted to get America back on track, and they elected Donald Trump as President to do it. Democrats' response was to shut down the Senate nomination process and to stop Senators from doing the people's business.

Today, Republicans are taking decisive action, and we are going to start voting on that in a few minutes. We are going to break the Senate's procedural logjam. We are returning to the long-established traditions and principles of the Senate.

Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on 48 nominees together in a single group. Each and every one of them has received bipartisan support in Senate committees. We are not going to stop there, though. Over 100 more nominees will be ready for confirmation by the end of this week-- get that process moving.

It is time for the Senate to clear the nominations backlog and clear it quickly, and so we will. That way, the Senate can get back to the work of legislating, of working on behalf of the American people. We have important legislation to consider. We have appropriations bills. We have the National Defense Authorization Act, the farm bill, legislation to make our cities safe from violent criminals.

Senate Republicans are going to continue the work of the American people. We are going to continue to work to get America back on track.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) 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 Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee).

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

Mr. President, once again, Senate Democrats are threatening to shut down the government. A government shutdown is bad for everyone. The cost of a Democrat shutdown is staggering.

Reopening the government after a shutdown is even more costly. And who pays the price of a Schumer shutdown? Well, it is the American people.

It is not the people in this room. No. It is hard-working Americans. It is seniors who rely on Social Security; they are going to be impacted. People living on a fixed income; they budget down to the last dollar. They need to pay for rent; they need to pay for groceries; they need to pay for prescriptions. Democrats don't seem to worry about that. Oh, they say they can wait.

Because a Democrat shutdown means that customer service applications to the Social Security Administration--well, they will be delayed.

Now, many military families also live paycheck to paycheck. They are going to face a lot of uncertainty. The men and women who protect our families will be left to wonder how they can protect their own families. Border Patrol agents, they put their lives on the line every day to protect the American people. They are going to be forced to live without a paycheck.

Democrats already tried to defund the Border Patrol. Now they want Border Patrol agents to go home without a paycheck until the government reopens.

National parks, they risk being closed as well. In my home State of Wyoming, we have Yellowstone National Park; we have the Grand Teton. These are more than parks; they are part of our State and our Nation's rich history and heritage.

Families from across America and around the world visit Wyoming, our national parks, and other national parks. They do it every year.

Under a Schumer shutdown, those plans will be forced to be canceled.

Local businesses like hotels, restaurants, they will lose revenue. Park staff are reduced to skeleton crews. Trash piles up. That is not stewardship. That is neglect.

That is what the Democrats are risking. It is what Democrats are threatening with this reckless talk of a shutdown.

The American people shouldn't be forced to pay the cost of Democrats' political games. That is what it is. Shutdowns are political games. Political acts are choices.

Congress has the tools to avoid this chaos. It requires, however, cooperation from the Democrats.

The appropriations process, it exists. It exists for a reason. It is how Congress fulfills its basic mission--the power of the purse. That is our duty, and that is what Republicans are doing.

For the first time in 4 years, the Senate passed bipartisan appropriations bills before the August recess.

More are on the way.

Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins is working hard to get each and every bill passed. That is something that the current Minority Leader refused to do when the Democrats were in the majority.

Last year, 11 out of 12 funding bills passed the Senate Appropriations Committee. They passed many along bipartisan ways, many were unanimous, all done in regular order. That was last year when Schumer was, at that time, majority leader, but he refused to bring a single one of them to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote. He let those 11 bipartisan appropriations bills die in the drawer of that desk rather than let the Senate vote on them.

He shut down the appropriations process, and now he and the Senate Democrats are threatening to shut down the government. He himself has recently suggested a shutdown. He said: It is preferable to accepting bipartisan solutions.

Senator Cory Booker, who is another member of the Senate Democrat leadership, went even further. When asked about a short stopgap measure that we are talking about now to keep government open so we can proceed with additional appropriations bills, he said:

I am going to block it.

That is what he said--block the normal process to regular order.

And it is not just the Democrat-elected officials calling for a shutdown. Liberal columnist Ezra Klein recently wrote in the New York Times and he was on television urging Democrats to shut down the government. He did it despite the costs and consequences to the American people, but that is where the radical left is.

He said joining Republicans to fund this government is worse, he said, than failing at opposition.

That is what they think their job is: to disrupt, to make it harder on the American people's lives. That is not what we ought to be doing here in the U.S. Senate. Democrats are ignoring the needs of keeping the essential functions of our Nation open. And what are those essential needs? Securing the border, Social Security, supporting our military--doesn't seem to care if you are a Democrat these days. What is so wrong with doing the job voters elected us to do?

To my Democrat colleagues, I would say: Stop this political theater. The Republican message is simple: Let's fund the government; protect Social Security; keep servicemembers and border agents paid; keep the government open in order to serve the American people.

Senate Republicans are ready. Ready to keep the government open. Senate Democrats are bragging about being ready to shut it down. The choice is theirs, and the consequences of that choice will be felt by the people of our Nation.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee).

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

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

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul).

Mr. President, I rise today to extend a warm welcome to His All-Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, on the occasion of his official visit to the United States. His All-Holiness is a respected spiritual leader whose presence is deeply meaningful to many people across our great Nation. His visit coincides with his acceptance of the distinguished Templeton Prize, a testament to his lifelong dedication to advancing spirituality and humanity.

During his visit, he is scheduled to meet with administration officials, Members of Congress, distinguished leaders, and representatives from various faith communities. These meetings provide a wonderful opportunity to discuss ways to promote our shared values of faith, peace, and understanding. I hope these meetings will prove to be productive and insightful for all involved.

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

Mr. President, I would like to begin today by addressing the tragic event that occurred yesterday.

Thirteen years ago, an organization called Turning Point USA was launched to fight back against liberal indoctrination that was occurring on college campuses. It began, as you know, as a little organization. It quickly grew into a dominant force of conservatism on college campuses. It became a national movement.

At the center of this was an 18-year-old young patriot named Charlie Kirk. From students and parents, all the way to President Trump, they all admired Charlie. He was a college dropout who brought debate and dialogue back to our country. For 13 years, Charlie did the most courageous thing in American life: He expressed his beliefs with an open heart. Yes, Charlie had strong political views, and he never feared having those views questioned by anyone, on any topic. In fact, as the Presiding Officer knows, he welcomed it.

Well, the name of yesterday's event was ``Prove Me Wrong.'' It was a fitting testimony to Charlie's fearlessness. For those political convictions, for that personal courage, Charlie became the latest target of political violence.

Many of us knew Charlie personally, as did I. The Presiding Officer and I were with him in October--October 31. We were with him in Phoenix, AZ, during a campaign event with President Trump. He became a beacon for a better, brighter America. Charlie reminded all of us that civil debate makes our arguments sharper, and it makes our society better.

We must live as Charlie lived during his all-too-brief life: with courage and with conviction. God bless Charlie Kirk. May God bless his family, and may he rest in peace.

Mr. President, on a separate matter, Senate Republicans today are prepared to break the Democrat nomination blockade. Senate Republicans are determined to overcome Democrats' confirmation obstruction. Senate Republicans are prepared to restore the Senate to the way it is supposed to work. For two centuries, most Presidential nominees have sailed through this Chamber by voice vote and by unanimous consent. That was the gold standard for ``advise and consent.'' Senator Schumer and the Democrats abandoned it. Instead of deliberation, Senate Democrats chose unprecedented delay. That ends now.

This year, Democrats have forced the Senate to waste 210 hours of pointless procedural theatrics. That is 210 hours not used for debating legislation--legislation to fight crime, to secure the border, to unleash American energy, and to grow the economy. Modern Presidents have over 1,000 positions requiring Senate confirmation, and as a result, only 12 percent of President Trump's team is today on the job. And it is because of obstruction; it is because of Democrat delays. They have delayed positions vital to America's safety, vital to our prosperity, and vital to our diplomacy around the world.

These remain empty. Let me name a few. The Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center--that is the person responsible for protecting us from foreign spies--empty; the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at the Energy Department, the person responsible for safeguarding our Nation's nuclear weapons: empty; Ambassadors to key NATO allies as war rages in Europe: empty; the inspector general at the Central Intelligence Agency: empty; the Deputy Trade Representative, as America negotiates historic trade deals, remains empty.

Empty positions cannot keep our Nation safe. Empty positions invite Russia, China, Iran, North Korea--they invite them to test us. But that is what the Democrats have brought this country. The unquestionable, undeniable, irrefutable, inescapable facts are that this Democrat obstruction makes America less safe. That is where we are today.

Let me point out what makes Democrat obstruction even more disgraceful. It destroys their own precedent. In May of 2001, 32 nominees from President George W. Bush were confirmed in a single group. A few months later, 55 more were confirmed in the same way. In February of 2010, for President Barack Obama, 77 nominees were confirmed exactly the same way. In 2017, with President Trump then in the office, 65 nominees were confirmed on a single day.

So what have we seen? Republican Presidents, Democrat Presidents, all with nominees confirmed in the same way. The Senate approved those nominees then as a long-established tradition in the Senate. That is the way the confirmation process is supposed to work. Just 4 years ago, with President Biden in the White House, 36 nominees were confirmed the exact same way.

I want to just get back to 4 years ago: 36 nominees confirmed for President Biden. Who personally came to this Senate floor that day to ask for that unanimous consent? Well, it was the current minority leader, Chuck Schumer. He is the one who made the motion. He is the one who sought unanimous consent. And, of course, we agreed, and it was done that way.

All these groups of nominees, from President Bush to President Biden, were confirmed by unanimous consent. But now that Donald Trump is President again, Senator Schumer calls the process, in his words, ``beyond the pale''--of doing what he just asked to be done when President Biden was in the White House. When the minority leader claims this week Republicans are breaking the Senate norms, he is trying to rewrite history. Who is he trying to fool? For the past 25 years, the Senate has confirmed routine nominees together in groups. It has been done for Republican Presidents, Democrat Presidents; but not anymore-- not when President Trump was elected just this past year. Democrats are now trying to deny President Trump the team he needs in place and on the job to govern this Nation. But the American people elected President Trump to lead, not to watch his administration be held hostage by partisan politics.

Today, Senate Republicans are going to return to the very practice that Democrats endorsed and followed until President Trump got elected. Let me remind the colleagues of that practice so they don't say: Well, they are going to speed things along. Every committee hearing and markup will still happen. Every FBI background check will still happen. Every ethics review will still happen. Every nominee will still appear before committees. Every nominee will still answer questions from Senators. And every nominee will still have a vote in a committee. Scrutiny of each and every nominee is going to continue.

What comes to the end is what is Senator Schumer's reign of procedural terror. The Schumer confirmation shutdown ends today. And to my Democratic colleagues, let me say, if you disagree with our effort to get the Senate working again, it is up to you to explain to the American people why you have chosen to paralyze the Senate. You need to explain why you chose to stop doing the work that you were elected to do. Republicans are getting this Senate back to work on behalf of the American people, and beginning next week, the backlog of President Trump's nominees will be confirmed, and they will be put to work to get America back on track.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.