Floor Statements

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 321.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Merkley- Daines substitute amendment at the desk to the resolution be agreed to; that the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that the Merkley-Daines substitute amendment at the desk to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 571, which is at the desk.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 572, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4323, which was received from the House.

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.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 276, S. 1383.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be 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.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 1204 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Madam President, 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.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4446 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Madam President, 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.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1823 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 279, S. 787.

I ask unanimous consent that the Moran amendment to the substitute, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to; that the committee-reported substitute amendment, as amended, be 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 with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration Calendar No. 272, S. 607.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; that the committee-reported title amendment be agreed to; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived in relation to the Simmons nomination.

Madam President, I know of no further debate on the nominations en bloc.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the motions to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. 70, 574, and 476, and that the mandatory quorums be waived; further, if cloture is invoked on the nominations individually, all postcloture time be expired, and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nominations and the Simmons nomination at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, no earlier than January 5, 2026; finally, if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, when I became majority leader, I made it very clear that I was committed to funding the government through the regular order consideration of appropriations bills, not through an omnibus or long-term CR, oftentimes written behind closed doors.

The regular order process gives Senators from both parties the fullest chance to make their voices and the voices of their constituents heard, which is why I am disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight.

Republicans were ready to go, but, unfortunately, my Democrat colleagues are not there yet. Hopefully, they will get there.

Republicans have worked hard all year to get us back to taking up appropriations bills through regular order. We had a positive start with the Senate passing three appropriations bills before the August State work period, something that hadn't been done here since 2018.

Then we hit a setback when Democrats decided to shut the government down for 6 weeks. That was disappointing, obviously.

But I want this body to know that I remain as committed as ever to funding the government through the regular order process. And when we come back, after the holidays, we are going to redouble our efforts to get this government funded and prevent any repeat of the Democratic shutdown.

I hope that my Democrat colleagues will join us. I hear them speaking to that effect, and I will take them at face value. And I hope that we can work together to fund the government in the way it should be funded, through regular order and the appropriations process.

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