Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1512 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate

proceed to consideration of S. Res. 501, which is at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 502, 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 19; that 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 that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; further, that the postcloture time on the Nieh nomination be expired and the Senate vote on the confirmation of the nomination at noon tomorrow; and if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action. I further ask that the Senate recess following the disposition of the Nieh nomination until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference meetings; finally, that at 2:15 p.m., Senator Lummis be recognized for up to 5 minutes prior to making a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 89

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 am glad to be able to say that eight Democrats joined Republicans last night to take the first step to reopen the government. And in the very near future, we will be voting on a final package, a clean continuing resolution until January 30 and three bipartisan full-year appropriations bills.

These bills are the Military Construction-VA, Agriculture, and Legislative Branch appropriations, 3 of the 12 bills that Congress needs to pass on an annual basis.

What that means is that yearlong funding for SNAP, for WIC, for veterans, for essential farm programs, and for a number of other critical priorities will be met. I said that we will be voting on the final package in the very near future, and I am hoping that will be hours and not days.

We are on the 41st day of this shutdown. Nutrition benefits are in jeopardy, air travel is in an extremely precarious situation. Our staffs and many, many other government workers have been working for nearly 6 weeks without pay. I could spend an hour talking about all the problems we have seen, which have snowballed the longer this shutdown has gone on. But all of us, Democrat and Republican, who voted

for last night's bill are well aware of the facts, and I am grateful that the end is in sight.

But I would encourage every Member of this body, Democrat and Republican, pro-bill or anti-bill, not to stand in the way of our being able to deliver the coming relief quickly. The American people have suffered for long enough. Let's not pointlessly drag this bill out. Let's get it done, get it over to the House so that we can get this government open.

As I have emphasized since being elected majority leader last November, I remain deeply committed to advancing full-year appropriations bills through regular order. And we have drafted this continuing resolution to extend to January 30, specifically, to give us more time to get this bipartisan work done.

I look forward to taking up additional appropriations bills on the floor in the near future. After 41 days, I am grateful to be able to say that we are close to getting the government reopened. And again, I ask all of my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, of both parties, to make it possible to quickly pass this bill.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading.

Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar, under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Senators Murray and Collins, the postcloture time be expired, and the Senate vote on adoption of the motion to proceed; further, if agreed to, and following recognition of the majority leader, it be in order for Senators Baldwin, Sanders, Slotkin, and Merkley to speak for up to 5 minutes each, prior to a Baldwin motion to table and a Merkley motion to table, if made; and following the disposition of that vote, if it is not agreed to, Senator Paul be recognized to speak for up to 9 minutes, and the Senate then vote in relation to the Paul amendment No. 3941; further, that following disposition of the Paul amendment, the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Collins substitute amendment No. 3937; and if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be expired, the pending amendments other than the Collins substitute be withdrawn, and the Senate vote on adoption of the Collins substitute amendment; and if adopted, the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on H.R. 5371, as amended; finally, if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be expired, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, and the Senate vote on passage of H.R. 5371, as amended; and if passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and the mandatory quorum calls be waived.

Mr. President, I call up substitute amendment No. 3937.

Mr. President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of Amendments.'')

Cloture Motion

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

I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3941 from Senator Paul.

Mr. President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I have an amendment to the text of the underlying bill.

Mr. President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I move to commit the bill to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions.

Mr. President, I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to commit with instructions.

Mr. President, I have an amendment to the instructions.

I ask consent the reading be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask consent that the reading of the names be waived.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371.

Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that the remaining rollcall votes be 10 minutes in length.

Mr. President, this has been a very long road--quite literally, the longest shutdown in history. I am very, very happy to be able to say that we are coming to the end.

Before we close today, I want to take the time to say thank you to my staff, who have worked around the clock tirelessly now for the past 6 weeks; to the staff of the Appropriations Committee, who have played a critical role in getting us to where we are today; to the Cloakroom staff; to every Senate staffer on both sides of the aisle, who has spent 41 days coming into work without pay; to the custodial staff, who, again without pay, have kept this building and the Senate office buildings livable; to all institutional staff, without whom this place would not run; to the Secretary of the Senate and everyone in her office; the Sergeant at Arms and her team; the Architect of the Capitol and his staff; and everyone on the floor right now making this session happen; and to the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police, who have shown up during this shutdown day in and day out to protect the rest of us. I am humbled by and grateful for your service.

I know that the strain of these weeks has been immense, and you all have families, rent to meet, bills to pay, car and mortgage payments. I am grateful for all you have done to keep the Senate running and for all that you do every day, shutdown or no shutdown, to serve the Senate and to serve our country.

With that, after 6 excruciating weeks, I will stop talking and let all of you get some rest.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 515.

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

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 464.

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

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