Floor Statements

Mr. President, as ranking member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs I continue to fight hard on behalf of new policies that will allow VA to better serve our Nation's veterans. As a former ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and VA, I am also very mindful of the need to secure the resources necessary for VA to properly carry out those policies.

The Choice program has been a disaster in Montana, and I am proud that the VA MISSION Act streamlines VA community care in a manner that makes more sense for veterans and their doctors and for community providers, but as we provide the tools and authorities necessary for veterans to get the care they need, I agree that we also need to secure the resources necessary to achieve the goals of this legislation without short-changing other domestic priorities. I am therefore strongly supportive of including language in an upcoming appropriations bill that provides veterans with the certainty they deserve, and I remain committed to working with the chairman and vice chairman on this effort.

Mr. President, I thank Senator Moran for his kind comments.

I want to begin my comments by acknowledging the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. We would not be here today taking up the VA MISSION Act without the leadership of Senator Johnny Isakson of the majority. He is a fierce advocate for veterans, and he has been an incredible pleasure for me to work with. The bipartisanship and collaboration on our Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee happens because we leave politics at the door. That is possible because of Johnny's personality and leadership style, as well as his commitment to the veterans of this Nation.

I would also like to thank the many veterans service organizations that have weighed in and provided positive feedback on the VA MISSION Act. Thirty-eight veterans organizations representing millions of veterans and service men and women nationwide support the VA MISSION Act. They have been asking for Choice reform and responsible investment in the VA, and this bill gets it done.

I also thank the House Veterans' Affairs Committee for working with us in getting a bill drafted that we can all be proud of.

At the beginning of this Congress, we set out to draft a bill that reforms community care and also strengthens the VA. As Senator Moran pointed out, coming from a State like Montana--a rural State, 147,000 square miles--I know we cannot have a VA clinic in every community, but veterans cannot always drive 2 hours to the nearest VA clinic, and they certainly can't afford to wait months for an appointment. That is why we need private healthcare to fill in the gaps when the VA cannot deliver that healthcare.

I also know how much veterans need the services they get from a VA clinic. In my dozens and dozens of face-to-face listening sessions with veterans, they have told me that the kind of care they get from the VA is important. They are surrounded by their peers, many of whom have experienced the mental and physical implications of being in combat. VA doctors and nurses know how to treat PTSD, toxic exposure, and other wounds unique to their service.

The best defense against any effort to privatize the VA or send veterans wholesale to the private sector is to make sure the VA is living up to our promise to veterans. The VA MISSION Act recognizes that there is a balance

between VA care and community care and invests in medical and clinical staff to serve veterans at the VA. It builds capacity within the VA, and it uses the private sector to fill in the gaps where the VA falls short.

It takes the bill that Johnny and I wrote, the Caring for Our Veterans Act, and adds a few things, but the foundation of this legislation is something Senator Isakson and I have written over the course of the last year with veterans groups. So I am incredibly proud to be standing here today to hopefully push this bill to the President's desk.

The Choice Program was created with an important mission: to make it easier and faster for veterans to get healthcare. It hasn't worked like that for many veterans--veterans like Tom, a retired U.S. Navy commander of the Vietnam war, a Montanan. In his 24 years as a Navy pilot, Tom spent a lot of time yelling to be heard over the roar of an engine. That took a toll on his ability to hear. Three years ago, he began the process of getting hearing aids from the VA. He got his hearing test done, but when it came time to order the hearing aids, Tom was told that he wasn't authorized.

The nearest VA facility to Tom was almost 3 hours away, so he and his wife decided to drive to the closest civilian clinic, which was about 45 miles away in Sandpoint, ID, just across the line from his home in Noxon, MT. There, he hit another snag. After weeks of back-and-forth visits, the authorization was again denied because he was not a resident of Idaho. So he returned to square one. He drove 5 hours to Fort Harrison in Helena, 250 miles away.

With assistance from my office, he got the authorization for those hearing aids. Tom had to drive two 5-hour roundtrips to a Choice provider in Kalispell, but a few months later, he finally received his hearing aids.

All in all, Tom drove nearly 20 hours to get those hearing aids, and I am here to tell you that it shouldn't be that hard for a veteran to get the healthcare they have earned from the VA. Do you know what the worst part is? There was an audiologist in Tom's hometown the entire time who could have helped him if the VA had just realized how important it was to access that audiologist instead of driving 20 hours down the road.

Unfortunately, Tom is not the only veteran with a story like this. I could tell you about a veteran in Lake County who had several appointments scheduled through the Choice Program, and then he was told he wasn't eligible for Choice at all--after his appointment. When he caught pneumonia, my office stepped in and got him the care he needed through the Choice Program. I could tell you about Bruce, a veteran in Billings who couldn't get a followup appointment through the Choice Program after his hip surgery. He was told he wouldn't wait more than 5 days, and then he couldn't get anybody on the phone. We were able to help him get the followup care he needed. Terry, in Butte, got a procedure done through the Choice Program. It was approved, completed, and then he was told he didn't qualify for the Choice Program. Again, this U.S. Senator had to step in so Terry didn't have to foot the bill for his healthcare.

I could go on and on. Veterans across the State of Montana have called my office for help since the Choice Program was started. Their frustrations over issues like scheduling, reimbursements, or traveling long distances for care are a sorry way to say thank you to those folks who have served this country.

It shouldn't take a Senate office stepping in to make sure the government lives up to its promises to America's veterans, so Chairman Isakson and I wrote a bill that reforms the entire system. We negotiated with the House, the White House, veterans, and advocates to move our bill forward.

The Caring for Our Veterans Act was a giant step forward. Thanks to the leadership of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and our effort, the Caring for Our Veterans Act is included in the VA MISSION Act.

Our bill gets rid of seven different community care programs, including Choice, and replaces them with one community healthcare system with a streamlined set of rules for veterans, local providers, and VA staff. It will be much easier to understand.

Under the MISSION Act, if a veteran wants to get care in their community, they can have a discussion with their doctor and decide what is best. VA doctors and nurses won't have to spend time figuring out which program to refer a veteran to.

Local providers who see veterans won't be waiting months for payments from the VA. A new, streamlined payment system will make sure they are getting paid in a timely manner.

Our bill holds the VA accountable and requires them to create a business plan to tell us exactly how the agency will spend taxpayer dollars if and when they ask for additional funding.

Our bill brings more providers to work at the VA, especially in rural and Tribal areas and vet centers.

The bill breaks down barriers along State lines that prevent veterans from accessing mental health care closer to home.

The bill expands the VA Caregiver Support Program to veterans of all eras and their caregivers. This was a provision Senator Murray worked on very hard. It was the right thing to do, and Senator Isakson made it a priority of his.

The VA and community care are equally important parts of the VA healthcare system. It will either starve the VA to death and empower rural community hospitals or, as this bill does, strike a balance--the right balance--between investing in the VA's ability to provide care for our veterans and cutting the bureaucracy when it makes sense for a veteran to go to a local doctor.

The VA MISSION Act is a bold, bipartisan product of working together that puts healthcare decisions in the hands of veterans and breaks down barriers to healthcare wherever it makes the most sense for a veteran to get the care they need.

This Nation owes our veterans much more than a thank-you. Veterans deserve a healthcare system that works for them regardless of where they live, what medical condition they are struggling with, or their means. Our bill gets rid of a one-size-fits-all system and creates a more efficient and easier to navigate system for veterans.

I urge the Senate to pass the VA MISSION Act to send the message that saying thank you isn't enough for those who put their lives on the line for our Nation. We are going to deliver them a healthcare system that is worthy of their service.

Mr. President, I turn the floor over to Senator Johnny Isakson, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. President, I was absent when the Senate voted on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 608.

On this vote, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 608.

(At the request of Mr. Durbin, the following statement was ordered to be printed in the Record.)

Mr. President, today, during National Police Week, I wish to honor the thousands of uniformed Montanans who put their lives on the line to guarantee the safety and well-being of our families and the communities they call home.

Day in and day out, they keep out drugs, provide justice for families shattered by crime, and ensure parents are secure tucking in their kids at night.

These law enforcement officers are well-trained, committed, and they deserve our deepest gratitude.

When others run from danger, they courageously face it head on. They bravely stand up to threats, and in the most tragic of circumstances, some make the ultimate sacrifice.

Last year, Montanans lost Deputy Mason Moore of the Broadwater County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Moore was a beloved son, husband, father, and brother. He had a strong faith and a deep commitment to Montana and this Nation. His legacy lives on in his family, his fellow law enforcement officers, his community, and our State. Montana will never forget his dedication to service and his promise to keep all Montanans safe.

Tragic moments like this make us all stop and remember how thankful we are for the men and women who serve and protect our communities.

This National Police Week we add Deputy Moore's name to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, to respectfully document his sacrifice and to preserve his legacy.

In addition to honoring the life and service of Deputy Moore, we recognize six outstanding Montana law enforcement officers who also responded on May 16, 2017.

Deputy Austin Micu of Powell County Sheriff's Department, Troopers Thomas Gill and Timothy R. Wyckoff of Montana Highway Patrol, and Sergeant Tim Berger, Lieutenant John O'Brien, and Officer Rich O'Brien of Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department all went above and beyond the call of duty, and we honor them today as ``Top Cops.''

During this week and every week, we thank you for putting your lives on the line to make Montana a safer place.

God bless you, and God bless your families, and God bless America.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor Harold Blattie, the outgoing executive director of the Montana Association of Counties, for his longtime commitment to public service in the State of Montana.

Mr. Blattie has dedicated his life to helping preserve our Montana way of life through countless public works projects.

He has served as the executive director of MACo for over a decade, providing strong leadership for Montana's counties and facilitating cooperation between local, State, and Federal leaders to deliver for the residents of Big Sky Country.

Throughout his respected career, he has secured critical resources for citizens from Libby to Baker and Dillon to Plentywood. The residents of our great State owe him a debt of gratitude, and I rise today with a small token of our appreciation.

Mr. Blattie has built his life around building stronger communities.

He is a role model for all Americans, and Montana is a better place because of his work.

I rise today to thank him for all he has done for the Treasure State and wish him all the best of luck in whatever comes next.

Madam President, I rise today to reflect on the landmark legislation that this body passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last week. It isn't every day that folks in Congress can work together in a bipartisan way to get something done that will benefit Main Streets across rural America, but that is exactly what we did last week. I am very proud of that effort.

I say a big thank-you to the chairman of the Banking Committee, Chairman Crapo, for the work he has done, his ability to listen, his commonsense perspective, and his patience. It would not have happened without those qualities that Chairman Crapo exhibited.

I also want to single out three Senators who worked very hard on this bill. There are a number of others who did, too, but I am just going to mention Senators Heitkamp, Donnelly, and Warner. Those folks did yeoman's work in bringing into view the challenges that our banking industry has out there, coming up with solutions for those challenges, and coming up with consumer protections to put into this bill to move it forward. There were many others. I think there were 17 or 18 cosponsors on the Democratic side of the aisle, but I say a special thank you to Senators Heitkamp, Donnelly, and Warner for their advocacy, input, knowledge, expertise, and their ability to work to get things done.

People ask me: Senator Tester, why did you write this bill? Well, I was a part of the folks who wrote this bill for good reason. I remember very well that during the financial crisis, then-Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson came in--it was in 2008, I believe--and said that we were on the cusp of a financial meltdown in this country. I remember some of the free and irresponsible activities that were done in the financial system. I remember bringing regulators in front of the Banking Committee and ripping them up one side and down the other as to why we had gotten into this situation. In the end, we came up with a bill called Dodd-Frank.

Dodd-Frank was put together after a lot of public input and a lot of hearings, and it was put into effect really to regulate the folks who got us into the situation we were in. At that moment in time, we had banks that were too big to fail, folks who were doing no-doc or low-doc loans, and foreclosures happening everywhere. We put in the regulation.

One of the things we heard when we put in the Dodd-Frank regulation was that it was a big bill and that it was going to need to be changed, adapted--however you want to put it--moving forward. I believe that bill was passed in 2009. Here we are 8 or 9 years later, and we look at Dodd-Frank and see that in some cases, it has done exactly as was intended, especially for the larger banks. Some could argue that there is more work to be done there.

One of the negative things that resulted from the Dodd-Frank regulation was that some of that regulation bled down onto our local community banks and credit unions. This is particularly concerning to me because I come from a very rural part of this country. It is a small town where, when my grandfather homesteaded, they had all sorts of options when they marketed their grain. In the 1940s and 1950s, when my folks took over in my small town, I believe there were five grain elevators there. When Sharla and I took over in the late 1970s, there were three. Today, there is one.

You ask, why does that have anything to do with the banking industry, Jon? Well, it is consolidation. And the consolidation didn't happen overnight; it took decades. You end up with less competition in the marketplace when it comes to selling your grains.

That same thing could be adapted to what has gone on in our community banks over the last 8 or 9 years, where they have been bought up by bigger banks. The bigger banks will tell you that they have to get bigger to be able to compete with the regulations put on them. So they were bought up, and the same thing will extrapolate out over time.

Those folks who say: Well, this isn't necessary because banks are making a lot of money--look, banks may be operating today, but they are looking into the future, as any good business does, and they are saying to themselves: Do I really have what it takes to stick around? They can see the writing on the wall, and they are selling out because of it. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this--this will result in less consumer choice and more consolidation, making the bigger banks even bigger and really helping the folks who caused the crisis back in 2008--ultimately, the biggest of the big banks.

We have seen the consolidation at grocery stores, grain elevators, and even bars. The truth is that it isn't all due to one single thing. The consolidation in the financial industry and on the ground isn't due to just regulations. Technology has its impact, and a moving population also has its impact.

As I looked at this 5 years ago, I said: If we don't do something to tweak Dodd-Frank, we are going to end up in a situation where we don't have consumer choice to buy that house or expand that business or start that new business--what entrepreneurs do. So as a policymaker, I thought it was my job to look ahead to the next generation of people who are going to be out there in rural America, whether it is a Main Street small business or a farm or a family who is working for a business. That is why I helped write this bill, because from a rural America perspective, it was the right thing to do, and it was time to do something for the next generation, for our kids and our grandkids, so that they could have the kind of opportunity that, quite frankly, my folks and my grandparents had given to my generation.

I am not the kind of person who will sit back on the sidelines and complain about stuff over a cup of coffee. When we see a problem, my folks taught me to work and try to fix it. I see a problem, and there is little doubt in my mind that if we had not done what we did last week to give some regulatory relief to community banks and credit unions, things would have continued to get worse in rural America. They still may get worse in rural America, but at least we have done what we needed to do in this body to try to change that.

There are some out there who, for whatever reason--and I haven't quite been able to figure it out yet--are spreading misinformation about this bill. Maybe it is just the day we live in. So let me set the record straight about this bill.

This bill does not help the Wall Street banks. It does not. Those who say it does are not correct. This bill does not set us up for another financial crisis. In fact, the authors of the original Dodd-Frank bill, Chris Dodd and

Barney Frank--both smart guys whom I admire--wrote:

As the authors of the original Dodd-Frank reform law, we

want all Montanans to know that the banking bill Senator

Tester helped write does not dismantle Dodd-Frank as some

people claim. Jon knows Montana and challenges facing rural

America. While we did not agree with every part of this bill,

it helps local credit unions and community banks across

Montana while keeping protections in place that are designed

to prevent another financial crisis.

Those are the original authors. That is why it is called Dodd-Frank-- because it is from Chris Dodd and Representative Barney Frank.

The other thing the bill does not do is it does not leave banks unregulated. There is implication by some out there that this bill deregulates 25 of the 40 largest banks. To me, that implication is that now they are no longer regulated. The fact is, all the banks are highly regulated for safety and soundness. Quite frankly, this does not leave banks unregulated. They still have plenty of regulation to go through.

In conclusion, the bill we passed last week does several things. I believe it is going to increase access to capital, particularly in rural America. I think it makes the regulation fit the risk, while still continuing to crack down on risky behavior. It has great consumer protection components to it. Last and certainly not least, from my perspective, it is good for rural America.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following statement be printed in the Record on behalf of AASA; the School Superintendents Association; Afterschool Alliance; Alliance for Excellent Education; American Association of School Librarians; American Association of School Libraries; American Federation of Teachers; American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations; American Library Association; American School Counselor Association; Americans for Democratic Action; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Association of Educational Service Agencies; Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents; Association of School Business Officials International, ASBO; Center for American Progress; Clearinghouse on Women's Issues; Council for Exceptional Children; Council of Administrators of Special Education; CUE; EDGE; Education Networks of America; Every Child Matters; GLSEN; Higher Education Consortium for Special Education; Learning Disabilities Association of America; Learning Forward; MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Association for Bilingual Education; National Association of Black School Educators; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of School Psychologists; National Association of State Directors of Special Education; National Black Justice Coalition; National Center for Learning Disabilities; National Council of Jewish Women; National Council of Teachers of English; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; National Education Association Retirees Organization, NEARO; National Education Association; National PTA; National Rural Education Advocacy Consortium; National Rural Education Association; National School Boards Association; National School Public Relations Association; National Science Teachers Association; Network for Public Education; New Teacher Center; People for the American Way; Project Tomorrow; School Social Work Association of America; Stop Sexual Assault in Schools; Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children; and University Council for Educational Administration.

Mr. President, I wish to honor Janet Jones for her distinguished public service to the U.S. Senate.

Janet began her Senate career in the Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment in 2006 as a litigation paralegal. Not long after that, she took on the tremendous responsibility of getting Senate offices prepared for their mandatory OSHA inspections by the congressional Office of Compliance.

During the 114th Congress alone, Janet pre-inspected almost a half- million square feet of office space, assisting Senate offices with identifying potential hazards and potential safety violations.

Janet's tireless work with Senate offices over the past 12 years has contributed to making the offices that serve this body safer for our employees, our visitors, and our constituents. With Janet's assistance, many Senate offices, including my own, have earned Safe Office Awards.

We will miss Janet's institutional knowledge and unparalleled professionalism.

Janet, thank you for your service, and I wish you great happiness in retirement.

Mr. President, I thank Chairman Crapo. I want to associate myself with my good friend from Tennessee, Senator Bob Corker. We always say ``good friend,'' but the truth is that Senator Corker has truly been a good friend. We came to this body together, and he has exhibited uncommon common sense in this body time and again, and once again, he has today. I thank Senator Corker for his remarks about this bill.

Mr. President, time and again over the past year, I have been here on the Senate floor raising my concerns about the direction this body is heading--secret backroom deals on the healthcare bill, a ``take it or leave it'' tax bill that was dropped on our desks literally hours before the vote, and the floor time that has been wasted to score political points. Quite frankly, this dysfunction has turned the world's most deliberative body into a shell of its former self.

Folks in Washington have shied away from the big debates and refused to tackle the tough issues that are facing hard-working Americans every day, but this week I am hopeful that can change.

Today we begin the debate on the bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This bill is the product of years of bipartisan negotiations, hearings, and compromises. Under the leadership of Chairman Crapo and my good friends Senators Heitkamp, Donnelly, and Warner, we have struck a bipartisan agreement that is needed to provide an economic boost for rural America. Folks from both parties put their differences aside. We negotiated from our points of agreement, and we emphasized common ground. We kept working toward our shared goal of strengthening America's economy by providing commonsense regulatory reform to small- and medium-sized banks, community banks, and credit unions.

During the committee process, this bill was marked up and debated for 7 hours. We voted on 36 amendments during an open amendment process. The chairman handled that committee process incredibly professionally.

Since this bill was introduced in the Banking Committee last year, it has been strengthened by Senators who are not on that committee, and it has been endorsed by regulators, veterans groups, and job creators from both parties. This bipartisan bill has support from folks of all walks of life and is cosponsored by more than a quarter of this body because they know that reform is desperately needed.

In my home State of Montana, prior to the financial crisis in 2008, there were 72 chartered banks. Today that number has dropped to 49. What we have seen in Montana is not unique throughout this country. Across rural America, bank consolidation is leaving communities underserved. Community banks and credit unions didn't cause the financial crisis back in 2008, but they have suffered under a one-size- fits-all set of regulations specifically designed to rein in the behavior on Wall Street. As a result of complying with these regulations, many of our community bankers are hanging up their hats, and our local banks are being swallowed up by bigger banks. Ultimately, they will be swallowed up by the folks on Wall Street.

Furthermore, when a community bank is bought out by a big bank, its business model changes and it is no longer tailored to fit that community. Despite being a small portion of the banking industry, community banks provide--listen to this--48 percent of the small business loans in this country, 15 percent of the residential mortgage lending, 43 percent of farmland and farm lending, and 34 percent of commercial real estate loans. These banks are designed and built to serve their communities.

Since the passage of Dodd-Frank, the number of banks in this country has declined by 14 percent, and in our State of Montana, with some quick math, it is closer to 30 percent. If you are a product of rural America like I am, you know full well the consequences when a bank leaves town. It is just a matter of time before that community shrivels up. Folks, something must be done.

Eight years ago, during the dark days of the financial crisis, I proudly supported Dodd-Frank. Dodd-Frank was needed to crack down on risky financial behavior. For the most part, Dodd-Frank has been successful, but, like all major bills, Dodd-Frank had some unintended consequences. Since its passage, small business lending has declined by 41 percent. That is why our bill is needed--to bring more capital to Main Streets across America and to protect community banks from further consolidation.

Our bill provides small and midsized banks and credit unions with more flexibility to meet the unique needs of the communities they serve. It also provides our community banks with much needed regulatory relief and cuts the redtape to keep our local banks competitive. It includes critical consumer protection provisions to better protect our veterans, our seniors, and tenants. This bipartisan bill makes it easier for young families to purchase their first home. It helps family farmers and ranchers secure the capital they need to survive a tough year when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. It helps small businesses and startups secure the funding they need to grow their businesses and create more jobs. It protects the small banks that serve as a cornerstone of rural communities from being eaten alive by the big boys on Wall Street.

In addition to banking reform, this bill strengthens the rights of consumers. It provides consumers with unlimited free credit freezes and unfreezes. It prevents mortgage companies from immediately kicking tenants out of their homes if a landlord is foreclosed on. It increases safeguards against fraud for veterans, Active-Duty servicemembers, seniors, and children.

Over the course of this debate, there are going to be some folks who come to this floor and peddle misinformation, so let me be clear about what this bill does not do. It does not roll back the regulations on Wall Street's fat cats. It does not make structural changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It does not weaken or repeal the Volcker rule for large banks. It does not change the way the Federal Reserve regulates foreign banks. It does not weaken efforts to combat lending discrimination.

I have already seen a lot of falsehoods about this bill claimed out there, so I hope this debate stays grounded in the facts, and the fact is that folks in rural America need this bill.

Take for instance the Community Bank in Polson, MT. Polson's population is 5,000, and that might be generous. The Community Bank had faithfully served this community for decades, but the regulations from Dodd-Frank were so burdensome on that small bank and so costly that it was forced to sell out to a larger bank.

But it is not just Polson. Here is what other folks in my State are saying about the bill. A small credit union in Billings, MT, said:

As a small credit union, we spend a ridiculous amount of

time complying with complex rules and I am pleased to see a

bill that would eliminate some of this red tape so I can

focus my resources on serving members.

That was from Sydney El-Bakken, manager of Homestead Federal Credit Union in Billings, MT.

This is a quote from another bank in Jordan, MT:

Dodd-Frank has disproportionately affected small banks like

mine who have limited staff and resources to comply with the

regulations created by the bill. Prior to Dodd-Frank's

passage, my bank was able to keep up with compliance

regulations with one staff member. Now, in addition to our

one staff person, we also have outside compliance consultants

that cost us over $23,000 last year alone.

I am going to get back to that figure in a second.

I have talked to many of my fellow bankers who decided to

sell to, or merge with, another bank. Almost every one of

them has told me that the regulatory burden was one of the

main reasons for them to sell or merge.

The loss of small community banks is not good for our

country, our consumers, or our economy. This bill provides

many remedies to lessen the regulatory burden on small banks,

which allow us to remain competitive, viable, and able to

serve the needs of our communities.

The reason I bring up the $23,000 is that there are some out there who may be listening and may say that $23,000 is not even a rounding error in a lot of businesses. Rex Phipps is the CEO of Garfield County Bank in Jordan, MT. Their total assets are $86 million. This is a small bank that is getting pounded and that this bill is going to help in a big, big way.

I am going to tell you, I could go on reading the words of community bankers and credit union leaders and businesses in Montana that support this bill, but the bottom line is this: Folks sent us to the Senate to do something to help out the folks we represent. For too long, this body has been dragged into the mud, and as a result, we have had partisan and zero-sum policies and zero-sum politics. Dysfunction has kept this Congress from doing its job, and part of that job is to fine- tune laws to ensure that regulation fits the risk.

Enough is enough already. We must do something. And I am proud to work with 13 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and 1 Independent who worked so hard to compromise on this bill that I think works very well for rural America. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act is a jobs bill, and it is a much needed solution for the folks who power our local economies. I look forward to this week's debate.

It is encouraging to see that the Senate is back here doing the job we were sent here to do. It is encouraging that we have a bill here that has gone through the process to gather public input, gather bipartisan support, and it is now on the floor so that we can debate it. I look forward to that debate, and I hope that debate is based on the facts.

I want to say one more thing before I yield the floor. We would not be here today without Chairman Crapo. Chairman Crapo has done a fine job getting everybody's opinion, respecting everybody's opinion, and walking that line to allow for negotiations and having a good bill as the final product. I don't know what is going to be in the final managers' package, but I hope it doesn't change this bill dramatically because I think this bill really fits the needs of our economy, especially in rural America right now.

With that, I would just say, look, we have some work to do. Hopefully we can do it in a timely fashion and get this bill off to the House. Hopefully the House doesn't screw it up and we can get it to the President's desk for his signature.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor Paul Reeder, a retired Billings Police Department chaplain, for his unwavering faith, rock-solid dedication, and compassionate heart.

His words of wisdom have brought comfort, peace, and joy to families all across Billings and the State of Montana.

Paul was born to John and Ella Reeder during the Great Depression, and as a young boy, Paul helped support his family, working in their garden, raising food, and helping to preserve it each fall.

Paul took his first job in the ministry in 1955 in Valier, MT, before moving to Havre in 1958 to pastor at the First Baptist Church.

In 1966, he and his family moved to Great Falls, where he led the Riverview

Baptist Church. After a few years there, he reached out to other community organizations in the area facing administrative challenges.

Finally, he, his wife, Mary, and their three children Doug, Karen, and Barbara moved to Billings, where Paul accepted the directorship of Friendship House of Christian Service. He helped coordinate and expand programs there including early childcare, afterschool programs, and nutrition classes.

Though Paul is retired, he continues to preach one Sunday each month at All Nations Church and still attends morning briefings at the Billings Police Department.

Paul has built a life around helping others and building stronger communities.

He is a role model for Montana, and Billings is a better place because of his work.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Louisiana for allowing me to say a few words, and I thank you, Mr. President, for doing the same.

Hopefully, today works out better than the last 131 days have, in that hopefully today a bipartisan group of Senators will be able to put forth a budget agreement that will be long term.

I thank them because as part of that--although it isn't done yet so we don't want to get the cart too far ahead of the horse--there is funding for community health centers in this agreement.

Funding for community health centers has become a top priority for me, and it became that because of my visits to community health centers around the State, from Bullhook in Havre to RiverStone in Billings, to the Southwest Montana Community Health Center in Butte, to Partnership Health Center in Helena and Missoula, and the list goes on. These health centers provide incredibly affordable and efficient healthcare to people across Montana. So I am incredibly pleased to work with the leadership in this body and get a deep deal for community healthcare centers across this country, including Montana's 17 community health centers.

I would say 2 years is a good start, but there happens to be 19 bipartisan cosponsors on a bill called the CHIME Act, which would reauthorize community health center funding for 5 years. That is where we really need to be. I am not complaining about the 2 years. I think it is important that we keep these folks going, and 2 years is certainly better than where we are now, but, really, we don't look with much vision in this body, and it is not visionary to say we are going to give a 5-year funding mechanism to our community health centers, but that is what we need to do today. We need to give the community health centers the long-term predictability they deserve.

In Montana, these centers are the backbone of much of our healthcare delivery system. They provide affordable access to care, keeping our communities and families healthy. Let me give you a little example of how important these are.

Community health centers alone provide over 10 percent of the healthcare for the people of the State of Montana. It is where they go to get care, and 85 percent of those folks are low income. These are folks who probably wouldn't

be able to get healthcare without the community health center there, and 20,000 of them are children. Montana is a big State geographically, with not a lot of folks. Oftentimes folks have to travel a long way, under the best of conditions, to see a doctor. If we didn't do this funding mechanism that we hope happens today or tomorrow, we would see these folks traveling hundreds of more miles to see a doctor because oftentimes this is the only healthcare facility close to them.

Although the news we have heard today so far seems to be positive on our budget, it doesn't change the fact that Congress should have acted on this 131 days ago. A solution should have been passed when our fiscal year ended at the end of September. It speaks to the dysfunction of this body. Our basic job is to put forth a funding mechanism, known as a budget, that will provide basic healthcare that will fund community health centers and CHIP--not use them as political pawns-- fund them, give people certainty, give our military certainty, give our security folks certainty, and not continue governing from crisis to crisis with continuing resolution after continuing resolution. I have seen firsthand the destruction these short-term budgets have had on health clinics, veterans, and small business.

I just had a group of school board folks in my office yesterday who talked about Impact Aid. These are schools that serve our military and Native Americans. They said these CRs were limiting the possibility for payments for Impact Aid schools.

We have heard from our military leaders about how the short-term CR is wasting taxpayer dollars and hurting our military readiness. At a time when men and women from this great country are stationed around the world, we need to give them certainty. They need to know we are doing our job as they do their jobs in incredibly difficult conditions.

So, for 131 days, too many Americans have been living with uncertainty as a direct result of dysfunction in Congress. This agreement is a step in the right direction, and I am very pleased to see progress on a budget because 131 days is too long.

Let's get this fixed, and over the coming weeks, I will be more than happy to sit down with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work to give this country, small businesses, and working families predictability through a longer term budget so they can move forward and be all they hope to be in the greatest country in the world.

With that, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I wish to speak for 5 minutes.

Mr. President, I rise today on this 13th day of January to call out this body, the body of the U.S. Senate, for its dereliction of duty. Enough is enough. We need a long-term budget bill for all of America, including my home State of Montana, because that is what Americans expect because it is our job.

It has been 122 days since Congress has failed to pass a budget. What makes this even more egregious is the fact that we haven't done anything but continuing resolution after continuing resolution after continuing resolution. There is no certainty in that. And even if we passed a long-term budget deal, it isn't even for that long of a term-- through the end of this fiscal year, which is when it needs to be done by.

For the last 122 days, Congress has left community health centers, small business owners, America's families, Montana's families without the certainty of a long-term budget. During that time, Congress has instead settled for four short-term, crisis-funding bills that don't do what is necessary and that provide more uncertainty and more chaos.

I have heard a lot of folks say that government needs to be run like a business. There is no business that would put off what it is doing just because it is convenient. In my real life, I am a farmer. I know that you have to plan. I know that you can't go from month to month with uncertainty ahead of you because if you do, you will end up in a situation where it will put you out of business. You have to be able to

plan, whether it is for the seeds you buy or equipment maintenance or anything else in agriculture. It is the same way in any business, and by the way, it is the same way in government.

Unfortunately, the norm has been a month of funding in continuing resolutions, or 3 weeks, instead of coming to a point where we can fund things until the end of the fiscal year, which will give folks certainty, whether it is the military or our southern border or community health centers.

Why do I bring this up? It is because fully 10 percent of the citizens of Montana depend on community health centers for access to their healthcare. It is in some cases the only source of healthcare for these folks. I have had listening tours and roundtables and over a dozen different public meetings on healthcare over the last year, and I can tell you that these facilities are critically important.

So who cares? Why should we worry about that, because we have a continuing resolution. Why? Because these folks right now, if you go talk to them in the State of Montana and I think in any other State in the Union, they will tell you they are not sure whether they will keep their doors open. That does not provide the kind of certainty they need and the kind of access to healthcare folks in our country need, and Montana is no exception.

We cannot continue governing from crisis to crisis. Montana deserves better. America deserves better. We need a budget that goes to the end of the fiscal year, that provides the kind of certainty and security the American people elected us to do. Congress simply needs to do its job.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I rise today for one simple reason, and that reason is to tell this body to stop pointing fingers and start writing a budget that works for not only my State but every State in the Union. It can be done. It has been done many, many times before.

Unfortunately, this year our budget ran out on September 30. We had a CR that took us from the next day, October 1, to December 8. When December 8 rolled around, we had another continuing resolution to take us from December 8 to December 22. When December 22 came around, we had another CR that took us from December 22 to January 19, and that is where we are today, because some of us said enough is enough. We need to have a budget that works for this country. Here we are on day 2 of the government shutdown, and this body can't even agree to pay our troops. That is how dysfunctional we have become. Now we are using military men and women as political pawns because of the dysfunction we have here in Washington, DC. In the past, we have always taken care of these folks because our servicemembers and their families have sacrificed much for this country, but we continue to draw it out--the leadership of this body--for political gains.

The folks I talk to, the rank-and-file folks on both sides of the aisle, think it is ridiculous. They think it is ridiculous that we have gotten here in the first place. But the truth is, if we are going to give predictability and the ability for our agencies to plan and the military to plan and the VA to plan and our border security folks to plan and everybody else, we need to have a budget that goes longer than month to month or 3 weeks to 3 weeks.

We need a budget that funds more than just CHIP. It is interesting that CHIP could have been reauthorized months ago. I did events in Montana and talked about how important it was months ago. I am cosponsoring a bill that has sat on the leader's desk that could have been passed months ago. But it was put in I guess as a sweetener. Unfortunately, using CHIP as a political pawn isn't exactly what I had in mind for a program that has been around for nearly 20 years and has served Montana's families so very, very well.

That is not the only program we haven't funded. We haven't funded our community health centers. I heard the Senator from Alaska talking about how critically important they are for Alaska. They are critically important for Montana. I have a notion that they are critically important for every rural State in the Union and probably every urban State, too, as far as that goes. That needs to be taken care of. In Montana, where we have just over 1 million people, 100,000 people depend on community health centers for their healthcare.

There is a thing called 340B. Not to get into the weeds too far, but these are payments given to hospitals that hold pharmaceutical companies accountable and keep our hospitals open. I have had hospital administrators and former hospital administrators in my office over the last month telling me that if this doesn't get fixed, we are going to lose hospitals in Montana, once again taking access away from many folks. This is not included in any of this. It could have been done months ago.

There have been plenty of folks who have come to the floor to talk about opioids and to talk about pensions. Neither of those is included in this.

There is no money for the borders. The southern border needs some attention. The northern border does, too, particularly the ports.

There is no predictability for our military. Defense Secretary Mattis has said that many, many times.

Things that are closer to home, such as rural ambulance services, need to be addressed. This isn't addressed and isn't going to be addressed unless we push the envelope and work to get things done.

Teaching health centers allow us to have doctors in places around this country that can't get doctors, and this is critically important.

Medicaid coverage for physical therapists and occupational therapists--we are going to lose these folks if we don't have it.

The Special Diabetes Program--particularly for Indian Country, where diabetes is rampant--needs to be addressed, plus a whole lot more.

When I was in high school, I debated for a couple years, and one of the things that were interesting during debate--you go through debate, and you hear the affirmative and negative lay out their cases, much in the same way that is being done by the two leaders here on this issue. When you were done debating and one team was particularly behind or ahead, they would say, well, they didn't make a case on why this is a good idea, or, they didn't make a case--the negative did not make a case on why their case should stand over the affirmative.

I hear the same thing today when folks come to the floor and say: People agree with everything that is in this. Well, I don't because there ain't much in there. We have been coming here for the last 4 months since the budget ran out at the end of September and continue to kick the can down the road. That is just how dysfunctional this body has become. We can't do the basic thing we were elected to do, and that is to pass a budget for the year for the

things that are included that are important to this country. Whether it be military or healthcare or whether it be issues that revolve around Medicare or pensions, we just don't do much, and I think many of us are getting very tired of saying: You know what, we don't want to put forth any excellence in this body. We don't want to put forth any vision or any leadership. We are just going to do the bare minimum every day.

We need to stop. Congress needs to stop with short-term solutions, going from crisis to crisis. That is no way to run a nation, and I will state that most folks on both sides of the aisle would agree. That is why we need to start working together to get this problem fixed, because it is a problem--the problem of 3-week or 4-week CRs, the problem of not addressing the issues that are so critically important to working families and businesses in this country. It needs to stop. We need to work together.

I said yesterday that we are being pulled apart by the far left and the far right, and that is the truth. In days gone past, in Mike Mansfield's day, 70 percent of the work got done in the middle. Now we don't even do the basic work today.

So I would say, let's get together. The truth is, the Republicans control the White House, they control the House, they control the Senate, and they control the agenda. And they should--they won the last election. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't work together as Democrats and Republicans and most importantly as Americans to do what is right by this country.

So I would just ask that particularly the leaders on both sides get together, do the tough negotiations, compromise, and come up with a budget that works for not only Montana but for every State in this great country.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, we rise today after a long night last night--a night that I think could produce some fruits today or tomorrow or soon, I hope, because, on behalf of the just over 1 million Montanans and families across this country, and I believe a vast majority of the people in this body, we need to put this shutdown to an end.

Folks, whether it be a welder in Butte or a teacher in Billings or a sugar beet farmer in Sidney or a mill worker in Columbia Falls, they have all told me, and they will continue to tell me, that this body is incredibly dysfunctional and that Congress is incredibly dysfunctional. We ought to break that. We ought to start working together. We ought to start listening to one another. We shouldn't be taking off the right side of the Earth nor the left side of the Earth. We should work in the middle for policies that work for America.

The budget may be the most important of those policies that work for America. It has been 112 days now since our budget ran out--the end of September of this year. We have responded to that budget running out by passing four short-term continuing resolutions, we call them--stop-gap measures, bandaids, if you will, kicking the can down the road; it is described by a lot of different methods--to fund the budget. That has resulted in costing the taxpayers additional dollars and incredible inefficiencies, and it is caused by the Members of this body not doing their job and leadership not doing their job.

Enough is enough. We need to roll up our sleeves. We need to work together. We need to talk. We need to listen to one another. We need to come to a resolution of this problem.

We can talk about the Children's Health Insurance Program. It is an incredibly important program, there is no doubt about it, but it has been held hostage for the last 4 months. I can tell my colleagues that if it was put on the floor--and it could have been put on the floor at any time in the last 4 months--it would have passed, I believe, overwhelmingly by this body. Why? Because kids need it. Families need it. We are putting, in Montana's case alone, 24,000 kids at risk who do not have credible care.

The same can be said for our healthcare centers. The same can be said for the opioid crisis. The same can be said for security on our northern and southern borders. The same can be said for our military. The uncertainty we have without a longer budget that goes to the end of the fiscal year is unacceptable. We all know it. We have been talking about it for months, but nothing ever comes to the floor to solve it, except for a continuing resolution, which is not a solution at all, it is a bandaid.

Last night, I proposed a 72-hour--3-day--extension so the shutdown wouldn't happen until Monday night so we could work together to negotiate this deal, to put some pressure on the body to work together to come up with a deal by Monday night. It seemed reasonable enough to me. We have been talking about these issues for months, but the majority leader objected to keeping the government open and pushing ourselves--driving ourselves to the negotiating table to get something done.

Look, I have worked in this body with a number of folks on my side of the aisle and on the other side of the aisle, and we have had success. I bring this up often because Johnny Isakson is an incredibly good chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I happen to be the ranking member. Johnny Isakson and I work well together. We don't always agree, but from the very beginning, we have agreed to put what we disagree on off to the side and work on what we agree on. What has transpired is a record number of votes on tough issues coming out of the Veterans Affairs' Committee. Why? Because we are working for the veterans, and that is what we need to be doing here. We should not be working for a political party. We should not be posturing ourselves for the next election. We should not be putting working families and businesses at risk. We should be working together to make a difference for this country with a long-term funding bill that addresses a number of issues which have all been laid on the table, from healthcare to opioids, to pensions, to our military, to border security--the list goes on, but it is a list we can work with. We know what needs to be done. We need to quit playing games.

One of the people I have incredible respect for in this body who has what I believe uncommon common sense is the Senator from Maine. Senator King and I visit, oftentimes off the floor, and we talk about our frustrations with this body because it doesn't have to be this way. We can get things done if we work together. I am hoping Senator King can explain to me why we continue to have a budget that doesn't work for the American people, that continues to be a patchwork of month-by-month or week-by-week continuing resolutions and what we need to do to fix it.

I thank Senator King for the question.

Last night, as we approached midnight, I got an email from one of my good friends in Montana who is in the business of agriculture. He is a rancher in North Central Montana, actually on the Rocky Mount front. He said: Why does this have to happen?

My comment to him was that continuing resolutions don't work well for this country. They cost taxpayers a bunch of money, and they don't give folks the kind of predictability in their government that they elected us to give them.

I am with the Senator. I voted for the continuing resolutions--the one that extended it to December 1 and then the next one, which went to I believe December 19. At that moment in time, I thought, well, Christmas is looming, and we will come to an agreement, and if not, we will just stay here throughout the Christmas break and do it because it is that important.

I believe strongly in my family, and I love to be there, and I was there for Christmas, but the truth is, this job here is critically important for the whole country, and we need to do our job.

The motion for yet another CR from December 19--to move it to January 19 came up, and I held my nose and I voted for it. At that time, I said: I am not going to do this again. In that month between December 19 through January 19, we were supposed to have worked out a deal. Guess what happened. There was no deal worked out. Now we are back in exactly the same place.

What Senator King said is exactly correct. What are we going to know in February that we don't know now? The point is, nothing additional is going to be added to the equation. We all know what it is--deals with border security, the military, healthcare issues, pensions, opioids, and a budget that goes until the end of September, which is the end of the fiscal year for this country--but it is simply not going to happen unless we get folks working together again.

Look, the Republicans have majorities in the House and the Senate. They control the Presidency and the White House. I am telling you, if the floor leader doesn't provide the kind of leadership that we need to get to a point where we address the issues that are important to this country, we will never address the issues, and we will continue to have continuing resolution after continuing resolution.

So what I would ask is that folks from both sides lock themselves in a room. The two leaders, lock themselves in the room. Ultimately, that is what it is going to come down to, to come to an agreement that works for this country and gives predictability over the long haul.

I happen to be on the Appropriations Committee. We are going to be starting to work on the fiscal year 2019 budget, and we are not even done with the 2018 budget because of these continuing resolutions.

So I would tell Senator King that the people of Montana are frustrated. They want to see their government work better. What are the folks in Maine telling you?

I think that is what the whole country wants us to do.

The Senator brought up the point that if this body were all one party and they all thought the same, it might be easier. But it would be a lot worse. The truth is, diversity of thought is important. Talking with people, getting compromise, and finding the middle ground is what built this country. That is what built America. We need to look at those principles when we move forward on a bill like this.

Ten days ago, I was at the White House. Senator Durbin was there. There were about two dozen folks, between the House and the Senate, from both parties. We saw the President more focused than I have ever seen him before. He said: You bring us a bill on the issue of immigration, and I will sign it. I will be the bad guy, he said. I will sign it. There is a bipartisan group here who got together and did that, and then he said no.

So the Senator is exactly right. The White House--the President--has to provide the kind of leadership and assurance to know that he is not just going to say no, that he will take yes for an answer. I think it is very, very important moving forward.

Look, we are at a moment in time where everybody looks at us, and I think we have single-digit approval ratings--probably lower than that now after last night. America is saying: Come on, guys. It doesn't have to be like this. You need to work together.

Everybody needs to work together and come together and come up with something that works for America, that solves the problems that are there. That is what I ask of this body today. We all say basically the same thing, so let's just do it. Let's put the bill together, let's bring it to the floor, and let's vote and get it done.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, before I get into my prepared remarks I want to say, we have been at war for 16 years, and the Senator from Alaska is correct, we do need to rebuild our military. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is not something that just came about last night. It is something we should have been doing with this budget that should have been passed to go into effect the end of September.

If you really want to talk about the hypocrisy of this body, and there is plenty of it, the fact that we have folks coming to the floor who haven't said a peep about CHIP--it also, by the way, ran out of money the end of September--and talk about how important it is for those kids. By the way, it is very important for those kids. It is the first time we have heard a peep out of them. That is interesting.

The fact is, we do need to come together, and we do need a long-term budget deal. By the way, when I am talking about long term, I am not talking about years and years, I am talking about until the end of September of this year. That is all we have to have is a budget deal to the end of September of this year that addresses more than just CHIP, and CHIP is important. It needs to address our military. It needs to address our southern border security. The chairman knows this. We work together on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. He understands how important this is.

We have to make sure our borders are secure. We have to make sure we have domestic programs that working families and businesses depend upon in this country, such as CHIP, funding for community health centers, making sure there are dollars there for rural ambulance services.

The list goes on and on.

We have had an incredible failure of leadership here. I think we have had three patches to this budget--three of them. This was supposed to be done 111 days ago. Over 111 days ago, we were supposed to have a budget that lasted for the fiscal year 2018. We were supposed to have a bill that kept services for the U.S. Government open and operating so Montanans and Americans could have the certainty they elected us to create, but for 111 days, the leadership on the other side of the aisle--and I mean intentionally so, I believe--have played politics and kicked the can down the road.

This is not nuclear physics, folks. This is about funding our government. It is not that tough, but we have hit deadline after deadline after deadline, and what we have been told is, look, we will extend about another month or two, and then we will get an agreement. Oh, we will extend out another month, and we will get an agreement.

At Christmastime I was ready to work here through Christmas to get this done because families in this country deserve the certainty of the basic job of setting up a budget. This is the basic job we are elected for in this body. I believe on December 19, once again, we kicked the can down the road, and it was said: You know what, we are going to have a deal by January 19. Well, guess what. It is January 19, and now we are going to move the goal post again.

Each of those previous patches I voted for. Why? Because I believed them. I expected the leaders of this body to work in good faith and get the job done. I was wrong because, for 111 days, they have refused to provide long-term funding for community health centers. For 111 days, they have failed to pass a bill that secures our borders. For 111 days, they have neglected our children by refusing to reauthorize CHIP. For 111 days, they have failed to do the most basic and fundamental aspect of our job; that is, pass a long-term budget that works for this country and works for my home State of Montana.

Now, today we are about 9 hours before the government is set to run out of money. Folks on the other side of the aisle are pointing their finger over here and saying: We have to reauthorize CHIP. If we don't, all these kids--guess what. That same argument could have been made 6 months ago and was not. We have 24,000 kids in Montana who, I am telling you, have been watching. Those families have been watching. They ask: Why? Why hasn't it already been done?

Why are we 111 days after the budget has been passed, and we still have nothing? There is a CHIP bill that has been sitting on the majority leader's desk for many a month to reauthorize CHIP. I believe it has 24 cosponsors on it. There are Members of this body who are not even cosponsors of that bill who have found religion and have come to the floor to passionately talk about CHIP, and we haven't heard crickets from them until the last day or two.

So the folks who have been down here on the floor and on cable television talking about what a great program CHIP is--and it has been a great program. It is one of the first major pieces of legislation I voted on when I was in the Montana Senate. Where have you been? Why haven't we had it on the floor and voted on it? It is important. It is pure hypocrisy. It is what

the Senator from Alaska talked about, only on a different level.

This dysfunction here is way, way, way too deep. This bill also fails to fund community health centers. I will state, I talked to the administrators of the community health centers in places like RiverStone and Flathead, up in Kalispell and Bullock and Havre. I tell you what, these folks are sweating bullets. They are afraid they are going to have to close their facilities down. They provide primary healthcare to 100,000 folks. That may not sound like a lot of people, but in Montana, a State of just over 1 million folks, it is a big deal. These are essential facilities to our communities across Montana. They provide basic healthcare, and they keep families alive. The folks who run these community health centers have told me face-to-face: If we don't get the funding, we are going to have to close the doors.

It has been 111 days, and we should have had a budget to fund community health centers, and we are still standing here today saying: Guess what. When we come back here in February, things are going to be just fine, just like they said in December. I have news for you, nothing is going to change between now and February so let's get a long-term budget deal today that addresses some of these issues.

This bill also fails to make our borders secure. As I said earlier, the Presiding Officer and I have worked on the Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee to draft a bill that works. It invests in a wall where a wall makes sense. It hires more Border Patrol agents. That bill was never brought up to full committee. I am sorry that never happened because it would have been great, and it is not included in the bill before us today.

Time and again, over the last 4 months, good bipartisan bills have been piled up on the leadership's desk. Rather than bring these bipartisan bills to the floor, rather than pass a long-term budget, a more fiscally responsible budget, the Senate has just said: No. Guess what. We will do it next month--and we will do it the month after that and we will do it the month after that.

It is time to stop putting the bandaid on our budget because in 4 weeks we will be back here again if this passes, and it will be the same problems. In fact, we can solve them today, and we need to solve them today. Enough is enough.

Congress has three times passed short-term, stopgap, crisis-funding bills. These bills fail my constituents, and they waste taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough. People are tired of this, and I know they are tired on the other side of the aisle because they have told me. They told me it is time to do our job here. They are as frustrated as I am. They are as frustrated as Montanans are when I meet them face-to- face in townhalls and coffee shops. They tell me it is time for Congress to get off their duff and do their jobs.

Montanans don't run their businesses like this, and our government should not run like this, especially after I hear promises to drain the swamp. This is exactly the opposite. Bringing this garbage bill to the floor is a dereliction of duty. It is incompetent, and mostly it is a failure of leadership. It is a failure of vision.

In any other business in this country, if managers acted like the leadership of this body, they would lose their jobs. It is almost as if the majority had planned this all along to get us to this point for political purposes. Well, guess what, we should not be here for political purposes; we should be here as Americans doing our best to give people the certainty they need rather than playing with a hot potato, saying: You know what, we will do it next month.

We were sent here to govern. We ought to govern and put politics in the closet. We have 9 hours to do a job, and we need to do it. If the majority leadership and the White House are going to continue to sit back and twiddle their thumbs, let's bypass them and let's get a deal. There are good people in this body. We need to sit down and get a deal that works for the rest of this year--that is, until the end of September, not until the 19th of February--that strengthens our borders, reauthorizes CHIP, funds our community health centers, supports rural hospitals, and fixes DACA.

I know there are scores and scores of folks on the other side of the aisle who want to do this. Nobody should leave their desk in this body until this job is done. We are nearly 4 months into this fiscal year. At some point in time, the Appropriations Committee should be starting to work on the 2019 fiscal year budget, but we are not because we can't even get through 2018. We need to stop governing from crisis to crisis. Nobody wants a shutdown, and that is why we need to stay here and do our jobs.

I yield the floor.