Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, over the weekend, the southern border crisis set a sobering new record. In the past year, CBP conducted more border apprehensions than in any year on record. Officials reported more than 2.4 million apprehensions since last October, and this number doesn't even count the illegal entries that actually evaded authorities.

Most alarmingly, this news isn't actually new. Last year was the third straight year we set an all-time record for border apprehensions. In other words, every year that President Biden has been in charge of border security, his administration hasn't simply failed; it has failed to a historic and catastrophic degree.

America has had functionally open borders for years. Along with millions of illegal aliens, we have allowed Chinese fentanyl and other lethal drugs to literally pour into our country and kill thousands of Americans every year.

So the Democrats' border crisis isn't new. What is new is their supposed desire to finally do something about it. Now that blue State mayors and Governors are starting to feel the consequences of this catastrophic policy failure, the Biden administration says it now wants to take action. Of course, the administration mostly just wants to throw money at the problem and at its friends in local government. Apparently, the preferred response to a border crisis is a blue State bailout.

Meanwhile, a particularly dangerous consequence of the President's border crisis is making history of its own. In the past year, southern border apprehensions of individuals on the terror watchlist broke an alltime record, the record that was just set the year before.

Even President Biden's Department of Homeland Security has admitted in its 2024 ``Homeland Threat Assessment'' that ``record encounters of migrants arriving from a growing number of countries have complicated border and immigration security.''

The American people have watched the Biden administration spend their way into plenty of problems, but they haven't managed to spend their way out of a single one yet.

Our country deserves real law enforcement and real borders. Border security is national security. And on that front, the Senate has a lot of work to do.

There is evil in the world, and for the better part of the last century, America and our allies were squarely in the crosshairs. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that.

On September 12, 2001, George Will coined a phrase, saying that the free

world's ``holiday from history'' was over. When Russia escalated its lawless invasion of Ukraine last year, many observers, including former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, invoked the same idea.

The West is at a crossroads. Increasingly, fringe voices on the left and right are insisting that it is not America's business to lead. They seem willing to accept American decline and to assume that their lack of interest in history means history won't be interested in them. Meanwhile, many of our allies are waking up to their own commitments to collective defense.

As the world was reminded last February in Ukraine and again on October 7 in Israel, some of our friends and fellow democracies have never had the option of taking a holiday from history. Israel has no choice but vigilant self-defense because murderous theocrats and terrorists have vowed to wipe it off the map. Ukraine has no choice but all-out resistance because an authoritarian thug with delusions of Soviet glory has spent years butchering its people and carving up its sovereign territory. Half a world away, the free people of Taiwan have no choice but to stare down the threat from a communist superpower intent on bringing their island to heel.

It is hard to ignore the growing strategic alignment between these authoritarian forces. They share an interest in one another's violent pursuits and in undermining the West--especially America.

Take the growing strategic partnership between Russia and Iran. The Obama administration foolishly welcomed Putin's intervention in Syria, and it gave Russia influence in the Middle East it hadn't had since the 1970s--mostly at America's expense. Iran and its terror proxies were glad to see Putin prop up Bashar Assad. Under Russian protection, Syria became a training ground and logistics superhighway from Tehran's terror network. And as terrorists challenge America and Israel in the region, Russia is the beneficiary.

It is a symbiotic relationship for the bad guys, and it has only continued to grow. Russia defends Iran at the U.N., and Iran is now providing the same lethal drones its terrorist proxies use to attack American forces in Syria and Iraq directly to Russia for use against Ukraine.

The world's largest state sponsor of terror--with American, Israeli, and Arab blood on its hands--is also sponsoring Russia's war against our friends in Europe.

As one good analysis put it recently, ``When Hezbollah terrorists, Hezbollah mercenaries, and Iranian theocrats chant `Death to America' after murdering Israelis, they're not confused.'' And it is hardly surprising that Putin has aligned his regime with this terror, given the devastation his forces inflict on civilians in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, China isn't just keeping a close eye on the West's resolve to resist Russian aggression and Iran-backed terrorism; they are actually getting more directly involved. Just yesterday, for example, a summit of the PRC's so-called Belt and Road Initiative--a massive influence operation aimed at bringing more parts of the world under Beijing's thumb--featured Vladimir Putin as the guest of honor--yet another sign that Russia and China are serious about their ``friendship without limits.''

Beijing has released a flurry of statements responding to terrorist savagery by condemning Israel's self-defense operations and conspicuously avoiding any mention of Hamas.

The PRC is stepping up its coordination with and support for Iran. It is no surprise that the regime that wants to break the will of the free people of Taiwan is eager to see its fellow travelers in Tehran and Moscow do the same to Israel and Ukraine.

Our adversaries know the challenges they pose to us are linked. The belief that we can abandon allies in one part of the world and not hurt allies elsewhere simply doesn't hold water. In fact, it is naive and dangerous.

The people of Israel have a right to defend themselves, and the United States has an interest in our closest ally in the Middle East rooting out terrorists like Hamas.

Ukraine has a right to sovereignty, and the United States has an interest in Europe--our largest trading partner and strongest ally--not facing an emboldened thug at its gates.

Taiwan and other Asian democracies have a right to self- determination, and the United States has an interest in helping Asian partners stand up to Chinese aggression.

We need to remember America is a superpower. Our interests are global, and with global interests come global responsibilities. Our alliances matter. Our credibility matters. Our friends on the frontlines of authoritarian aggression and terrorist savagery don't have the opportunity to take a holiday from history, and America can't afford to either.

In the coming days, it will be the Senate's responsibility to take strong and decisive action to put maximum support behind Israel's self- defense, equip Ukraine for victory as it defines it, and help Taiwan deter growing threats.

The prosperity America has known for the better part of a century is the direct product of our leadership. Preserving it means standing with our friends and investing in our own strength.

Now, one final matter, I would like to take a minute to thank an all-star member of the Senate community as she departs on a well-deserved retirement.

For the past 25 years, recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of the U.S. Senate has been Betty Koed's top responsibility. As Senate Historian, Betty has immersed herself more than pretty much anyone in the lore of this remarkable institution.

Betty joined the Senate as Assistant Historian in 1998, in time to witness history with the impeachment trial of President Clinton. And her intelligence and determination came in handy immediately as the Historian's office phones rang off the hook with questions about the complex rules, procedures, and precedents that surrounded the first such event in more than a century.

But as much as Members of this body are prone to make history, Senators also tend to like consuming history. I myself am no exception. So back in 2009, when former Senate Historian Richard Baker retired, I invited Betty to start visiting the Republican conference lunches to deliver weekly presentations on Senate history.

By all accounts, Betty's ``History Minutes'' were the highlight of many a lunch. In fact, they were always so popular that we asked her to turn these stories into a book, and I am glad to say that an impressive volume illustrating some of the most dramatic and significant events in the Senate's history was actually published earlier this year.

Over her time in the Senate, Betty has been a fierce advocate for the preservation of Senate records. Her colleagues describe her as a role model and mentor who is highly knowledgeable, considerate, and persistent. It would be no exaggeration to call Betty Koed's tenure as Senate Historian a historic milestone in its own right.

So I would like to thank Betty, with heartfelt thanks for her loyal service to this institution, and I know our colleagues join me in wishing her all the best.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, the barbaric terrorist attacks of October 7 have elicited two sorts of reactions in the West. Most reasonable people have responded to the slaughter of innocent Israelis with utter horror, fervent prayer, and strong support for Israel's right to defend itself.

The overwhelming majority of Americans think the United States should publicly support our closest ally in the Middle East. They recognize this moment as a time for choosing, and they see the choice between a democracy's right to self-defense and a terrorist group's obsession with destroying it as an easy choice.

The United States must have Israel's back as it roots out the terrorists who threaten it. For as long as it takes, I am proud to stand with this overwhelming majority.

But, alas, in recent days, we have also seen just how the default position in some highly influential corners of our society--from national newsrooms to elite college campuses--how quickly they have been to blindly amplify terrorists' versions of events.

This was especially true of the reporting of a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital yesterday. Hamas immediately blamed Israel for the blast, and major news organizations took their word for it, running headlines about an ``Israeli strike.'' In the hours since this tragedy, credible evidence has emerged suggesting that the same terrorists who used innocent civilians as human shields were themselves responsible. Well, the media can revise its headlines, but the shameful anti-Semitic fringe of our society has already heard what it wanted to hear.

Unsurprisingly, the woke incubators of the Ivy League have been at the epicenter of this anti-Israel outrage. One coalition of 30 student groups at Harvard declared that they ``hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible'' for Hamas's terrorism--that Israel is responsible for Hamas's terrorism.

Now, student radicals taking extremist stands is par for the course. The more important question is how university administrators--the supposed grownups on campus--would respond. The answer is not good. As former Harvard President Larry Summers rightly noted, his institution's initial silence ceded the field to campus extremists in defining Harvard's response.

And when Harvard's leaders did respond, they failed the most basic test: distinguishing the victim from the aggressor. The university's response professed heartbreak at ``the war in Israel and Gaza now under way,'' as if there were even a shred of moral equivalence between terrorism and self-defense.

The presidents of Columbia and Dartmouth expressed regret at ``the ensuing violence'' and ``the escalating violence,'' respectively. Not to be outdone, Notre Dame didn't even assign perfunctory blame to the terrorists.

Instead, they bemoaned ``the outbreak of war in the Holy Land'' and calling ``for an end to the cycle of violence.''

I am reminded of a retort the late, great Bill Buckley deployed in a debate when his opponent tried to have both sides of the Cold War. He said:

That is like saying that the man who pushes a little old

lady into the path of a bus is morally equivalent to the man

who pushes her out of its path, because they both push little

old ladies around.

If you want to know where this leads, take the American Bar Association, the organization that accredits our Nation's law schools. At first, the ABA's president called ``on both sides to show restraint'' and urged Israel and Hamas to ``settle their disputes in a peaceful and legal fashion.'' But yesterday, the ABA denounced Israel's self-defense efforts as ``collective punishment, forced displacement, [and] ethnic cleansing.''

Terrorism and self-defense are not morally equivalent. They are not morally equivalent. And you would think the leaders of America's higher education would understand that.

Some leaders in higher education have argued in recent days that schools should not wade into political disputes. Stanford's president said that doing so means picking winners and losers on campus. Northwestern's president observed of his students and faculty that ``for me to speak for them displaces their own freedom to speak.'' That may actually be a wise policy, but it is certainly not one elite academia has been known to practice in the past. It doesn't take long to find the impassioned stances universities took following the murder of George Floyd or the ending of DACA. So why the new policy?

Let's be clear. Some university leaders have displayed admirable conviction. Our former colleague Ben Sasse at the University of Florida describes support for the terrorists who murdered Israeli children as ``sickening'' and ``dehumanizing.'' Emory's president said the attacks ``must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.'' Princeton's president called it ``among the most atrocious of terrorist acts'' and, importantly, placed the blame for the coming war entirely where it belongs--on Hamas's shoulders.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all of these statements-- the good, the bad, and the ugly--be printed in the Record.

I can only hope that the leaders of America's universities recognize what time it is in America. This is a time for moral clarity, not a time for anti-Semitic hate dressed in faculty- lounge jargon. Leaders cannot afford to be silent. Terrorism is evil. Anti-Semitism is despicable. And Israel has a right to exist. It shouldn't take a Ph.D. to understand that, but it also shouldn't be so hard for a Ph.D. to acknowledge it.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Mr. President, now on an entirely different matter, today, the Senate will vote on a Republican resolution to chip away at yet another example of the Biden administration's runaway regulatory state using the Congressional Review Act. The junior Senator from Louisiana, Senator Kennedy, has put forward a measure that would block a proposed rule at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would require financial institutions to collect and report personal information on small business loan applications, including data on race and sex. Apparently, as if the radical progressivism on campuses wasn't enough, Washington Democrats want to tie small business loans to diversity quotas.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the American dream, and I am grateful to my colleague from Louisiana for giving the Senate an opportunity to stick up for them. I would urge each of our colleagues to join me in supporting his resolution later today.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, one month from now, Congress will face another deadline to avoid a lapse in Federal Government funding.

Between now and then, the Senate needs to do our part to pass as many full-year appropriations bills as we possibly can. First in line is the minibus legislation that would send critical resources towards supporting America's farmers, keeping promises to our veterans, and rebuilding crumbling infrastructure.

Before the State work period, the Senate Republicans agreed on a list of amendments that would allow this package to move quickly here on the floor, and I am hopeful that the Democratic leader will call it up this week and give the full Senate the chance to take an important step toward funding the government.

Of course, passing the minibus is just an early step. We have a great deal of work still ahead of us to finish the job that Senator Collins, Senator Murray, and our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee have been focused on, literally, for months.

And as I have said before, we also need to consider additional, time- sensitive resources for a number of supplemental priorities. But we cannot get on with this work unless we clear an important hurdle this week.

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

Madam President, since the Senate last convened, terrorists have sent shock waves through the civilized world with savage, cold-blooded violence.

On October 7, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad desecrated Israel's soil and tore apart Israeli families with utterly medieval brutality. Like ISIS, terrorists from Gaza turned peaceful homes and neighborhoods in Israel into blood-soaked war zones. It was the deadliest attack on the Israelis and on American citizens overseas in decades.

But now, reports and images of these horrific scenes have spread widely. Accounts of Israeli women tortured and raped, of elders kidnapped, of charred corpses, beheadings, of children shot dead in their homes have shaken peaceful people to their cores. In one kibbutz, a paramedic named Amit was working to save the lives of victims pouring into a local clinic when she documented what would be the last moments of her own life in messages to her sister. Here is what she said: ``They are here. I don't think I will get out of here alive. Be strong if something happens to me.''

A few minutes later, in a call from Amit's phone, all her sister could hear were gunshots and screams. One in 10 residents of the community were slaughtered by the terrorists.

Here is how one retired senior IDF commander put it after he ran to rejoin Israel's defense efforts: ``I've heard during my childhood about pogroms in Europe, the Holocaust, of course. All my family came from Europe. They are survivors, but I never thought I would see things like this.''

Madam President, the people of Israel are grieving unimaginable horrors, and we have a responsibility not to look away--not least because the same news that has shaken the civilized world to its core has emboldened anti-Semites and terrorist sympathizers across the globe. We have seen thousands of demonstrators cheer on terrorist violence from the streets of Western cities.

In London, many Jewish children were kept home from school on Friday out of fears for their safety. In Chicago, a bomb threat forced a local synagogue to evacuate. In Sydney, Australia, a supposedly pro- Palestinian gathering devolved into a sickening flashback to the worst stain on the last century of human history as demonstrators chanted: ``Gas the Jews.'' And on college campuses across America, leftist student groups cloaked vile anti-Semitism in a thin veneer of performative, woke jargon.

So, Madam President, friends of Israel simply cannot afford to be silent. And as Israel's closest ally, the United States must lead by our example in supporting its efforts to defend itself for as long as it takes. As I outlined over the State work period, this means loudly and clearly distinguishing between the aggressor and the victim in this war. No matter how many voices in the media attempt to ``both-sides'' a terrorist attack, there is simply no moral equivalence here.

Responsibility for the murder of Israelis lies with the terrorists who pulled the trigger and the regime that arms and trains them, and responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinian people lies with the Hamas terrorists who consolidated power by flinging rival civilian officials off of rooftops, who use scarce building supplies to dig terror tunnels, to turn drinking water pipes into rocket launchers, and who use residents of Gaza as human shields.

Make no mistake, the surest way to stop violence against Israelis and oppression of Palestinians is to wipe the terrorists like Hamas from the face of the Earth. To that end, the United States must continue to provide maximum support to Israel's counterterrorist operation as long as it takes. And just as importantly, we have to reestablish deterrence against the Iranian regime that not only directly threatens American's interest in a peaceful and stable Middle East, but also bears the blood of hundreds of Americans and plots to kill even more.

America's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the desperate pursuit of a new nuclear deal, and the failure to respond decisively to attacks on U.S. forces in Syria have weakened our deterrence against the world's largest state sponsor of terror. America's weakness left our allies and partners with serious questions about the credibility of our commitments. And if we fail to present clear and devastating consequences of further violence against America, as well as our friends in Israel, we will make deterring an even bigger strategic adversary in Asia even more difficult.

Reestablishing effective deterrence means investing in American military strength. It means investing in an industrial base that is capable of equipping both U.S. forces and our allies and partners to meet authoritarian oppression in Europe, in Asia, and in the Middle East, and it means responding to challenges with credible and unflinching resolve. This is a fundamental responsibility of governing. Full stop.

I will have more to say in the coming days, but for right now, this is not merely a terrorist war against Israel. It is part of a clear and present danger to the United States and the entire civilized world.

This, Madam President, is a time for choosing. As Israel works to eliminate the terrorists who threaten its existence, the United States must reaffirm our commitment to Israel's security, and we must continue to demonstrate by our leadership that no country should offer safe haven to those who aid and abet terror.

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 would like to begin today with a few words about my outgoing House counterpart, Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Shepherding an institution like the House of Representatives--every bit as stubborn and diverse as the Nation it represents--is a tall order. Getting a slim majority pointed in the same direction at any one time can seem like nothing short of a miracle. I have said before, in reference to my own position, that being leader of your party in the Senate is much like being the groundskeeper in a cemetery. Everybody is under you, but nobody is listening.

Of course, I doubt that Kevin McCarthy has ever seen himself as above anyone else--not the son of a firefighter, not the grandson of immigrants who stood up his own small business and worked his way through school.

In the beginning of the Speaker's House career, it was clear to anyone paying any attention that he was a doer in the model of Teddy Roosevelt's ``Man in the Arena'' and an idealist in the model of his fellow Californian, Ronald Reagan. Congressman McCarthy didn't shy away from worthwhile fights. In fact, he usually dove in headfirst. He didn't hesitate to get his hands dirty.

When the circumstances were tough, he drew on his faith, his family, and his belief in American exceptionalism. His Bakersfield roots kept him grounded. His beloved mother kept him appraised of kitchen table concerns with frequent calls about the price of gas. In other words, he had all the qualities of an effective representative and Speaker.

I am not sure anyone could have predicted just how much these qualities would come in handy over the past 9 months. Speaker McCarthy took office with a commitment to America. He insisted on restoring regular order. He made sure that the people's House was once again open to the American people. He took on the gravest challenge, a looming debt crisis, with single-minded determination.

The Speaker and I worked closely throughout his tenure, but I was particularly struck by his persistence. He literally willed the President of the United States to the negotiating table and kept coming back again and again until he had helped secure the Nation's full faith and credit.

Speaker McCarthy was a partner I could trust to be honest and candid and, without fail, optimistic. I am grateful for the enthusiasm he brought to our shared work and for the patriotic conservative convictions he wears on his sleeve.

Perhaps the most telling thing about this week's events in the House has been the way the Speaker handled them--with grace and with gratitude. Speaker McCarthy should be proud of what he and his team have accomplished on behalf of the American people over the past 9 months. He can rest assured that his colleagues--myself included--will continue to draw on his talents and optimism in the days that lie ahead.

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

Mr. President, I would like to begin today by welcoming our newest colleague, Senator Laphonza Butler of California.

As the Senate continues to mourn our late friend and colleague Dianne Feinstein, I know the people of California are grateful for Senator Butler's willingness to serve. And I know our colleagues join me in welcoming her.

Mr. President, now on another matter, last week, the Senate voted to prevent a domestic budget dispute from shutting down the Federal Government. Now, with straightforward, short-term funding in place, it is time for Congress to redouble our efforts on a number of unfinished priorities.

In the coming weeks, the Senate needs to continue making progress on full-year appropriations. And we will begin by funding important resources for military construction, veterans services, agriculture, housing, and transportation infrastructure.

But our work does not stop there. The Senate also needs to address urgent supplemental funding needs and continue our work to bring the Biden administration's reckless spending and radical regulations to heel.

Many of our colleagues are particularly keen to deliver additional relief to communities rebuilding after devastating national disasters-- from hurricanes on the gulf coast to wildfires in Hawaii, to flooding in Kentucky.

Bipartisan majorities in both Chambers continue to recognize that providing additional lethal assistance to Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression is in the United States' direct interest.

Across the country, as historic inflation continues to wreck household budgets, millions of working families are ready to turn the page on Bidenomics.

After three record-setting years of functionally open borders, folks in every State are eager for Congress to force the Biden administration to start cleaning up the southern border crisis. The fiscal year that just ended saw apprehensions at the southern border exceed 2 million for only the second time in history. The first time was just last year. Some reports expect that the last month's total could clock in as the highest on record. On President Biden's watch, illegal border crossings and asylum claims have stretched Border Patrol and ICE personnel to their breaking point.

Authorities are seizing hundreds of millions of lethal doses of fentanyl, although they also estimate that they are apprehending just a fraction--roughly a quarter--of all the fentanyl that is smuggled at the border.

Frankly, this is less about providing border personnel with new resources than it is about giving them the authority and direction to actually enforce the law. It is certainly not about bailing out blue State sanctuary cities while the tsunami of illegal immigration continues unabated. It is about the administration finally taking commonsense steps to end their wrongheaded policies that have encouraged illegal immigrants to cross our borders in the first place.

Every State is now a border State. Major cities like New York and Chicago are being overwhelmed by arrivals from the southern border. Finally, even blue State mayors and Governors are joining the chorus calling out the administration for its utter failure on border security.

Of course, across the country, liberal local governments and innocent residents are also facing the consequences of years of soft-on-crime policies, and once again our Nation's Capital leads the headlines.

Just last night, for example, Congressman Henry Cuellar was the victim of a violent carjacking a few blocks from the Capitol Building. Armed assailants threatened him at gunpoint and stole his car. Thankfully, our House colleague was not injured, and his car has been recovered.

It is not even the first time this year that a Member of Congress has been assaulted while in town for work. But this is what private American citizens are facing every single day, like the 22,000 people who had their car stolen in Chicago this year or the 20,000 victims of felony assault in New York City. This sort of brazen violence against anyone should be a wake-up call for local officials.

Last year, a 54-year-old man was murdered at a gas station in Washington by a group of teenagers attempting to steal his car. The city is now averaging two carjackings every day, and these crimes are increasingly being committed by young people.

At a certain point, the American people who visit our Nation's Capital by the millions every year might expect the city's liberal government to finally start getting serious about securing the streets, but even as senseless violence increases, local leaders are bent-- bent--on undermining public safety.

One member of the DC Council--the same soft-on-crime panel that tried to weaken sentencing for repeat offenders earlier this year--proposed recently that local courts be required to provide a written explanation before releasing violent criminals before trial. The courts' response? Such a requirement was ``not feasible'' because it would ``significantly increase'' their workload. All this in a city where prosecutors declined to even prosecute two-thirds of the arrests last year.

American families deserve to feel safe in their homes and in their neighborhoods and certainly in the Nation's Capital. It shouldn't take another assault or carjacking or homicide to convince leftwing local leaders to start actually doing their jobs.

Madam President, with just a few hours to spare, the Senate is now in a position to prevent a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown.

As I have said for weeks, the clearest path forward has been to pass a straightforward, short-term funding extension that gives us time to continue a number of important discussions about outstanding priorities, from securing supplemental relief for victims of natural disasters to restoring security and sanity at the southern border that the Biden administration has dragged into chaos, to putting stronger restraints on the President's reckless spending to supplying Ukraine with even more of the lethal assistance it needs to repel Russia's invasion.

On that particular point, most Senate Republicans remain committed to helping our friends on the frontlines, to investing more heavily in American strength that reinforces our allies, and deterring our top strategic adversary, China.

I am confident the Senate will pass further urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year. But let's be clear. The alternative to our action today, an entirely avoidable government shutdown, would not just pause our progress on these important priorities, it would actually set them back. And in the process, it would saddle the people we represent with unnecessary hardships.

So I am glad our colleagues in the House have taken action on a continuing resolution that keeps critical government functions going at their current rates of operation.

Passing this measure and keeping the lights on will allow us to return our attention to making headway on full-year appropriations our colleagues have been working on, literally, for months. And it will give us the flexibility to meet urgent supplemental priorities both at home and abroad.

Therefore, I would urge our colleagues to join me in supporting this important step in the right direction.