Floor Statements

Madam President, the deadline to fund the government is nearly upon us. The Senate is now just hours away from an entirely avoidable government shutdown. At midnight tonight, funding for programs that millions of Americans rely on--veterans services, opioid treatment centers, death benefits for the families of fallen soldiers, and health insurance for 9 million vulnerable children--would be thrown into chaos.

Last night the Senate began consideration of a bill passed by the House that would erase all of these threats. The bill keeps the Federal Government open. It extends the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for 9 million children and low-income families for 6 years. This vote should be a no-brainer, and it would be, except that the Democratic leader has convinced his Members to filibuster any funding bill that doesn't include legislation they are demanding for people who came into the United States illegally. What has been shoehorned into this discussion is an insistence that we deal with an illegal immigration issue.

He has insisted that he will not support any legislation at all for the American people no matter how noncontroversial or how bipartisan unless we pass a bill on illegal immigration first. If that means shutting down the funding for veterans, military families, opioid treatment centers, and even Federal grants to his home State of New York, so be it. If it means throwing a wrench into the gears of the U.S. economy, just as Americans are starting to feel the benefits of historic tax reform, so be it. If it means failing to renew the Children's Health Insurance Program, which the House-passed bill funded for a full 6 years, apparently that is just fine with those on the other side.

Nearly every Democrat in the House made the same demand. That has been their stated position: Nothing for hundreds of millions of Americans and no healthcare for 9 million vulnerable children until we solve a non-imminent issue related to illegal immigration. To even repeat this position out loud is to see how completely ridiculous it is.

Now that we are 13 hours away from a government shutdown that the Democrats would initiate and Democrats would own, the craziness of this seems to be dawning on my friend the Democratic leader. Perhaps he is remembering his own words from 2013. Here is what he said back then about threatening a government shutdown.

No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you

shouldn't hold millions of people hostage . . . that's wrong.

A few days later, the Democratic leader added:

It's sort of like this. Someone goes into your house, takes

your wife and children hostage, and then says, ``Let's

negotiate over the price of your house.''

He went on to say.

We're shutting down the government, we're not gonna raise

the debt ceiling until you pass immigration reform. It would

be governmental chaos.

Now maybe he is remembering those words today because now he is saying: Never mind, I really didn't mean it, and he himself is calling for an even shorter short-term funding bill. Of course, his last-ditch proposals would do nothing for the Children's Health Insurance Program or the 9 million children who are waiting on us to renew it. What is more, the incredibly short-term continuing resolutions he is now proposing do not meet any of the demands--none of them--that he and his own conference and Democrats in the House have been making for weeks. None of that would be solved in a short-term CR--the stuff they have been calling for.

So apparently now he wants his Members to default on their own demands. He has spent days apparently persuading all of his colleagues to insist that we cannot pass another continuing resolution. Now he wants them to pass one. He spent weeks getting his Members to proclaim that we should not do anything to fund the government unless we address the DACA issue, and now apparently he is calling

on them to do just that. These incredibly short-term extensions would not even give us enough time to actually write the legislation the Democratic leader is demanding. One extremely short-term CR would lead to another and another--exactly the outcome Democrats have declared they cannot accept.

Now, I wish for all of our sakes that the Democratic leader would figure out what he actually wants. I feel bad for his own Members. He has painted them into a corner, but I especially feel bad for the American people whose government the Democrats are threatening to shut down and the 9 million children whose health insurance could be thrown into jeopardy because Senate Democrats cannot get their story straight.

Now, my friend the Democratic leader now wants his Members to pass a bill that allows SCHIP to expire. Apparently, he now wants every Democrat in the House of Representatives to break their word and pass a separate funding bill of his own that does not address the illegal immigration issue they said they must have. So let's think about this for a minute. First, he leads his own troops into a box canyon, and then tells them it was really all for nothing. Maybe it is time to come back to reality.

We already have a bill that we know can pass the House because it already did. We have a bill that we know the President will sign into law because he has already committed to do just that. We know that with one noncontroversial and bipartisan vote we can keep the government up and running. We can fund the children's healthcare program for 6 years, and we can give ourselves the time we need to finish ongoing negotiations on DACA, border security, and the long-term needs of our military. We could do all of that today--all of it--or our Democratic friends can continue to take the Democratic leader's advice and vote to shut down the government, destabilize funding for our troops, shut down the children's healthcare program, and still not get what they are demanding on illegal immigration. It is really up to them.

I look forward to voting soon on cloture on the House bill. The American people, the citizens who actually elected us, will be watching. They will see which Senators make the patriotic decision to stand up for the American people and vote to continue government funding and extend children's healthcare while we continue our bipartisan talks, and they will see which Senators vote to shove aside veterans, military families, and vulnerable children and to hold the entire country hostage until we pass an immigration bill they haven't even written yet.

It is completely unfair and uncompassionate for my Democratic colleagues to filibuster government funding, harm our troops, and jeopardize health coverage for 9 million children because extreme elements of their base want illegal immigration to crowd out every other priority. Apparently, they believe the issue of illegal immigration is more important than everything else--all the government services the American people depend on.

I would recommend to stop the wild-goose chase. Don't go to a destination that cannot be explained. Let's fulfill the core responsibilities of Congress. Let's fund the government, provide for the American people, and then resume serious negotiations on the issues that matter most. Let's fund the government for a full month so we can actually get something done.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment at 10 p.m. tonight.

Madam President, 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 ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I want to call to the attention of my colleagues a part of the statement of the White House Press Secretary tonight, presumably on behalf of the administration. It simply says: We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands.

That appropriately represents the White House view of where we are. And what we have just witnessed on the floor was a cynical decision by Senate Democrats to shove aside millions of Americans for the sake of irresponsible political gains. A government shutdown was 100 percent avoidable--completely avoidable. Now it is imminent, all because Senate Democrats chose to filibuster a noncontroversial funding bill that contains nothing, not a thing, they do not support--nothing they do not support.

Perhaps across the aisle some of our Democratic colleagues are feeling proud of themselves, but what has their filibuster accomplished? What has it accomplished? The answer is simple: their very own government shutdown.

The shutdown effects on the American people will come as no surprise. All week, as we have stood on the floor and begged our colleagues to come to their senses, Senate Republicans have described exactly what this will mean.

For America's men and women in uniform, shutting down the government means delayed pay. For the many thousands of civilian employees who support their missions, it means furloughs. And for the families of fallen heroes, it may well mean a freeze on survivor death benefits. For veterans who rely on our promise of care, shutting down the government means threatening their access to treatment. For so many Americans struggling with opioid addiction, the same is true. Thanks to the Democratic leader's decision to filibuster an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, low-income families will slip closer to losing health coverage for their kids, and in many States, this is an emergency.

I am having trouble understanding which one of these outcomes my Democratic colleagues could possibly be proud of. Which one of them? I think our friends on the other side took some bad advice--really bad advice. I would hate to have to be trying to explain this myself.

They ignored the Governors, including seven Democrats who wrote Congress begging us to extend SCHIP for 9 million children. They ignored the needs of millions of Americans who rely on the Federal Government for important services. They held all this hostage--all of this hostage over the completely unrelated issue of illegal immigration.

Republicans in the Senate have done all we can to continue the normal operations of the Federal Government and secure certainty for these SCHIP kids. We could pass it tonight, it could go to the President for signature, and these kids would be OK.

Well, we are going to continue to do all we can. We will vote again so the American people know who stands for them. And when our friends across the aisle remember who it is they actually represent, we will be ready to come together in a bipartisan discussion that will be necessary to clean up all of this mess.

We have all been having private conversations here on the floor. Almost everybody on both sides doesn't understand how we ended up here, because most of the stuff, we agree on. Well, there is only one reason we ended up here: the shoehorning of illegal immigration into this debate.

Now, having said that, there is a lot of sympathy in this body for doing something about the DACA kids. It is not like nobody is interested in that. We have been talking about it for 3 months. But the one reason we are where we are is because we couldn't close out any of these other component parts because our friends on the other side said: You have to deal with this issue. This issue is the key to getting defense spending, this issue is the key to getting help for SCHIP kids, and on and on and on.

I think most of the American people believe that shutting down the government over this issue, which doesn't even ripen until March, is irresponsible. And I have just listed all of the people who are going to be adversely impacted by this action.

So we are going to keep on voting, and the government may be heading into a shutdown, but the Senate is not shutting down. We are open to talk and to resolve this. I don't think it makes the institution look very responsible. The American people should expect better from us than this.

Mr. President, I want to particularly commend the five Democrats who voted not to shut the government down. The new Senator from Alabama, during his campaign, said it was important to fund the S- CHIP program before it ran out of money, and he listened to the seven Democratic Governors who said: This is an emergency; we need help.

There were five courageous Democrats on the other side who stood up to this ridiculous argument that it made sense somehow to shut down the government over an illegal immigration issue that the vast majority of this body would like to do something about anyway.

I want to particularly commend the five Democrats who had the courage to stand up to this ridiculous strategy that put their whole party in an incredible predicament because, as the White House just indicated, the President is not going to talk about the issue at all while the government is shut down. He made it quite clear. He said: ``When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders, we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform.''

So this particular strategy has eliminated the possibility of getting a signature on the thing they shut the government down over. Can anybody explain to me this strategy? I am perplexed. I wasn't first in my class, but I wasn't last either. How does this get them what they are looking for?

We will continue to talk because when all the games stop, the issues are still there--every single one of them are still there. The American people expect us to act like adults, to get together and solve the problems.

Now I will be offering an amendment to change the date to February 8. We will, unfortunately, not be able to get that vote tonight, but I will be subsequently asking for consent, but at some point here, we will be voting on February 8. That is the date the senior Senator from South Carolina and I have been talking about, and the Democratic leader and I have been talking about--which begins to move a little bit closer to where our friends on the other side said they wanted to be--but a reasonable period of time that takes into account the State of the Union, our party conferences, and the amount of time it takes to actually write a bill once you have an agreement. You can't just reach an agreement, snap your fingers, and everything falls into place and you are ready to go. It is a reasonable period to first agree, and then write, get ready to negotiate a settlement that we have been working on for months. February 8 is a very reasonable time. I hear there is sentiment for that on both sides of the aisle. I hope so.

At some point, we will vote on that option. I can't get that vote tonight, but I am going to ask consent to have that vote tonight.

Vote on Motion to Refer with Amendment No. 1905

Mr. President, I move to table the motion to refer.

Mr. President, I move to table the motion to concur with further amendment.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 195, with a further amendment.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk on the motion to concur with amendment.

Mr. President, I move to refer the House message on H.R. 195 to the Committee on Appropriations to report back forthwith with instructions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the mandatory quorum call be waived and the Senate immediately vote on the motion to invoke cloture without any intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we passed similar legislation during the government shutdown back in 2013. My hope is that we can restore funding for the entire government before this becomes necessary. I am going to object for tonight, but we will discuss it again tomorrow. Therefore, I object.

I object.

I object.

Mr. President, for the information of all our colleagues, the Senate will convene at 12 noon tomorrow.

My hope is that an agreement can be reached. We will be here in session tomorrow working to finally resolve the way forward. Senators should expect votes tomorrow.

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 ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon, Saturday, January 20; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 195.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, in just a short while, the Senate will vote to reauthorize important provisions of the FISA Amendments Act. As we all know, section 702 remains one of the most important tools that our national security professionals use to combat terrorism and to keep Americans safe.

Let's be very clear about what section 702 does. It enables our intelligence community to collect communications from foreign terrorists on foreign soil who threaten America and our allies. That is what it does. Make no mistake--section 702 does not allow the targeting of American citizens, nor does it permit the targeting of anyone, no matter their nationality, who is known to be located here in the United States.

The men and women we trust to protect this country say that this capability is essential to their missions. They tell us that it has saved American lives. That is why we cannot let this capability lapse. The world remains dangerous. We need our Armed Forces and intelligence community to protect us, and they need us to give them the tools to do it.

I look forward to renewing this important provision on a bipartisan basis in a short while.

Mr. President, on another matter, Saturday will mark 1 year since President Trump's inauguration--a year spent working with Republicans to roll back runaway regulations, stand up for veterans, fund our troops, strengthen national security, and pass once-in-a- generation tax reform.

Today, unemployment is at its lowest level in over a decade. According to Gallup, the American people are more optimistic about their job prospects than they have been in 17 years. And just yesterday, the Dow Jones closed above 26,000 for the first time in history.

The engine of American free enterprise is the American people, and when government gets out of the way and helps provide the conditions for growth, good things happen.

Just yesterday, Apple--the highest valued public company in the world--announced a plan to create more than 20,000 new jobs and invest $30 billion in new capital right here in our country. As a direct result of tax reform, Apple will pay special bonuses worth $2,500 to employees and begin to repatriate the $250 billion in cash it has been holding overseas. Let me repeat that. Billions and billions of dollars are coming back to America because Republicans passed historic tax reform and gave us a 21st-century tax code. This will have an impact not just in Silicon Valley but all across the country. In Harrodsburg, KY, Corning employs hundreds of people in a high-tech facility. It partners with Apple to manufacture the special glass used in iPhones and iPads. This glass is made in Kentucky.

Republicans in the House and Senate passed tax reform without a single Democratic vote, although I certainly hope our folks across the aisle will celebrate the new jobs in their States and the new opportunities that are already being created for their constituents. We know that when Washington gets

out of the way, American workers and job creators can do what they do best. The results are speaking for themselves.

Now, Mr. President, on an urgent matter, Congress is fast approaching our Friday deadline to fund the government. The choice before us is quite simple: We can pass a noncontroversial, bipartisan bill to keep the government open, or Democrats in Congress can manufacture a crisis and force a government shutdown over the entirely unrelated issue of illegal immigration, which we have until March, at the very least, to resolve.

Leaders in both parties have engaged in constructive talks on the best solution for those who fall under the Obama administration's illegally established DACA Program, along with other important immigration issues. The President has made it clear that any immigration bill must not only treat the symptoms of illegal immigration but also address the conditions that cause it. His four pillars for reform are increasing border security, reforming chain migration, resolving the DACA issue, and addressing the visa lottery. Those are the four pillars.

My position is straightforward. When negotiators produce a compromise that the President supports, it will receive a vote here in the Senate. No such solution yet exists, so the negotiations continue. The DACA issue does not face urgent deadlines until March at the very earliest. Our deadline to fund the government is tomorrow. One is an emergency, and one is not.

Later today, we anticipate the House will pass a bill that continues government funding and also attends to another urgent bipartisan concern. It will reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program for a full 6 years, giving needed security to the families of the 9 million American children who depend on the program for coverage.

A continuing resolution plus a 6-year SCHIP extension is a commonsense package that every Member of this body should support.

Just consider my Democratic colleagues' own words on this very subject of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Just last month, the senior Senator from Pennsylvania said: ``Any uncertainty about the Children's Health Insurance Program is . . . an insult to the country.'' That is the senior Senator from Pennsylvania. He represents 342,000 children enrolled in SCHIP. Now he will have a chance to end that uncertainty.

Our newest colleague, the junior Senator from Alabama, made SCHIP a central issue in his campaign. He presented himself as a champion of vulnerable kids. He said the Senate had to ``stop playing political football with the health care of our children.'' Now he represents 150,000 of those children. Will he help us put a stop to the political games?

The senior Senator from Ohio said: ``Healthcare for our kids shouldn't be controversial . . . it shouldn't be partisan. It should be easy.''

The junior Senator from Maine called a potential lapse in SCHIP ``an abdication of our responsibility.''

The junior Senator from Oregon said: ``Struggling families would like to have some stability, not have their children be a bargaining chip in some broader vision.''

All of these Democratic Senators represent tens of thousands of children who depend on SCHIP. I am more than puzzled why they would threaten to turn their backs on those children--and shut down the government while they are at it--over the entirely unrelated issue of illegal immigration. Why would anyone suggest it is a good idea to not fund SCHIP for 6 years and to not fund the government because they are upset over illegal immigration, which is an issue we have until March to address?

Last year, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously agreed on a proposal to extend SCHIP by 5 years. The continuing resolution we expect to take up will extend it for 6, with no partisan attachments. It shouldn't be a difficult vote.

There is nothing--nothing--in such a continuing resolution that my Democratic friends actually oppose. Surely they do not oppose continuing to fund programs for opioid treatment and prevention, even as negotiations continue on additional funding. Surely they do not oppose continuing to fund our military and our national security, even as negotiations continue on additional funding. They couldn't possibly want to cut off existing funding for veterans, the VA system, and America's seniors simply because we are still negotiating additional funding.

My friends on the other side of the aisle do not oppose a single thing in this bill--nothing. They know they can't possibly explain to our warfighters and veterans, to our seniors, to our opioid treatment centers, to the millions of vulnerable children and their families who depend on SCHIP for coverage--how do you explain this?--or to all Americans who rely on the Federal Government for critical services like food inspections and Social Security checks. Why would they filibuster government funding and shut down vital programs for Americans because we have not yet agreed on the best way to settle an unrelated issue that we have at least until March to resolve?

So let's fund the government, extend SCHIP, and do right by the millions of Americans who elected us to serve them. That is how we can continue serious discussions on issues facing our Nation.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, the House has sent us a bill that should be an easy ``yes'' vote for every Senator in this Chamber--an easy ``yes'' vote. This bill continues government funding, prevents a needless shutdown, and extends a key health insurance program for vulnerable children for 6 years. Its content is bipartisan. There are no provisions that any of my Democratic friends oppose. It is a simple step that will let us continue bipartisan talks without throwing the government into disarray for no reason.

Americans are surprised this is even a debate. I don't blame them. I share their surprise that some Democratic Senators see the prospect of a government shutdown for more than 300 million Americans, see a possible lapse in health coverage for 9 million vulnerable American kids, and they have attempted to hold all of that hostage until we resolve a nonimminent problem related to illegal immigration.

The surprise is compounded for anyone who listens to the public statements of my Democratic colleagues and takes them at their word. Less than a week ago, the senior Senator from Colorado was asked whether it was prudent to shut the government down over the issue of illegal immigration. He insisted it was not.

Last month, my friend, the senior Senator from West Virginia, had this to say: ``I'm not going to make 300 million people suffer because I can't get the process working the way it should.''

The junior Senator from Virginia put it even more clearly. This is what he had to say: ``I will exercise every bit of leverage I can . . . but if there is a vote that would lead to a shutdown, that is where I draw the line.''

Not more than 2 days ago, the senior Senator from Missouri said she wasn't ``interested in drawing a line in the sand'' because ``that's how negotiations get blown up.''

Well, I hope their votes this evening reflect those recent statements.

Some of my colleagues say they are reluctant to support this measure not because of illegal immigration but simply because they are tired of continuing resolutions. They point out that this is a suboptimal way to fund our government, especially our warfighters.

That is precisely why Republicans worked hard all last month and all this month--all last month and all this month--to try to negotiate a long-term spending caps agreement that would bring stability back to government funding, but the Democratic leadership made it clear they would not be serious about these spending talks until this unrelated immigration issue was solved.

So now, unfortunately, a continuing resolution is the only option our Armed Forces have this evening. Let's not pretend for a moment--not a moment--that our men and women in uniform and their families benefit from a government shutdown.

This is how we got here. My Democratic colleagues' demand on illegal immigration, at the behest of their far-left base, have crowded out all other important business. They have crowded it all out over the issue of illegal immigration. Now they are threatening to crowd out the needs of veterans, military families, opioid treatment centers, and every other American who relies on the Federal Government, all over illegal immigration.

There is no imminent deadline facing the DACA Program. Congress has at least until March to arrive at a bipartisan solution that is acceptable to Republicans, Democrats, and the person who needs to sign the bill--the President of the United States. Do veterans, opioid treatment centers, and the families of fallen soldiers need to suffer before a compromise is reached?

Democratic Senators' fixation on illegal immigration has already blocked us from making progress on long-term spending talks. Now, that same fixation over illegal immigration has them threatening to filibuster funding for the whole government.

Years ago, my friend, the Democratic leader, described how irresponsible it would be to shut down the government over the issue of immigration. He said it would result in ``governmental chaos.'' That is what my friend, the Democratic leader, said a while back, but earlier today on the floor, he insisted that we put every other American priority on hold--put it on hold--until we resolve immigration. Only then, he said, can we work on defense spending or domestic spending or CHIP or disaster relief--put all of that on hold over the issue of illegal immigration with no imminent deadline. It only needs to be addressed by March.

Well, that is apparently how our Democratic colleagues rank their priorities. It is not how I would rank mine. I don't think it is how many of our colleagues on either side would rank theirs either, but we will have a chance to find out in the coming days.

It is certainly not how the American people expect us to act. I think the American people clearly would not expect us to act this way.

The bill before us is an opportunity to correct course. It is a chance for my colleagues to remember that we represent millions and millions of American citizens.

The American people want the Federal Government open for veterans, military families, and the vulnerable. They want food and drug inspections to continue without interruption. They want death benefits to continue to go out to the families of servicemembers killed in action. They want children in low-income families to continue receiving health coverage through SCHIP. They want a sensible compromise on immigration. But they cannot for the life of them understand why--why-- some Senators would hold the entire country hostage until we arrive at a solution to a problem that doesn't fully materialize until March.

Military families, veterans, and children benefiting from the SCHIP program don't need to be shoved aside--they don't need to be shoved aside--while we continue good-faith negotiations. So we ought to pass this resolution, and we ought to get back to work.

Madam President, not to prolong the debate, but the Presidency under our constitutional system is not irrelevant. He is the person who signs things into law. And most of us in the House and Senate on the Republican side are interested in what his views are, and those have not been made fully apparent yet.

What we have before us deals with a real emergency--tomorrow night at midnight. What our friends on the other side are pushing is not an emergency. It doesn't have anything to do with what is before us. It is completely irrelevant to the issue of avoiding a government shutdown and taking care of 300 million Americans, most of whom depend on the government in one way or another.

Madam President, I understand the Senate has received a message from the House to accompany H.R. 195.

Madam President, I move that the Chair lay before the Senate the message to accompany H.R. 195 and ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 195.

I ask unanimous consent that there now be up to 10 minutes of debate, equally divided, on the motion to concur and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate vote on the motion to concur with no intervening action or debate.

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

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 195, with a further amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with amendment.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I move to refer the House message on H.R. 195 to the Committee on Appropriations to report back forthwith with instructions.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

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

I object.

Mr. President, this is not terribly complicated.

We have been in discussions for a couple of months on all of the issues that are urgent--the funding of the government, the Children's Health Insurance Program--and other matters that we all know need to be dealt with.

My good friend, the Democratic leader, is saying we have had too many continuing resolutions but suggests we pass yet another one, and the bill that is before us that we just voted to proceed to, I believe, enjoys the support--every element of it enjoys the support of almost everybody on both sides of the aisle. So it is appropriate to ask the question, Why are we where we are? There is only one reason: the continuous interjection of an issue, about which there is no urgency, into a discussion about how to deal with a potpourri of issues that do need to be urgently met, and that is the issue of illegal immigration.

So what our friends on the other side are saying is, they are prepared to shut down the government over the issue of illegal immigration. On that issue, there is a bipartisan interest in solving the DACA problem, but the President has given us until March. The last time I looked this was January. My colleagues, where is the urgency here? There isn't any.

So the reason these talks have gone on so long is because they have insisted, continuously, on throwing the illegal immigration issue into the pool of these other issues and are now saying to the American people: We are going to shut the government down if we can't have our way on this issue right now, even though it only becomes a problem in March.

So I hope the American people understand why we are where we are. No amount of trying to obfuscate this and confuse it with all of these other issues makes any sense at all. There is pretty broad bipartisan agreement that we need to address every single one of these issues, but the reason we are here right now is, our friends on the other side say: Solve this illegal immigration problem right now or we are going to shut the government down. That is a

fact. That is not spin. That is a fact. That is the only reason why we are where we are tonight. So I hope the American people will not be confused about this.

We want to fund the government. We want to solve the S-CHIP problem and a variety of other issues that almost all others agree on, and we wanted to do it before tomorrow night, but my assumption is at some point between now and tomorrow night, 41 Members of the opposition party are going to prevent us from passing a measure, the details of which they all support, because they can't get their way on this illegal immigration issue which really only becomes urgent in March.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the Democratic leader has mentioned a variety of issues, all of which were being discussed over the last 2 months in the hopes that we could reach an agreement to address them all. So now, I gather, he is saying he opposes the bill because it doesn't have everything we have been talking about in it, even though the things that are in the bill he does like. So the complaint now is, it doesn't have the other issues in it. The reason it doesn't have the other issues in it is because we haven't been able to reach a global agreement on how much we are going to spend.

These talks have been going on endlessly. Many of you have not been involved in them. We are exhausted. On and on and on we have been talking about all this--everything the Democratic leader has mentioned. Why will they never let us reach an agreement? Illegal immigration. That is what they shoehorned into all this--shoehorned that issue right into this and said: We will not solve any of this other stuff until we deal with this.

Now I gather the Democratic leader is questioning the good faith of some of us about whether we want to deal with the DACA issue. I do. I see Senator Cotton back here, Senator Tillis--I think we all would like to deal with the DACA issue, but there are some serious problems with legal immigration, and this is a big enough issue to warrant being discussed all by itself without being shoehorned into a bill full of real emergencies because there is no real emergency in the immigration area. We have until March to deal with it.

So make no mistake about it, we are where we are for one reason and one reason only, within a day of a government shutdown, and that is the insistence of our friends on the other side that we deal with this nonemergency right now because they were unwilling to close out all of these other issues we have been discussing ad nauseam, literally for months.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 11 a.m., Friday, January 19; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 195.

Mr. President, 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 renew my unanimous consent request that I propounded earlier.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, another wave of economic optimism is breaking across America after last month's historic tax reform legislation. Already, for weeks, we have seen special bonuses, pay increases, and other tax reform benefits delivered to workers across the Nation.

These immediate benefits are just the first fruits. Tax reform is also planting the seeds of long-term wage growth and job creation by making America a more attractive place for entrepreneurship and for investment.

We learned last week that the automaker Fiat Chrysler is renewing production lines in America where prohibitive business taxes once stood in the way. Now, 2,500 new jobs are coming to Detroit, thanks to tax reform. Just yesterday, I was pleased to announce that Humana, which employs more than 12,000 Kentuckians, is accelerating pay incentives and increasing its minimum hourly wage because of tax reform. The good news keeps coming. Toyota and Mazda are doubling down on existing investments in the United States, announcing plans to create 4,000 new jobs in Huntsville, AL.

The world is noticing that America is open for business, and in large part it is because we have shaken off an outdated, burdensome Tax Code. Reforming the Tax Code was not easy. It was made even more challenging when none of our Democratic colleagues in the House or the Senate--not one--stood with taxpayers and job creators to vote for this once-in-a- generation tax relief, but thanks to Republican majorities in Congress and a Republican White House, the benefits for working Americans are just beginning.

Mr. President, now, on another matter, the Senate will soon vote to reauthorize important provisions of the FISA Amendments Act. This includes section 702, one of the most important tools used by our national security community to combat terrorism and to keep Americans safe. It gives our law enforcement and intelligence communities the ability to collect communications from foreign terrorists on foreign soil who wish harm to America and our allies. This capability is absolutely vital to the success of defense and intelligence operations.

To be absolutely clear, section 702 does not allow the targeting of American citizens, nor does it permit the targeting of anyone of any nationality who is known to be located here in the United States. Five years ago, Congress reauthorized the title with overwhelming bipartisan support. Today, it is time to do so one more time.

It is no secret that the world remains dangerous. Terrorist groups remain as intent today as they did on September 11, 2001, on harming Americans and those working with us overseas. As the tragedies of that day become a more distant memory, we cannot grow lax and deny our defense and intelligence communities the tools and resources they require to prevent future attacks.

I look forward to renewing the bipartisan consensus on this issue and voting to reauthorize this important provision very soon.