Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that there be up to 20 minutes of debate between Senators Murray, Braun, Lee, and Johnson prior to the scheduled vote.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, last Congress, Senate and House Appropriations Committee leaders reinstated the practice of congressionally directed spending--or CDS--with bipartisan support.

CDS is one very important way for lawmakers to advocate for the communities they represent; and they know best.

At the beginning of this Congress, the senior Senator from Maine and I laid out a very robust process alongside our counterparts in the House to accept CDS requests for fiscal year 2024. The process includes important guardrails and requirements to, among other things, ensure transparency, ensure Members do not have financial stakes in the project they seek to fund, ensure projects are eligible to be funded, and that for-profit entities do not receive funding, and more.

If a project meets those requirements, it is eligible for funding. This is a Member-driven process, and we respect the eligible projects Members choose to request or to withdraw support for.

All four corners worked in a bipartisan way to make sure these bills could reflect the input and priorities of every Member. And that includes funding for eligible projects they have sponsored.

But what the Senator from Utah is offering would undo all that hard work and overrule Members about the projects they have secured funding for in this package. That is not how this process can or should work.

We have a process here that is driven by the rules we have in place and by Members' requests. And that process cannot be upended now at the 11th hour by a single lawmaker. Doing so would overrule other lawmakers and deny funding for projects they have secured for their constituents. That cannot happen now. I will not let it happen.

I object.

Madam President, I object.

Madam President, I object.

I object.

Madam President, I want to thank the vice chair, who spent innumerable hours with me for a very long time, through many, many different discussions and meetings and hearings, and for her incredible work to get here tonight to this vote. Thank you so much.

This week, we will, at long last, be voting on our bipartisan, bicameral full-year funding bills. In fact, this package passed the House in a huge bipartisan vote today, with over 300 Members voting in favor.

It has been a long road and a tough negotiation to get here. We are not done yet, and I will have more to say. But I come to the floor tonight to briefly talk a bit about what is actually in these bills and why this is so important to families across the country and to people in States like mine everywhere.

My focus all the way through this process, from day one, has been: How can we produce the strongest bills given some very tight constraints? And how can we get a result that will make people's lives better?

While this package may not be what I would have written on my own-- and I am sure my vice chair would say it would not have been what she would have written on her own--we fought very hard to protect investments that matter to working people everywhere and to help keep our economy strong, rejecting devastating cuts to housing, nutrition assistance, and a lot more.

Importantly, we blocked countless extreme Republican policies, like efforts to restrict abortion rights, that would have set our country back decades.

This package includes investments in our economy, like cutting-edge research, renewable energy, key programs to continue rebuilding America's infrastructure, and funding for my 21st Century Cures Act to support America's world-class biomedical research enterprise.

Democrats fought hard to protect investments in rural communities in support of our farmers.

It includes investments to keep America safe, like funding for more air traffic controllers, rail safety inspectors, food safety inspectors, and to implement the law I passed, along with Senator Collins, starting up FDA's cosmetics oversight. That is a major achievement in this bill.

And our bills reject unthinkable cuts proposed by House Republicans to Federal law enforcement--the people who go after drug traffickers and do so much else to keep our families and communities safe.

Not to mention, these bills protect pay for Federal firefighters, boost our investments in preventing violence against women, and fund a new program to increase sexual assault nurse exam access that I have worked on.

This package also includes investments in our environment and allows Democrats to continue to deliver on historic climate action, even as House Republicans sought to gut Agencies like EPA and Interior.

We deliver in this bill investments to keep our commitments to Tribes, including by continuing to provide advance appropriations so the Indian Health Service can serve patients with certainty and hire staff for hospitals.

It also includes investments supporting our servicemembers, which is especially important to me as a daughter of a World War II veteran.

It has crucial resources for military construction projects, including childcare centers, housing, and other quality-of-life improvements for our troops and their families.

It increases funding for the Veteran Caregivers Program that I helped establish and expands and makes record investments to help end veteran homelessness, deliver mental healthcare for

our veterans, and support women veterans' healthcare--all longtime priorities for me.

And, of course, it includes support for American families. And that means protecting investments to address the housing crisis--something important to my home State of Washington--programs that the House Republicans wanted to hollow out. But we together were able to protect and strengthen essential rental assistance, boost investments to reduce homelessness, and increase our Nation's affordable housing supply.

And it means full funding for food assistance programs families rely on, like SNAP, the Summer EBT Program I helped establish, which will help half a million kids in Washington State alone, and WIC.

As someone whose family relied on food stamps after my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I know firsthand that action here can be the difference between families having food on the table for dinner or kids going to bed hungry.

So when I saw that the House Republicans proposed devastating cuts that would have forced States to deny families with benefits for the first time ever, that was never going to be an acceptable outcome.

I said from the outset I would move mountains to fully fund WIC, and that is exactly what I did. But let's be clear: WIC should never have even been put into question, because ignoring the mountains of evidence that this program works, the long history of bipartisan support for WIC, and the fact that this program actually saves us money in the long term--ignoring all of that, there is still just no ignoring the fact that the basic question with WIC is: Can the richest country in the world afford to feed babies? And the answer is yes. It has to be.

I can't believe I have to say that, but I will say it as many times as it takes. And I am glad that we were able to work together to reach a good outcome and fully fund WIC in this bill.

And here is the thing about our appropriations bills. They reflect the input and priorities of nearly every Senator. As a voice for Washington State, I am proud of the ways these bills invest in the communities that I know from every part of my State, with funding for researchers, salmon recovery, infrastructure projects, fixes to make sure that our ferries and harbors are getting their fair share, a historic amount of funding for Hanford Cleanup, and more.

I will have a lot more to say about these efforts and other Washington State projects I fought hard to include in these bills, but I am so excited to see this funding make progress and make a difference for folks back home.

We said from day one that partisan poison pills were nonstarters. We said that together. Getting a result in divided government means putting aside that partisanship and working to find common ground. That is how we managed to put together these six strong, bipartisan, bicameral bills. And it is the only way we will wrap up the next six as well, which, you should all know, we are working very hard on right now.

I think we all recognize that some far-right House Republicans have been trying to derail this entire process from the start. But as we saw today in the House, an overwhelming 300-plus Members voted to pass this bill. The vast majority from both sides want to get this done. By passing these bills, we can turn the page and show America that the vast majority of Congress is still focused on doing its job, working through tough negotiations so we can help people and solve problems.

Again, I want to thank my partner, Senator Collins, who has been just tremendous in working with us, and all of our staffs, who have been working on this 24/7 for so long. They are exhausted, and they still have six more bills to go.

I want to thank our chairs of the Appropriations subcommittees that are in this bill: Senators Schatz, Heinrich, Shaheen, and Merkley for their tremendous work, and their Republican counterparts as well, who having really put in a lot of time and energy and have had to say ``yes'' and ``no'' way too many times. But we got this done.

So I hope all of our colleagues tonight will join us in sending that message by voting on the motion to proceed this evening--voting yes-- and then working together to make sure we get this to the President's desk before the deadline on Friday.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on H.R. 4366.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print and include in the Congressional Record, at the appropriate place, the joint explanatory statement to accompany H.R. 4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024, with the technical and conforming edits made in the copy at the desk, including the removal of a House CPF project and a Senate CDS project, both at the request of Members.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record at the appropriate place the following statement regarding the disclosure of congressionally directed spending items under rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate.

Disclosure of Congressionally Directed Spending Items

I certify that the information required by rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate related to congressionally directed spending items has been identified in the joint explanatory statements which are incorporated by reference in H.R. 4366 and that the required information has been available on a publicly accessible congressional website at least 48 hours before a vote on the pending bill.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 6; 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; further, that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Keohane nomination postcloture; further, that all time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m.; and that following the cloture vote on the Marvit nomination, the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus meetings; that at 2:15 p.m., if cloture has been invoked on the Marvit nomination, the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination; and that if cloture is invoked on the Harris nomination, all time be considered expired at 5:45 p.m.; and, finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Kennedy.

Madam President, it has been several months now since Hamas carried out a truly heinous terrorist attack against Israel. The barbarity of October 7 should not be brushed aside and cannot ever be excused.

We are talking about terrorists gunning down innocent civilians-- including in their homes--committing horrible acts of torture and sexual violence, and taking hostages, among them women and elderly people and infants.

As I have said repeatedly, Israel has a clear right to defend itself and its people against the very real and continued threat that Hamas poses to Israeli civilians.

As I have also said many times, that has to be done in accordance with the laws of armed conflict and international humanitarian law.

I appreciate that this is a tough, emotional topic. War always is. But at times like this, we cannot let passion kill compassion. We cannot let the horrors of the present end the hope for a brighter future.

As Israel seeks to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas, it must make every effort to protect innocent civilians in Gaza, who make up the vast, overwhelming majority of people in the Gaza strip.

But as we have watched this conflict escalate, it has become increasingly clear that is not what is happening. Just consider, hundreds of Palestinians were injured or killed today after Israeli troops fired on civilians crowded near aid trucks desperate for something to eat. While we are still learning more about the details, you have to believe that this kind of bloodshed should be completely avoidable.

I come to the floor today as a friend of Israel. I understand the very real threats Israel--home to about half of the world's Jews--faces outside its borders and in keeping its population safe.

And I come to the floor as someone who feels very strongly that Israel absolutely must change course. The collective punishment in Gaza has got to stop, and Israel must do more to protect civilian life.

We need a mutually agreed-upon cease-fire to end the fighting as soon as possible. We need the return of all the hostages by Hamas. And we need a massive surge in humanitarian aid.

Israel needs to understand the casualties they have inflicted on the people of Gaza. The devastation they have caused cannot continue. It is not in line with American interests nor does it make Israel safer.

The prosecution of this war so far by Netanyahu's far-right government has been nothing short of an unquestionable strategic failure. Many of the families of hostages have been protesting Netanyahu themselves, demanding a mutually negotiated cease-fire to see their loved ones safely returned.

Let's consider what is actually happening in Gaza, the human reality on the ground. There are over 2 million people in Gaza who have been displaced from their homes and 1.7 million people facing imminent starvation.

Most of the water in Gaza is unfit for consumption, and two-thirds of the hospitals are no longer operating--there are only 11 left.

Think about that. Think about what that means for the countless people who are starving, who are sick, and who are scared, the survivors. Or better yet, listen to the firsthand accounts. I did.

There are more than 150,000 pregnant and lactating women in harm's way. Doctors who had worked on the ground in Gaza spoke to me about performing emergency C-sections on rubble or in tents without anesthesia and women bleeding out because they couldn't get medical care.

Since the start of the war, 66,000 Palestinians have been injured, 29,000 have been killed, and more than half of them are women and children.

We all understand that war is not a simple thing. But I will just say, I don't know how you call a military operation targeted when there are 29,000 deaths.

I don't know how you call it targeted when there are babies and children being pulled from the rubble. Who does this serve? It cannot continue this way. The situation in Gaza and in the West Bank where there has been a disturbing rise in brazen violence from rightwing Israeli settlers against Palestinian families does not lead to peace and security for Israelis or Palestinians. It just doesn't.

And the rhetoric and stated policies of the Netanyahu regime--like abandoning a two-state solution--have been nothing short of deeply dangerous and wildly counterproductive.

I have voiced my strong support for the President's Executive order to allow sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank who threaten or perpetrate violence against Palestinians.

I also want to make it crystal clear now: Indefinite Israeli control over Gaza is unacceptable, as is any contraction of territory for the Palestinians.

As someone who voted against the war in Iraq, I am acutely aware of mistakes our country made. You cannot defeat terrorism through sheer military force alone. That much is clear. And it is my hope that Israel can heed that lesson.

Winning a war against terrorism isn't a matter of how many people you kill. That approach isn't just bloody and brutal; it can be self- defeating. Terrorists don't care how many people you kill. They certainly don't care how many civilians you kill, because terrorism is not a human enemy of flesh and blood. It is an idea, it is a hatred, a violence, and it thrives on suffering.

So while Israel must work to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas, that fight must be targeted if it is to be successful. You have to fight the hopelessness extremism feeds on. You have to fight the sprawl of violence that entrenches conflict. And you have to stay clear-eyed and strategic in pursuit of justice and in pursuit of lasting peace.

I may be just one of a hundred Senators here, but I have been using my voice to help move things in that direction. On humanitarian aid, I have pressed the Biden administration repeatedly in many conversations to take steps that would dramatically increase aid to Gaza.

And I made including humanitarian aid for Gaza in our national security package a red line for me as the Senate put together our bill--even as Republicans tried over and over and over again to chisel it away.

I also want to be clear about the fact that the taxpayer-funded military aid we provided for Israel for their self-defense is subject to the Leahy Law. I have insisted throughout many conversations that this law is implemented as intended and that civilians are protected and that international law is followed.

And, finally, on moving towards a lasting peace, as President Biden recently noted, talks are ongoing and

productive towards a mutually agreed-upon cease-fire and the safe return of all the hostages. Recent developments like the deaths we saw today in Gaza City will likely make that more difficult, but diplomatic efforts must continue--even after this conflict--to ensure a lasting peace.

That is why I have backed efforts to reiterate America's longstanding policy of support for a two-state solution and will rebuff any statements by Netanyahu or his government that reject Palestinian sovereignty. It is why it is important to me that we don't just talk about fighting the enemy and winning the war but that we also talk about facing the hatred, the Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that have been on the rise in the wake of this conflict and doing the work of peace, creating a future that ensures dignity and security for both Palestinians and Israelis alike.

I want to close by saying a bit about what is happening here in America and in my home State of Washington. Because while this war may be happening across the world, it has been painful for our Arab and Jewish communities at home. They are seeing not just horrific news-- including sometimes about relatives and friends--but also a horrific rise in anti-Arab and anti-Semitic violence.

Synagogues in my State have faced bomb threats. A 6-year-old Palestinian boy in Illinois was stabbed to death. And across the nation, there have been other disturbing reports of violence and threats against people perceived to be Arab, Muslim, or Jewish. It is heartbreaking, and it is incumbent upon all of us to stand against that hatred.

Our North Star has to be valuing the humanity in others and listening to the humanity in ourselves. That is my message today, and it is a message I am going to keep working to see put into action.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am really glad that we have cleared consensus that no one wants to see a government shutdown and that preventing one now will require a very short CR so we can continue making good progress on our full-year funding bills.

I have been at the table for a long time now pushing to make progress every single day, and we are genuinely close. And if bipartisan cooperation prevails, I am very confident we can, at long last--at long last--wrap up our fiscal year 2024 bills.

And, as my colleagues are aware, we plan to release the first six bills in the coming days to give everyone time to review them before a vote next week, while we continue to lock up the last six bills.

I am confident we can get all of our funding bills done in the next few weeks, as long as partisan poison pills are taken off the table.

We are working in a divided government. That means, to get anything done, we have to work together in good faith to reach reasonable outcomes. That has been true from day one of these negotiations, and we will only reach the last day of these negotiations if that happens.

Again, we are close. We are moving in the right direction. It is full speed ahead. And we will keep working hard with our colleagues to get this wrapped up and take a shutdown completely off the table by passing the strongest bipartisan spending bills we can and, hopefully, soon.

I urge all of our colleagues to vote yes on this CR so we have the time to get these done.

Mr. President, the House just voted overwhelmingly to send us this clean and very short CR to keep our government open while we work on passing final funding bills, which is exactly what we should all be focused on now.

But this particular motion wouldn't just prevent the Senate from averting a shutdown tomorrow; it would swap the clean, short-term CR for a full-year CR that means devastating across-the-board cuts and tie it to military aid for Israel to a yearlong CR.

We are not going to throw in the towel on our funding bills, and we are not going to do half of our job by sending aid to some of our allies while leaving others like Ukraine in the dust.

We have already on this floor passed a comprehensive national security package in an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Now the House just needs to pass that--and I am confident they will--as soon as the Speaker brings it up for a vote.

So, tonight, let's pass this CR, get our funding bills done, and keep working to get the comprehensive supplemental signed into law. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

I yield it back.

Mr. President, right now, our job is to avoid a government shutdown. The House has just sent us a very short, bipartisan CR to make sure that our Agencies and programs continue operating as we work together to pass the first six of our final funding bills next week. The House did its job. We need to do ours, and we need to keep pushing to complete our 2024 budget.

This motion would not prevent us from averting a shutdown. It would direct the Appropriations Committee to abandon weeks and weeks of very hard work and negotiations that reflect the input and interests of the Members of this body.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. President, the clock is ticking. We face a partial shutdown of the government tomorrow night. We cannot let the threat of that government shutdown be used as leverage to set aside the bipartisan agreement on the CR before us in order to jam through deeply partisan immigration policy. We are not going to throw in the towel on our very carefully negotiated funding bills we have worked on in favor of a full-year CR that would impose devastating across-the-board cuts to defense and nondefense programs.

Vote no.

Vote on Motion to Commit

Madam President, thank you to my colleagues from Illinois, from Nevada, and other Senators who are out here to fight for the right for women to have basic healthcare services in this country.

You know, I have said before that Republican attacks on reproductive freedom would never stop with Roe. They would never stop with abortion. I have said before that IVF was at risk, and now it has been so heartbreaking to see that warning become a gut-wrenching reality for women in Alabama.

And it is absolutely infuriating to see some of the same Republicans who support so-called fetal personhood bills, who want to codify the very ideology in the Alabama Supreme Court decision that ripped away access to IVF care, suddenly acting surprised, suddenly acting like they had no idea this would happen, suddenly acting like this was totally unforeseen, when it is exactly what we have been warning about and exactly what the far right has been working toward for decades. This isn't some surprise. The Alabama Supreme Court decision is Republican ideology in action.

So spare me the empty statements, especially after the objection that we just saw here. Unless you are actually going to work with us to protect IVF, save your breath. There are women in Alabama who desperately want to start a family, women who have tried for years to get pregnant, women who have gone through the heartbreak of miscarriage, women who are battling cancer and other devastating diagnoses for whom IVF is the only way they will be able to have children. And now, after everything they have been through--the hope, the disappointment, the thousands--the even tens of thousands of dollars it can cost to pursue IVF--after all that, these women have had their dreams shattered because Republicans believe a frozen embryo kept in storage at an IVF clinic is the same and should have the exact same rights as a living, breathing human person.

That is not hyperbole. That is not hypothetical. That is what is happening. You don't have to imagine how painful this is. You just have to listen to the women in Alabama who have had their worlds turned upside down now by this decision.

Meghan Cole has a rare blood disease that prevents her from carrying children. Her hopes of starting a family through IVF and a surrogate were dashed last week when her doctor called to cancel her Friday appointment. She asked about transferring the embryos out of the State. Even that door has been slammed shut to her.

Jasmine York turned to IVF after previous ectopic pregnancies left her with no other options to have a baby. Now Alabama has left her with no options at all. As she said, ``It's completely just derailed a lot of hope.''

Kayla Lee spent 9 years and $80,000 trying to have a child. She has gone through several miscarriages, and she was days away--days away-- from getting a viable embryo transferred. But instead of getting that embryo transplanted, she got the same heartbreaking phone call. Her hopes of a family were being put on hold. Years of trying, tens of thousands of dollars, and, at the last moment, Republicans pulled the rug out from under her.

Even families who already have gone through IVF are facing the fallout. Can they afford to pay and store unused embryos indefinitely? Can they be prosecuted if they don't? They don't know. Right now, no one knows.

The anger, the anguish, the stories of these women are heartbreaking.

As IVF patient Kelly Belmont put it, ``We've already invested so much time and money and just physical and emotional anguish into this process, and to think that it could have all been for nothing and that we could be ending our journey to be able to have children--it's absolutely terrifying. I am just trying to hold myself together emotionally.''

So powerful. I don't know how anyone can listen to these stories and still think politicians should be making women's healthcare decisions for them. I really don't.

Now, I said earlier that Republicans are acting surprised now by the result of the very policies they have pushed for. They can save their breath. That is because actions speak louder than words, and many of the same Republicans saying they care now about IVF are literally right now cosponsors of legislation that would enshrine fetal personhood into law and make IVF unavailable nationwide.

You cannot support IVF and support fetal personhood laws. They are fundamentally incompatible.

Instead of empty words, Democrats want to see action, and that is why we just tried to pass the Access to Family Building Act. It doesn't get any more straightforward than that, and yet, just now, Republicans blocked the bill and showed their true colors when it comes to IVF.

I am frustrated, but I am not done fighting because I know Americans are watching, and they will not forget who is standing with families in Alabama and across the country and who is standing in their way.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, ``We have the means and just enough time this week to avoid a shutdown and to make serious headway on our annual appropriations. But as always, the task at hand will require that everyone rows in the same direction: toward clean appropriations and away from poison pills.'' Those are not my words. The Republican leader said that yesterday, and he is absolutely right. And I just heard that the Speaker said he doesn't want a shutdown, after meeting with the President. That is good.

But let's be clear. A shutdown that hits air traffic controllers and food inspectors and so much more would be incredibly damaging, and it would make getting all of our funding bills done that much more chaotic and challenging.

There is no reason for a shutdown--not if both sides and both Chambers cooperate in a bipartisan way. So I am working around the clock to wrap up several spending bills by Friday. If we need to pass a very short-term CR along with whatever bills we can finish this week, Democrats are ready to make it happen so we can prevent a completely unnecessary shutdown and continue making progress on our bills.

I have been here before too many times, and I can tell you that a shutdown is costly, and it is harmful to our economy. It hurts real people--Federal employees, not to mention families, seniors, anyone who depends on basic services working smoothly--and it makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't save us money; it costs us more.

It is no secret that the biggest obstacle right now has been Republican poison pills that were never truly on the table. They were always going to be nonstarters. But we have made really good progress on the first few bills, and we can get them done if extreme demands are pushed aside. We cannot let a few far-right extremists derail the basic functioning of government. There is no reason to listen to them, and there is no way we are going to let them impose extreme policies that go against the basic values of the American people.

I hope bipartisanship will prevail. Let's show the public that Congress still understands a few very simple things: Shutdowns are bad. Working together is good. Let's move past the poison pills and on to the hard work of legislating.

I yield the floor.