Floor Statements

Madam President, the clock is ticking. Aid for our allies in Ukraine has run dry, and the whole world is now watching to see if the United States is still capable of standing by all of its allies in times of need.

There is a lot at stake here. Now is the time for choosing whether the United States will continue being a leader in the world and a champion for democracy. So I hope Senate Republicans think carefully about whether they truly want to abandon our allies in Ukraine over draconian, far-right immigration policies that will never become law or if they will work with us to stop conditioning this aid on partisan nonstarters and get this vital funding over the line.

If they can put forward a commonsense bipartisan proposal regarding the border, we will consider that. They had a real opportunity today to do just that and debate those policies here on the Senate floor.

But let's be clear: We do not have time to give up and call it a day. We have too much at stake to settle for half steps that tell the world the United States no longer knows how to stand with its allies or stand up to dictators.

Votes matter. Blocking consideration of today's supplemental sends a real and dangerous signal to the entire world--to our allies and our adversaries alike. But it is not too late for us to come together and send a different message, a message that says ``America is united'' when it comes to leading on the world stage and keeping our country and our friends safe.

Let's talk to one another. Let's understand that compromise has to happen. And let's act quickly and completely to deliver the national security resources that are so badly needed. I am ready to get to work with my colleagues and do just that.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I have been clear about why we must deliver support for Ukraine, Israel, and humanitarian assistance together, as have many of my colleagues. That is actually why we just attempted to move forward on one package that meets all of these needs--a package that Republicans blocked.

I spoke about this before the vote, but let me just reiterate how dire the situation is right now.

Our support for Ukraine has been essential, but it has also now been exhausted. Our allies are waiting for aid, and Putin is just waiting for us to send a sign that it is not coming. But Putin is not the only one watching right now. The world is watching this debate. Our allies want to know, when they are facing a crisis, can they count on America to stand with them or will we give up on them when it gets tough or when we get distracted with other crises? They are all watching and wondering, can America still lead or are we overwhelmed? Will America pick and choose which promises it keeps?

Let's not forget, it is not just big-name allies and adversaries we are talking about here; there are many smaller but no less important countries that are watching. Some are in critical regions, facing historic decisions about the paths and partnerships they will pursue in the years ahead, and they are wondering, is the United States a reliable partner? We have to put those concerns to rest with a strong package that shows that our commitment to our allies and to standing up to dictators is ironclad.

That is what is at stake here--not just our allies in Ukraine, who are at a key moment in their battle to protect their sovereignty, not just our deterrence to adversaries like Putin and other dictators who would trample democracy if given the chance, but our very credibility on the world stage.

We have to respond to all these crises or we are telling the world: Don't count on America. We are at capacity.

That is an incredibly dangerous message to send, especially at such a critical moment. It should be unthinkable.

I appreciate my colleague's urgency to get aid to Israel, but this is a deeply flawed way to deliver it. This bill would not provide a single dollar in desperately needed humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and elsewhere, and it would not address the urgent need to extend funding for Ukraine.

There are civilians in Ukraine right now who are suffering and have been for months. There is also an enemy in Ukraine who is on the march and is just waiting for an opening to gain the upper hand.

We have been discussing the aid for our allies in Ukraine for much longer than aid for Israel, which is also urgently needed, and we have already been delayed here for too long. To force Ukraine to wait or to withhold future aid is to abandon an ally, surrender to a dictator, and invite more chaos around the world.

We cannot leave Ukraine behind, nor can we fail to deliver humanitarian assistance before the humanitarian crisis in Gaza devolves further into hopelessness that can worsen the threats we are already facing.

At this critical moment, it is not just the right thing to do, it is essential to our national security interests to help promote stability and security. That same logic applies to other investments as well, like supporting our allies in the Indo-Pacific. Invest in stability so we avoid paying for chaos.

We have to move quickly to respond to these challenges, yes, but we also have to move completely to respond to them because, as I have said before, they are all connected.

If we let the Israel-Hamas war weaken our resolve elsewhere, we are telling dictators across the world: The best way to get America off your back is for it to be distracted by a crisis somewhere else.

We are essentially giving Hamas and other extremists a new sales pitch to make when seeking support from bad actors: Give us support, and we will keep America busy. They can't deal with you if they are focused on us.

That is a profoundly dangerous message to send.

Putin is watching closely to see if this is his opportunity to make our resolve waiver in Ukraine. As it plots its next move, the Chinese Government is watching closely to see if we will stand up to aggressors. If we falter, other adversaries will take note as well. That is why doing half the job here is just not going to cut it. We have to do the whole job. Anything less is telling our allies that America cannot be trusted and telling dictators that they have free rein because America is too busy to lead right now.

We must not invite chaos. We must not abandon any of our allies. We have to show that U.S. leadership is strong and capable of meeting all the challenges before us.

So I urge Republicans to get serious about the situation before us so we can pass a package like the one we just voted on that shows the world that America takes its commitments seriously and doesn't just stand by some of its allies some of the time.

With that, I yield to Senator Reed.

Mr. President, on behalf of all the Senators who spoke so eloquently and forcefully tonight, I object.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay one final tribute to Gary Petersen, a close friend and devoted public servant who recently passed away. Gary's devotion to the Tri-Cities was unparalleled, with his work covering everything from our national security, to environmental cleanup, to the growing and evolving missions of the Hanford Site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory--PNNL--in my home State of Washington.

This certainly isn't the first time I have spoken in honor of Gary. He was a Washingtonian through and through, raised in Okanogan County before serving in the military and eventually attending my alma mater, Washington State University. He went on to work for more than five decades in the Tri-Cities before retiring in 2017, and over the years, I had the great pleasure of working with Gary time and time again.

In 1965, Gary landed his first job out of college at Battelle, and he couldn't have had better timing--Battelle had just won a contract to operate a major research and development laboratory at the Hanford Site, which is now known as PNNL. Gary was truly in on the ground floor, working in communications and handling other tasks including leading tours of the Hanford Site, which eventually became his specialty. Whether he was showing around new employees, elected officials, or foreign dignitaries, Gary gave a tour of the sprawling 580-square-mile site that is still unsurpassed.

Afterward, Gary briefly worked in Nevada for the Department of Energy's--DOE--predecessor--the Atomic Energy Commission--before returning to Washington to work for Westinghouse on the new Fast Flux Test Facility project. Gary further honed his nuclear expertise later working for the Washington Public Power Supply System, which is now Energy Northwest. He went on to rejoin Battelle to work at PNNL, eventually working on key international nuclear safety programs established following the Chernobyl disaster. Eventually, Gary was recruited to volunteer on a part-time basis at the Tri-City Development Council. In true Gary fashion, this quickly became a full-time commitment and he spent the rest of his career advocating on behalf of the Tri-Cities--in Washington, DC, Olympia, and everywhere in between until his retirement in 2017.

One project that Gary spearheaded before his retirement resulted in DOE returning 1,614 acres of unused Hanford land just north of Richland to the Tri-Cities for economic development. His advocacy--whether it was for small local businesses, historical preservation efforts, or Washington State interests in the Columbia River Treaty--was unmatched. And the impact of his work has only become more evident in the last few years: The progress on Hanford cleanup, the preservation of Hanford's B reactor, the expansion of workforce safety programs at the Hanford Site, and the Tri-Cities' growing role in the clean energy future are all tied to Gary's decades of effort.

Gary was always quick with a story and a smile. He loved to share the account of how Hanford came to be, from the beginning with Colonel Franklin Matthias selecting a location north of Richland for the Manhattan Project's plutonium plant, to the site's growth to meet our country's needs during the Cold War, to the Hanford cleanup mission today. He would explain how Hanford's growth transformed Richland and the Tri-Cities, shaping everything from the region's architecture to the day-to-day life of its residents. He loved getting into the nitty- gritty of the Federal budgeting and the appropriations process and thrilled at telling anyone who would listen about the six research alligators that were at one point kept at the Hanford Site and escaped in the middle of a storm--five of them safely returned and one proudly displayed at a sports shop in downtown Richland for years. Through it all, Gary was as committed and passionate as they come. It is no wonder that

Washington State University's Hanford History Project asked him to contribute to its oral history collection; I am glad he did so that generations to come can enjoy and learn from Gary's firsthand accounts.

Washington State has benefited tremendously from Gary's vision and his drive to improve the Tri-Cities and the Hanford Site. He was an important partner to me and one of the first to recognize all that the region had to offer. Gary was a force of nature, whose vision and work will be felt for generations. Whether he was walking the halls of Congress or leading a tour of the B reactor, he was a fountain of knowledge and energy. Gary leaves behind a tremendous legacy, and I am among the countless individuals who are grateful for his mentorship and friendship. His memory will be cherished, and he will be dearly missed.

Madam President, as you well know, because we have talked about it, our childcare system is simply broken. It is not working for families across our country, and we face a crisis now that continues to grow worse.

I have said that many times--many times--and I will say it again and again and again until we fix this broken system for good. And I am not the only one here in Congress who feels that way. Earlier this month, 48 of my Senate colleagues sent a letter to me and Vice Chair Collins, Leader Schumer, and Leader McConnell urging us to include childcare funding in any emergency supplemental.

Today, many of them are joining me here on the Senate floor to lift up the

concerns that we are hearing from parents and making the case for providing robust childcare funding without delay.

We cannot pretend that childcare is any less urgent than the other challenges that we face. For every parent, childcare is a do-it-now problem, not a do-it-later problem. We need to treat it the same way here: urgent and essential.

Parents can't wait. They have to go to work tomorrow. They need accessible options now. Childcare workers cannot wait. They have to pay rent this month. They have to put food on their table tonight. They need a salary that lets them take care of their own families and that lets them keep doing what they love, instead of taking higher pay in retail or food services to keep their families afloat.

Providers can't wait. Their margins are already razor thin. If they don't get the support they need to cover operating costs until after they have raised prices and cut off families, after workers have already left, or after they are forced to close their doors, well, it is too late.

The writing on the wall is right now in big, bold letters. The childcare crisis is only going to get worse unless we take action and soon.

Childcare providers across the country are hanging on by a thread, especially now that our stabilization funding has expired, cutting off the lifeline that helped 220,000 providers stay open and helped provide childcare to nearly 10 million kids, while raising wages for childcare workers and lowering prices for working families.

If childcare centers don't get the support they need to make ends meet, the options for children and families is not pretty. We are talking about a very real possibility that childcare centers have to reduce the pay for their staff, lay off staff, serve fewer kids and families, raise their prices, or, in many cases, just simply shut their door.

This is a huge problem for working parents who can scarcely find childcare as it is. And even if they can find openings, that doesn't mean they can afford them. In fact, the already high cost of childcare is only getting worse. The latest data shows that in September, childcare prices jumped by the largest percent in a year. That means parents--especially moms--are feeling the crunch, and far too many are going to be forced to leave their job or unable to return to the workforce because it just doesn't square with their family finances.

Back in my home State, I have heard so many stories of families who are struggling with this. I just read a story about two parents, Lara and Rob. Rob had to leave his company to get a more flexible schedule because childcare was too expensive. So he and Lara have to trade off shifts and work fewer hours to make sure someone is watching the kids. And they are far from the only ones struggling with this.

The KUOW article featuring their story this week also mentioned a woman named Monica--she is a therapist and former childcare worker who trades off working and watching the kids with her husband who is a police officer--and Skye, who is also trading off shifts with her husband since their childcare provider closed.

As she put it, ``I definitely can't pay for soccer and my mortgage and some child care. I have to pick. So we've chosen soccer and mortgage and putting together this bizarre schedule where my husband is exhausted all the time and we barely see each other.''

That is what parents are going through across Washington State and across our entire country. It is hurting everyone. You can draw a straight line from the expiration of the childcare stabilization funds at the end of September to the painful closure of childcare providers, to the subsequent scramble now by parents to find new and likely more expensive childcare for their kids, that is squeezing parents out of hours on the job, if not out of the workforce entirely, right to the employers who are left without the workers they need because you better believe it is going to have an impact on their bottom line.

Failing to shore up our childcare industry that holds up nearly every sector of our economy in the midst of a workforce shortage that is hitting small businesses and big firms alike will cost us a lot more than the investment in childcare we are asking for. We are going to lose jobs; we are going to lose workers; and our economy is going to continue to lose billions more in lost wages and revenue and growth.

We are talking a serious meltdown that costs our economy big if we fail to value our families and invest in the people parents need to watch over their kids.

There is no reason for this, not if we take action and take it soon.

As the Presiding Officer well knows, we cannot ignore childcare. This is hugely important for our national economy. It is one of the biggest line items on family budgets in many States, including my home State of Washington. Childcare now costs more than college tuition. We have to continue to stabilize the childcare system instead of standing by and letting things get worse and worse and worse.

Families get this, all of my colleagues on the floor with me today get this, and thankfully President Biden does as well. The President sent Congress a request for supplemental funding for urgent domestic priorities, and childcare was at the top of that list.

Now I am calling on all of our colleagues on both sides of this aisle to work with us to pass a package that funds critical needs at home, especially childcare.

I think everyone understands there is a lot happening in the world today. That is why we absolutely need to pass supplemental funding to meet our urgent national security challenges and soon, but as we continue to work to do that, we also have to tackle the problems families face here at home, and that means addressing the growing childcare crisis.

We are the United States of America. We can stand with our allies around the world and tackle the challenges we face with our families here at home. If we are serious about the strength of this Nation, our communities, and our families, we have got to respond to the domestic challenges with the same resolve as we do with the national security challenges.

I am going to continue to work hard with everyone to do that, and I appreciate everybody's support and all of my colleagues who are here today to speak out on this.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back, and that the scheduled vote begin immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor and congratulate Mary Ellen Stone on her retirement, after 44 years of service leading the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, KCSARC. Over that time, she has laid essential foundations, establishing and strengthening the organization into what has become a respected, comprehensive nonprofit provider of supportive services for survivors of sexual assault and their families. Her passion, tenacity, and leadership have shaped KCSARC into the strong, vibrant nonprofit it is today.

Mary Ellen began at KCSARC in 1979, serving about 100 clients with a staff of 3 and a budget of $50,000. As she retires in 2023, the nonprofit serves 5,000 survivors and their families with a staff of more than 70 and an annual budget of $8.2 million. Over four decades, Mary Ellen has been a bold, visionary advocate for sexual assault survivors throughout King County and the State of Washington. Mary Ellen was influential in establishing the State's first accreditation process for sexual assault providers, professionalizing service delivery and ensuring core services are available to survivors in every county of the State.

Under Mary Ellen's leadership, KCSARC published one of the first educational pieces in the Nation for parents to talk with their children about sexual assault called ``He Told Me Not to Tell.'' It was a milestone for community awareness about child sexual abuse. Today, this publication remains a foundational educational tool, and its importance and relevance remain to this day as half of KCSARC's clients are children and teens under 18 years old. Mary Ellen's vision and tenacity allowed KCSARC to respond to specific unmet needs in the community, including to sexual assault survivors who are experiencing homelessness, children and youth survivors, and Latino survivors.

Mary Ellen has shared her time and expertise in so many ways to better inform systems and communities about the needs of victims, including serving on the Seattle Archdiocese Review Board, Mental Illness Drug Dependence Oversight Board, Seattle Chief of Police Search committees, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Sex Offender Management Committee, Women's Funding Alliance, and Municipal League Seattle-King County.

It has been a great privilege to work with Mary Ellen--a true trailblazer--over the last four decades. And it is my honor to thank her for her lifetime of dedicated service to people in King County, the State of Washington, and the entire country. I wish her the very best during her well-earned retirement.

Madam President, there is a lot we need to get done. As soon as we prevent a shutdown by passing this continuing resolution, we need to come together in a bipartisan way to keep working on things like the comprehensive supplemental funding package for Ukraine and Israel, for humanitarian assistance, and more. And, of course, we have to pass our full-year spending bills that live up to the agreement this Congress passed in a bipartisan way and meet the needs of our communities. These are real issues that we need to take seriously and move on quickly.

And then there is this amendment, which--let's all be honest--is just not serious but would be absolutely devastating. This amendment would slash huge swaths of discretionary spending by a whopping and totally arbitrary 15 percent, not to mention the cut to the IRS of $30 billion. We are talking across the board cuts with no rhyme or reason that would devastate our families, our economy, our competitive edge, and our national security.

That is not a solution. It is not serious. It is a gift to our adversaries, who want us to fall behind. And it is a slap in the face to families across the country who are counting on the critical investments Congress makes in their communities.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in voting against it.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I will vote for this bill to avoid a senseless shutdown although I do not care for this idea of two funding deadlines and double the shutdown risk. But the big picture I am focused on right now is what happens next, because avoiding a shutdown is so very far from mission accomplished. We have a lot of work to do after the dust settles and before the next shutdown deadline comes up. Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back. It is time to roll up our sleeves and pass supplemental funding to address urgent global challenges and critical priorities here at home.

Our leadership is on the line and with it, the security of our allies and our Nation. We cannot do half of our job here. We need a supplemental that fully addresses the challenges to Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian aid, and the Indo-Pacific.

And we are not pitting American families against America's global leadership. We have got to tackle the childcare crisis and other urgent domestic priorities just as we address our urgent national security priorities. We are the United States of America. We can and must do both.

And, on that note, let me just say this: Failing to fully fund WIC for the first time ever is not an acceptable outcome to me under any circumstances.

Now, turning to the year ahead, if we don't want to be right back here in a few weeks facing a one-two-punch shutdown threat, we need all of us to get serious about 1-year postspending bills.

So I have an important message for Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans. We can only get these spending bills done if we are all on the same page when it comes to the topline numbers. The good news is, that is already a settled matter, because we actually passed bipartisan toplines in the debt limit deal that House Republicans and the President negotiated--a deal that Speaker Johnson voted for, along with so many other Members on both sides of the aisle in both Chambers.

So let's be clear: The negotiating has already happened. House Republicans just need to stick to their word and what they helped pass into law.

I am glad to see the Speaker abandon tying cuts or extreme policies to this CR. He will also need to do that to our annual bills if we are going to be able to conference any of them, because if we can't get back to those toplines that this Congress has already agreed to, we are not going to get anywhere. It is that simple.

We have to work together; we have to keep our word; and we have to compromise. That means listening to the other side, making some tough decisions, leaving out partisan nonstarters, and writing a bill that can actually pass into law. That is going to make a difference for the people we represent at home. That is exactly how Vice Chair Collins and I have been able to work with Members across the political spectrum to craft 12 bipartisan spending bills.

So let's get to work. Let's end this threat of a government shutdown. Then let's get that full-year funding our Nation needs signed into law.

I yield back all time.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we cannot

send the message to our allies or to the world that America only stands by some of its allies, that our word is only good some of the time. We also cannot send our adversaries the message that they can simply wait us out, allow us to become distracted, allow our resolve to waiver, and that the United States will eventually fail to respond to all of the pressing challenges we face.

Our adversaries are watching carefully to see if we will let Putin win, and the answer must emphatically be, absolutely not. I have said it before; I will say it many times again. We cannot just do half our job here. That is not just wrong, it is dangerous, and it is naive.

There are fundamental flaws in the arguments I have heard from my colleagues for splitting up this aid. Let's start with this one: the argument that somehow we haven't debated Ukraine aid, even though we have been debating this even longer than aid for Israel and even though we have already been forced to punt this aid to an ally in need before.

Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our allies in Israel. Ukraine is at a critical point in a brutal war to defend its sovereignty against Putin's bloody invasion. Abandoning Ukraine is the same as surrendering to Putin and sends a message that he can invade any democracy he would like with impunity. Fortunately, Members on both sides of the aisle do understand this, and clear, overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate have shown they support aid for Ukraine.

We absolutely cannot allow Ukraine aid to get left behind yet again when they are at a critical moment in their heroic fight to protect their homeland and their future as a sovereign democracy.

If my colleagues really wanted more debate on this, we had a robust debate last week, and there was a very strong showing from Senators who discussed at length why it is so important that we keep this aid together in one package. Here is the key point that was raised time and again in that debate: The global challenges we face are all connected, and they are all urgent. We have to be strategic enough to understand that.

Do you know who met with Putin last month? The leader of Hamas. Do you know who is watching how committed we are to our allies in Ukraine? The Government of China.

When it comes to the serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza, let's get something straight: Making sure people have food and water and medical care is not just the right and moral thing to do, it is also very clearly in our national interest, as it promotes long-term stability and security.

Hamas is hoping we ignore the humanitarian needs in Gaza. It is hoping it can drive more people to despair and then anger and then, ultimately, extremism.

In this critical moment, if we only respond to some of the challenges before us, not only will the other challenges continue to fester, but we will be sending a dangerous message about the limits of American leadership in the world.

For our commitments to mean something in the world, they have to be ironclad. For our adversaries to take American leadership seriously, they have to know that we will stand by our allies, that we will stand up for democracy, and that we will stand up to dictators. The way we do that is by passing a strong, unified security package with support for Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian assistance, and smart investment in the Indo-Pacific to support our partners and strengthen deterrence.

I am continuing to work on this package to get it done, and that work cannot be more important, nor could it be more urgent. If my colleagues are serious about making sure we act quickly, I urge them to support us in that effort.

I object.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Senators be permitted to speak prior to the scheduled recess: Senator Merkley, Senator Lee, and Senator Cornyn.

I object.

I object.

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I object.

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

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

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, there are some fundamental flaws in the arguments my colleagues are making for the Senate to do only half of its job, to say nothing of the partisan, so-called pay-for here--which is a giveaway to billionaires--that actually costs our Nation money and sets a dangerous precedent that our allies are fair game to be used as partisan bargaining chips.

First, we should not be pitting funding for Israel against funding for Ukraine and other needs. There is no need given the widespread support for providing assistance to both nations on both sides of this aisle. There is strong support for providing the assistance the President requested for Israel, and there are also bipartisan supermajorities in both the House and Senate in favor of Ukraine aid. That is because most of us on both sides of the aisle understand that while there are important differences, the challenges we and our allies are facing around the world today are connected.

Just last month, over 300 House Members voted for Ukraine aid, so pretending that this doesn't have the votes to pass the House simply doesn't pass muster. There is strong support here in Congress to address these urgent priorities in one package, and that is exactly what I am working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do right now.

Secondly, our allies in Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our allies in Israel. Ukraine is at a critical point in a brutal war to defend its sovereignty against Putin's bloody invasion. We must not give Putin a win and throw Ukraine to the wolves for political expediency. After all, what sort of message does it send about our commitment to our allies if we delay Ukraine aid further, especially after we have already missed our earlier opportunities to get this done?

For American leadership to have any weight in the world, our word has to mean something. Our commitments have to be ironclad. That means we do not abandon our allies in their time of need, period.

Failing to stand by Ukraine now will only embolden Putin and other dictators looking to trample democracies, which brings me to my last point.

While the challenges we and our partners face across the globe have different natures and nuances, we have to be strategic enough to understand that they are connected, they are urgent, and they should be addressed as part of one package.

The Chinese Government is watching how we respond to Putin's aggression in Ukraine. Putin is wanting the Hamas attack to give him an opening to distract the world from aiding Ukraine against his brutal invasion.

In fact, we know that a Hamas delegation visited Moscow recently. So let's stop pretending there is no common thread.

And, make no mistake, Hamas is hoping that we ignore the humanitarian needs in Gaza so it can drive people to despair and anger and, ultimately, extremism.

When it comes to humanitarian aid, making sure that people have food and water and medical care isn't just the right and moral thing to do. It is also very clearly in our national interest, as this promotes long-term stability and security, combatting hopelessness that can spiral into new threats.

Our adversaries are watching closely to see whether we have the vision to recognize how these crises are related and the resolve to come together and respond forcefully to them. We need to send a strong message, and the way we do that is by passing a strong security package. We are working together right now to get that done, and I urge all of our colleagues to support us in those efforts.

Mr. President, for all of these well-stated reasons, I object.

Mr. President, I am going to ask unanimous consent, but before I do, I just want to respond to the Senator and say we have a proposal that covers Israel, humanitarian aid, Ukraine, and the border. We are working to get that done, and I welcome the input from our Republican colleagues so that we can be a strong United States of America and address the issues we all need to address.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 2 minutes prior to the vote, followed by Senator Sanders, who will speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. President, I have always strongly advocated for the NIH because I know the work that they do--as so many world-class institutions, including several in Washington State--isn't just cutting edge; it is lifesaving. This Agency, the NIH, holds the hope and future of patients across the country in its hands. So it is of the utmost importance to me to make sure we have an experienced leader at the helm of NIH, and Dr. Bertagnolli is an excellent choice to lead the Agency at this critical moment. You need a steady hand to be a cancer surgeon after all.

Her credentials go far beyond her record of accomplishment as an oncologist. She is a respected researcher and a proven leader. She has served on the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Cancer Society, and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. She was the CEO of Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC, a not- for-profit focused on making sure rural communities are included in clinical studies. Of course, now she is the head of the National Cancer Institute, where she has led the research strategy and goals for President Biden's Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

In addition to that which she brings to this role, she also brings a strong personal connection, which she spoke about at our HELP Committee hearing. She brings the personal experience of growing up in a rural community, where she watched her uncle travel across the State to provide care to patients and where she watched her father fight cancer while care was far from home. And she brings the most recent personal experience of receiving a cancer diagnosis and then of receiving care that was made possible by NIH research.

It is clear that those experiences will inform how she approaches her new role at the NIH, and I know patients will be better for it.

I also want to take a moment to recognize that, in the field of biomedical research, where women have long been severely underrepresented both in clinical trials and in the workforce, it will be truly meaningful to have such an accomplished woman serving in a role that has real power to tackle issues like improving diversity in clinical trials, fighting sexual harassment that has pushed too many women out of the field, and tearing down other barriers to achievement and equal representation for women in medical research.

Dr. Bertagnolli is the right person to ensure the NIH stays on the cutting edge of innovation and research and fulfills its critical mission to promote health, improve equity, keep our Nation competitive, and give patients across the world real hope for the future. She has the experience in medicine, research, and management needed for this role. Most importantly, she has a deep understanding of what the NIH's work means for families in this country who are counting on medical breakthroughs.

I am proud to be voting yes. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, for the information of the Senate, starting at 2:30 p.m. today, the following amendments are expected to be called up and made pending: Cruz No. 1249 and Lee No. 1121. Upon disposition of the amendments, the Senate will vote on

adoption of the substitute amendment No. 1092, as amended, and on passage of H.R. 4366, as amended; further, that upon disposition of H.R. 4366, the Senate will vote on passage of H.R. 662, as amended, and that all previous provisions of the order from October 24 remain in effect.

So for the information of all Senators, there will be four rollcall votes beginning at 2:30 p.m. today.

Mr. President, we have a bipartisan package before us. This amendment that is being offered would slash funding supported unanimously in our committee in the Ag and T-HUD bills--kicking women and kids off of WIC or gutting funding for our farmers and agricultural research, making our food supplies less safe; laying off air traffic controllers, leading to flight delays and cancellations; booting people from their homes as housing assistance would be cut off; eliminating resources for communities to invest in important local infrastructure needs and a lot more. This would be catastrophic.

The bills we are considering today have been carefully drafted. They are written to the spending levels that were set by the debt ceiling agreement that the House Republicans and the President agreed on. Congress passed it in July, so I urge my colleagues to vote no.

Madam President, I want to thank everyone who has worked with me and the senior Senator from Maine to get our bipartisan spending package here.

Over the last few days, we have had a truly robust amendment process and considered 40 amendments, and this vote is now our chance to get Congress back on track so that we can fund our

government in a bipartisan way, avoid another massive, end-of-the-year omnibus, and address pressing issues like aid to our allies, disaster relief, childcare prices, and more.

By passing this bill today, we can send a crucial message to the American people and the world that, yes, Democrats and Republicans can work together; and, yes, the United States is still strong and still responsive to the challenges before us.

So I urge everyone who wants to avoid another year-end omnibus, everyone who has worked with us to put this package together, to vote with us to pass it. Let's get the job done.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, what we have just done is really important, and I want to thank everyone who helped us get here: my vice chair, the senior Senator from Maine; our subcommittee leaders, the Senators from Arkansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Hawaii, and Mississippi; and all of our colleagues--all of our colleagues--who worked hard to craft and strengthen these bills. I want to thank Senate leadership and, of course, all of our tireless staff who have met every challenge this process has thrown at us.

Today, months of hard work paid off. We just passed a strong bipartisan spending package--the only bipartisan spending bills in Congress, by the way--and we did it with an 82-to-15 vote.

So let us be crystal clear about what that means. Unlike the funding measures we have seen pushed through the House, these are serious and reasonable bipartisan bills that can actually be signed into law.

They are the product of months of hard work, careful negotiation, and thoughtful input from Members on both sides of the aisle.

They stick to the spending levels that House Republicans and President Biden signed and negotiated and that we all passed into law this past spring.

And despite the tough funding constraints, these bills move our country forward, not back, with important investments to keep our promise to our Nation's veterans, to get Americans where they need to go safely, to increase our housing supply, address the homelessness crisis, support our farmers, our ranchers, and keep American families healthy and safe and more.

What we have done here--finding common ground to produce reasonable, bipartisan bills--is not just a template; it is the only way to get our jobs done in a divided government. There is a clear lesson from the last few months here in Congress, and it is that we must work together, not retreat to extreme partisan corners.

So let us be clear to my colleagues. We have a lot more work to do. Our mission here isn't just to send a message or pass a bill through the Senate. We have to work to get these bills signed into law. And I don't just mean these investments but crucial funding in all of our bipartisan appropriations bills.

While we may need another CR before our work is done, we absolutely have to remember: Long-term CRs are no way to govern, and they certainly

are no way to lead. When we operate under long-term CRs, our Agencies are stuck in neutral. They cannot plan for the future. They have to delay initiatives and investments. They are far less equipped to meet the pressing challenges we face. Governing by CRs hurts families who need a government that works reliably, seriously stunts our economy and American innovation, and dangerously impedes our national security.

I think we all know that our competitors across the world are not putting their budgets on autopilot. They are doing everything they can to get ahead, and they are hoping that we fall behind into the chaos of partisan infighting. We cannot let that happen. We need to pass full- year funding with the investments we need to keep the United States strong and safe and competitive--especially in a moment that truly calls for American leadership.

There is no question we have got our work cut out for us, but today, we have shown a clear roadmap for how we can get our work done. So I am talking with my vice chair about the next set of bills we will work to move in the Senate and continuing work to move a comprehensive, bipartisan supplemental funding package.

We need to start conferencing our appropriations bills. That will require House Republicans to get serious about governing, to get back to the spending agreement that they negotiated and work with us to finalize these bipartisan bills. It is critical that happens.

We do not have time to waste. The clock is ticking. The American people are tired of watching Congress wait until the last second before kicking the can down the road. Our constituents do not want to see chaos. They do not want to see shutdowns or threats, and they don't want to see our country's future limited by CRs. They do want to see their elected officials roll up their sleeves, sit down at the table, and do the hard work of governing to help people and solve problems. That is what we have done today. So let's get to it, and let's get our work done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to make clear that I also worry about the influence of Chinese entities, but this amendment is not the answer. This amendment could have far-reaching, unintended consequences that would affect our Agencies' ability to fulfill their missions and serve people.

If this amendment passed, the VA could face challenges in obtaining products for essential mission needs, like pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and IT.

This amendment could negatively impact the procurement of meat for the school meals programs. For example, Smithfield is owned by a Chinese company. This amendment would actually prohibit the USDA from purchasing hogs from any U.S.-based farmers owned by Smithfield. Is that what we want?

It could also prevent Americans from understanding the security challenges related to Chinese-made drones because this amendment would mean the FAA would no longer be able to purchase drones made by Chinese entities to conduct critical counter-UAS research, testing analysis, or training.

We should have more time to carefully consider the impact of this amendment and the serious, unintended consequences it could have before adding it to this legislation.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. President, before I speak, I just want to take a moment to speak to the gut-wrenching shooting that occurred in Maine last night. The situation, I know, is still developing, and I am sure there will be more to say about what the Lewiston community is going through and what steps we, as a nation, must take to prevent gun violence.

But even as we get more information, it is painfully clear this was a horrific blow to a close-knit community, and I want my colleagues from Maine and everyone in Maine to know that my heart goes out to them, everyone who is affected by this tragedy, and I think I speak for all of us when I say the Senate stands with both of our colleagues from Maine.

Amendment No. 1182

Mr. President, now to the task at hand. Last Congress, Senate and House Committees on Appropriations leaders reinstated the practice of congressionally directed spending--or CDS--with bipartisan support. CDS is an important way for Senators to advocate for their States and the communities they know best through their investments in projects to improve transportation and drinking water infrastructure, support workforce development programs, childcare centers, so much more.

So at the beginning of this year, the Senator from Maine and I laid out a robust process to accept CDS requests for fiscal year 2024, and that process included extremely important guardrails: requiring each Senator who requested a CDS to certify neither they nor their immediate family members have any financial interest in the project, to ensure that each funded project is clearly identified in the reports with the requesting Senator's name and posted on our committee website, required Senators to publish their CDS requests on their own websites, established an audit process with the GAO, prohibited for-profit entities from receiving CDS funding, and established a total limit on the amount of funding that could be dedicated to CDS in our Senate bills.

Across the three bills in this funding package, the committee received nearly 7,000 CDS requests from 66 Senators on both sides of the aisle. Then our staff worked diligently to review all of those requests to make sure they met Agency eligibility requirements and complied with Senate rules and the additional guidelines we had set--if the project met those requirements, eligible for funding.

We respect the projects that Senators choose to request and their decisions on CDS priorities for their States and their constituents. And through the CDS process, Congress is exercising our constitutional power of the purse. After all, we all know better than anyone about the needs of our States and our constituents.

So I oppose this amendment, and I urge my colleagues to do so as well.