John Barrasso

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that committees be authorized to report out legislation on Tuesday, March 18, from 12 noon until 12:30 p.m.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 44.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions, which are at the desk: S. Res. 129, S. Res. 130, S. Res. 131, and H. Con. Res. 17.

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to; the preambles, where applicable, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. I yield the floor.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the motion to invoke cloture on S. 331.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor, the minority leader has just spoken on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and I would like to begin today's comments by quoting the Senator from New York. Here is a quote, Senator Schumer says: Shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating. He went on to say: It accomplishes nothing but pain and suffering for the country and incurs an enormous political cost to the party shutting it down. When did he say those things? Well, he said them in 2019. Well, they are as true today as they were then. Apparently, he has forgotten those things. He has forgotten the enormous suffering to the country that is caused and the political cost to the party shutting it down. So who would be the party shutting down the government if we shut down at midnight tomorrow night? Well, according to this morning's--and as the Presiding Officer knows, I come to the floor often with a newspaper article. Today's Washington Post: ``Democrats Prepare to Reject a Bill to Avert a Shutdown.'' It is the Democrats who would be shutting down the government. Now, that is the Washington Post, clearly someone that so often sides with the Democrats. What about the liberal New York Times, what are they saying this morning? ``Specter of Shutdown is Growing As Democrats Resist Funding Bill.'' They resist funding the government. It is the Democrats who are doing this. And then there is a picture of Senator Schumer in today's Wall Street Journal. So we see the Washington Post, the New York Times, and now the Wall Street Journal: ``Schumer Signals Block of Funding Bill.'' Let me go back, ``It accomplishes nothing,'' he said in 2019, ``but pain and suffering for the country.'' That is what the Democrats want: the American people to suffer now, pain and suffering, because they don't want to fund the government. They want to shut it down. As he said, it ``incurs enormous political cost to the party shutting it down.'' And that cost should be imposed to the party shutting it down, and the party shutting it down are the Democrats in the U.S. Senate. In less than 48 hours, government funding expires, and Senator Schumer and his party are on the verge of shutting down the Government of the United States. The deadline is looming. The Democrats now face a crucial choice: Pass the bill that has already passed the House of Representatives, fund the government, or shut it down. There is no magical third option for the Democrats or for the country. We are on the brink of, once again, a Democrat shutdown of government. Why? Because they refuse to accept that President Trump and the Republicans won the election. They hate the fact. Heard a lot of talk about how we got here. Let me set the record straight, because this shutdown has been driven and directed by the Democrats. The Presiding Officer remembers last year when the Democrats were in the majority. Senator Schumer was the majority leader, Joe Biden was in the White House, President. And last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by a Democrat, passed 11 of 12 appropriations bills. Like, I am so grateful for the work of Senator Susan Collins of Maine, vice chairman of that committee, worked hard, and led Republican efforts to get each of those bills done on time, through the committee, and they produced results. Each of the bills passed the committee, bipartisan appropriations bills, strong bipartisan support, some unanimous; and these bills were all passed last summer. Last summer. From the time they passed the final one of those bills--and let me just point out, I have the list of them: July 11, they passed Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, food, legislative branch, unanimous, unanimous, unanimous, 27 to 0 in each of those, passed the committee. On July 25, Commerce-Science, Justice and Science passed, Interior passed, oh, 28 to 1. State and Foreign Ops passed, and Transportation. And then on August 1, Energy and Water Development, 28 to 0. Defense, 28 to 0. Labor-Health and Human Services, Education, Financial Services, all of them passed the Appropriations Committee. Done, passed. Senator Schumer had 224 days to bring up any one of those bills on the Senate floor. He absolutely categorically refused to bring a single appropriations bill to the floor of the U.S. Senate when he was the majority leader, even though the bills came out unanimously, and one of his own Members was chairman of that committee. He ignored her. She said: Take them to the floor. He refused. Refused to put a single one of those 11 appropriations bills that came out of the committee to the floor. He refused to govern, and now he wants to shut down the government. His burn-the-house attitude is what we are dealing with--rule-or-ruin approach. It is irresponsible, it is reckless, and he is trying to lead the entire Democrats in the Senate over the cliff and hurt the American public in the process. But the right thing to do is to keep the government open. It costs money to shut down the government. It costs taxpayer dollars, and it costs even more to reopen the government. The government shutdown denies the American people services that they need, that they want, that they wait for. It forces our military and our border patrol to work without pay. It is time to move on from the Democrats' failures. It is time to get this done. Time to govern. That is what the American people elected the Republicans to do. The business of the Senate will not stop because of Democrats' made- for-TV and made-for-their-liberal-base temper tantrums. Senate Democrats want to grandstand, we are going to continue to move deliberately and decisively and continue to work to confirm more of President Trump's well-qualified nominees. So it is the choice of the Democrats on the other side: govern or grandstand. The American people are watching. You know, they watched a week or so ago when the President of the United States addressed this joint session of Congress. The American people watched. What they saw was immature antics by the Democrats sitting there in the House Chamber waving their little paddles, refusing to applaud a young man with brain cancer, refusing to applaud families that have gone through great tragedy. It was juvenile; it was wrong. That is what the American people saw. People that were watching that presentation by the President of the United States saw a strong leader and saw a Democrat Party in disarray, acting as juveniles. And now it appears the Senate wants to do exactly the same thing by shutting down the government. The American people that watched the President address a week ago are watching today, and they know that if there is a government shutdown, like it looks like we are heading to tomorrow night, it is going to be at the deliberate direction of the Democrat Party.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Eirini for her hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, whip office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming. Eirini is a native of Athens, Greece. She attends Georgetown University, where she is studying to obtain her bachelor's in political science and economics. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Eirini for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor having just heard my colleague, the Democrat leader, senior Senator from New York. Formerly, he had been the majority leader; now the minority leader because of an election we just had. I heard him talk about the fact that household debt is up. Every American who has lived through the last 4 years knows that household debt is up, and they know why household debt is up. It is up because we have been living through 4 years of a previous administration, which was an administration of high prices and open borders, and people have been paying the price; and the debt of the American families is much higher than it was when they took over. That is why President Trump and Republicans in the Senate and the House are now in a situation where we are trying to get America back on track. So to hear the minority leader talk about household debt being up, there is a reason, and they are the cause of that. And so I am delighted by seeing the headlines that just came out this morning in terms of the economy under President Trump. New York Times, ``U.S. Inflation Shows Improvement.'' We need a lot of improvement there. Happy to see it is showing improvement; we have a long way to go. Wall Street Journal, ``Inflation . . . Lower Than Expected.'' Republicans knew that we would be able to deliver for the American people. We are doing just that. Now, I am from an energy State. The Presiding Officer is from an energy State. We produce a lot of American energy. I am from Wyoming, America's energy breadbasket, a powerhouse of energy. What do we see about energy prices? The average price of gasoline in the U.S.-- The headline is-- dropped for the third straight week. That is what happens when you have an American energy policy--a policy that puts American energy first. Affordable, available, reliable energy. Not what we lived with through the last 4 years where they wanted to prioritize--believe it or not--the climate over energy for American families that was affordable, available, and reliable. So there you have it. The average price of gasoline in the United States dropped for the third straight week. Additionally, the national average is now just a little over $3 a gallon, the lowest March price in 4 years.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Kassidy for her hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming. Kassidy is a native of Casper. She recently graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor's in psychology and criminal justice. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Kassidy for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Addie for her hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming. Addie is a native of Pinedale. She attends Casper College, where she is studying to obtain her associates of science in general studies and her private pilot license. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Addie for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

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

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Sonderling nomination.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Willow for her hard work as an intern in my Sheridan office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming. Willow is a native of Sundance. She attends Sheridan College, where she is studying to obtain her associates of science in social science. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. I want to thank Willow for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It is a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her journey.

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice).

Mr. BARRASSO

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Slater nomination.