Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon on Tuesday, January 23; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Powell nomination; finally, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference meetings.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Well, here we are, Mr. President. This is day 2 of the Senate Democrats' government shutdown, day 2 since the Democratic leader made the political calculation to do something that, according to a recent survey, even most Democrats don't support. He shut down the government to appease a portion of his party's leftwing base. It makes you shake your head. Who comes up with ideas like this? Well, on Friday, a bipartisan group of Senators voted to advance a bill that would have kept the Federal Government open, provided 6 years of certainty for the State Children's Health Insurance Program--of which at least seven different Governors have written they are in dire straits--and allowed ongoing talks to continue on a variety of other important issues that we have been discussing here for a couple of months. Together, Democrats and Republicans had enough votes to pass it. Five Democrats crossed over and voted against shutting down the government, to keep the government open while we do our work. The House had already passed it, and the President was ready to sign it. We were poised to send him this compromise solution and erase the threat of a shutdown, but unfortunately my friend the Democratic leader had other ideas. Now, we all know in the Senate the minority has the power to filibuster. I support that right from an institutional point of view, but the question is, When do you use it? On Friday, the Democratic leader made the extraordinary and destructive choice to filibuster our bipartisan bill and to guarantee the American people a shutdown of their Federal Government. Now, it is the second day of the Senate Democrats' filibuster and the Senate Democrats' shutdown of the Federal Government. Because the President wouldn't resolve months of ongoing negotiations over massive issues in one brief meeting and give the Democratic leader everything he wants, my friend across the aisle has shut down the government for hundreds of millions of Americans because he didn't get everything he wanted in one meeting on Friday with the President. So who pays the price for that? Healthcare for needy children, training and resources for our men and women in uniform, care for our veterans who came home, and survivor benefits for families of heroes who did not, full funding for the CDC, for the NIH, and for routine safety inspections of food and medicine. To most Americans, those sound like fundamental responsibilities. To the Democratic leader, apparently, they sound like hostages ripe for the taking. All of this was totally unnecessary. There is a broad consensus, on both sides of the aisle, that DACA and other issues related to illegal immigration require a compromise solution. Almost everybody here--Democrat and Republican--believes we need to get to a solution on the DACA issue and related immigration matters. Bipartisan, bicameral negotiations have been underway for months, but they can go nowhere until Senate Democrats realize the extreme path their leader has charted leads them nowhere--a filibuster of healthcare for 9 million children, a filibuster of the tools and training that our warfighters need to keep us safe, a filibuster of funding for the Federal Government itself, for hundreds of millions of Americans--all over a tangential issue related to illegal immigration that does not even ripen until March. All of these other things are an emergency. The one nonemergency issue that our friends on the other side are trying to shoehorn into this discussion doesn't reach that status of emergency until March. This is pure folly. The American people know so. That is why, in a recent survey, a majority said keeping the government open is a higher priority than shutting down the government over the issue of illegal immigration. That is why headlines all across America are laying the blame for this government shutdown right at the feet of Senate Democrats and their filibuster. Now, the Democratic leader could end this today. We can get past this manufactured crisis and get onto a host of serious issues before us that require thoughtful, bipartisan negotiations. This shutdown is going to get a lot worse tomorrow--a lot worse. Today would be a good day to end it. All we have to do is pass the commonsense legislation the Senate is currently considering--ending the government shutdown and ensuring healthcare continues for vulnerable children. There is nothing in this measure that my Democratic friend cannot support. So here is the situation. If nothing changes, a cloture vote will be no sooner than 1 a.m. tonight. We could resolve this much earlier if the Democratic leader withdraws his procedural objection and allows the Senate to proceed to a vote. Our constituents want us to end this. Secretary Mattis, our military leaders, and our Governors want us to end this, and we can. Today is the right day to do it. Senate Democrats only need to withdraw their filibuster and allow a bipartisan majority to move America forward. If they really care about the big issues--increased defense funding, disaster relief, DACA, border security, and other important matters that we have been negotiating and that I would like to bring to the floor--then they will stop their filibuster and this shutdown and let the negotiators get back to work. Everyone has figured this out. This shutdown was a political miscalculation of gargantuan proportions, but it doesn't need to go on any longer. It could stop today. So let's step back from the brink. Let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on their behalf. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wanted to give all of our colleagues an update on where we are. I want to start by particularly thanking Senator Graham, Senator Flake, Senator Collins, and many others who have been working across the aisle to help resolve the impasse we find ourselves in. When the Democratic filibuster of the government funding bill comes to an end, the serious, bipartisan negotiations that have been going on for months now to resolve our unfinished business--military spending, disaster relief, healthcare, immigration, and border security--will continue. It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible so that we can move on to other business that is important to our country. However, should these issues not be resolved by the time the funding bill before us expires on February 8, 2018, assuming that the government remains open, it would be my intention to proceed to legislation that would address DACA, border security, and related issues. It is also my intention to take up legislation regarding increased defense spending, disaster relief, and other important matters. Importantly, when I proceed to the immigration debate, it will have an amendment process that is fair to all sides. I would hope there would be cooperation on these matters in advance of yet another funding deadline. There is a bipartisan, bicameral group that will continue its negotiations and I look forward to the completion of their work. It would be my strong preference for the Senate to consider a bipartisan, bicameral proposal that can be signed into law. But the first step in any of this is reopening the government and preventing any further delay. The shutdown should stop today. We will soon have a vote that will allow us to do exactly that. Let's step back from the brink. Let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on their behalf. Mr. President, in that regard, I ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate vote at 10 p.m. tonight on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur with amendment; further, that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be considered expired and the Senate immediately vote on the motion to concur with further amendment with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL. Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate vote at 12 noon tomorrow on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur with amendment.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Monday, January 22; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 195.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, well, here we are. Here we are, day one of the Senate Democrats' government shutdown. We did everything we could to stop them. We put forward a noncontroversial bill that contains nothing--nothing--they even claim to object to. It would continue funding the Federal Government and secure the future of the State Children's Health Insurance Program for the vulnerable families who rely on it. The bill passed the House, the President said he would sign it, and a bipartisan majority of Democrats and Republicans voted for it. The votes were there, the President was ready, the solution to this manufactured crisis was inches away, but then the Democratic leader took the extraordinary step of filibustering this legislation, preventing it from passing, and plunging the country into this totally avoidable mess. The House of Representatives, the President, and a bipartisan majority of Republican and Democratic Senators all agreed on a compromise bill that would have prevented a shutdown. It would enable Congress to do the commonsense thing--keep negotiating other issues while also providing for our troops, our veterans, and literally millions of vulnerable Americans--but the Democratic leader instead chose to filibuster the bipartisan bill. So here we are, day one, and already funding is in jeopardy for our veterans because the Democratic leader filibustered a bipartisan compromise that a majority of Senators supported and chose instead to shut down the government. Of course, low-income families across America woke up today without the knowledge that their children's healthcare is safe, all because the Democratic leader filibustered a bipartisan compromise that a majority of Senators supported and chose instead a government shutdown. Yesterday, my friend the senior Senator from New York tried to insist a shutdown was anybody's fault but his own--anybody else but me, he said. He blamed President Trump because the President wouldn't resolve months of ongoing negotiations over massive issues in one brief meeting and give the Senator everything he wanted. He blamed Republicans in Congress, as though everybody didn't know the Senate rules allow the minority party, if they choose, to obstruct the American people's business and filibuster for their own political purposes. It is possible, but in this instance, foolishly done. These rhetorical gymnastics are simply not persuasive. The American people see right through all this bluster. They see right through all this bluster. Like the President, like the House, and like a bipartisan majority of Senators, the American people want long-term solutions on immigration policy, on government spending, and on all the major issues we have been discussing literally for months and will continue to discuss. Like the President, like the House, and like a bipartisan majority of Senators, the American people cannot begin to understand why the Senate Democratic leader thinks the entire government should be shut down until he gets his way on illegal immigration. The American people cannot comprehend why the senior Senator from New York is advising his party to keep the government shuttered for American troops, American veterans, American military families, and vulnerable American children until he gets exactly what he wants on the issue of illegal immigration, a situation which does not even become urgent until March. All these other matters are indeed urgent. They need to be dealt with right now. This particular issue does not become urgent until March. I hope Senate Democrats are starting to realize all this. I hope they are starting to realize their constituents, the President, the House, and the majority of the Senate are on one side of this. On the other side--all alone--is the Democratic leader who invented this unfortunate hostage situation and led his party into this untenable position. The solution is to end the foolishness. It is hurting millions of Americans who have done absolutely nothing to deserve this. I invite all of my colleagues across the aisle to join together and do what is obviously responsible and right for the people we represent. It is pretty clear. Let's reopen the government. Let's resume the bipartisan discussion on funding our troops, DACA, on government spending, and on all the other priorities all of us can work together to resolve. Recognition of the Minority Leader

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. McCONNELL. Thanks to the Democratic leader's decision, along with my good friend from Michigan, to filibuster an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, low-income families are going to slip closer to losing health coverage for their kids. In many States, it is already an emergency. There was a carefully crafted compromise that she and every Democrat on the committee supported. The Senate has not reviewed this new proposal currently being offered today, but Members are serious about funding CHIP. There is a bill before us that reauthorizes the program for a full 6 years and can be signed into law today. The only thing preventing CHIP's reauthorization from being signed into law today is the Democratic filibuster of the House-passed bill. Therefore, I object.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the House of Representatives, the President, and a bipartisan majority of Republican and Democratic Senators all agreed on a compromise bill that would have prevented a shutdown. We can pass this bill today and have it signed into law so we can end this nonsense. There is one way to do all of this, and it is right in front of us--the pending measure. It would enable Congress to do the commonsense thing: keep negotiating other issues while providing for our troops, our veterans, and millions of vulnerable Americans, but the Democratic leader chose to filibuster that bipartisan bill. So here we are. Day one, and already funding is in jeopardy for our veterans and our troops. Funding for a 6-year children's health insurance bill is sitting here because the Democratic leader filibustered a bipartisan compromise that a majority of Senators supported and chose instead to shut down the government. Thanks to the Democratic leader's decision to filibuster an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, low-income families will slip closer to losing healthcare coverage for their kids. In many States, this is already an emergency. Again, we can do all of this today. We have a way forward. It is right in front of us and ready to go. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate immediately vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur with amendment, which funds CHIP and reopens the government; further, that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be considered expired and the Senate immediately vote on the motion to concur with further amendment.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the men and women of our armed services should not be left to suffer at the hands of political obstruction. These troops are deployed in harm's way, and left behind are their families and colleagues training to replace them. It is irresponsible that their pay, to include imminent danger pay, would be delayed because the Democrats are insisting that we deal with illegal immigration exclusively on their terms. Let me remind the Senate that we have an All-Volunteer Force that doesn't ask much of us, but we are obliged to pay and support them. We owe them the certainty of a full-year funding bill. Therefore, I object.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1301; that the McConnell amendment at the desk, which provides for full funding for authorized activities in the National Defense Authorization Act, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the United States is 1 day into a government shutdown that Senate Democrats have forced on our country. Let's take a look at where we are. Last night, a bipartisan majority of Senators--Republicans and Democrats--voted to avoid this. A bipartisan majority voted to advance a noncontroversial bill that has already passed the House and which the President has already said he will sign. Of course, like any compromise, this funding bill cannot be all things to all people. But this bipartisan bill does what we need to do right now. It ends this pointless--pointless--irresponsible shutdown, funds the government for our troops, our veterans, and millions of vulnerable Americans, and extends health coverage for millions of children in low-income families. None of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can point to a single thing in the bill that they oppose. Not one thing. That is why a bipartisan majority voted for it last night. It would have passed smoothly and been sent for the President's signature, except that the Democratic leader took the extraordinary step of filibustering this bipartisan bill and initiating his own government shutdown. Why? Because, he explains, the President would not give him everything he wants on the issue of illegal immigration in one afternoon in the Oval Office. That is it. That is it. The leaders from both parties have spent months negotiating long-term fixes for immigration policy, government spending, and other important priorities. Senators on both sides want a bipartisan solution to DACA and other immigration issues. Senators on both sides want long-term funding for our troops. Bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on these matters have been under way for months. Here is the difference between the Democratic leader and the rest of us tonight--the difference. He wants to keep the government shut down for hundreds of millions of Americans until we finish negotiating on the subject of illegal immigration. He wants to keep the government shut down until we finish a negotiation on the subject of illegal immigration--shutting down the government over illegal immigration. Look, those discussions on the immigration issue continue. We don't have to shut down funding for our veterans, military families, opioid centers, or anyone else who relies on the Federal Government over the issue of illegal immigration. The occupant of the Chair is one of the people involved on that very subject. There is a lot of interest here on both sides of the aisle in dealing with it. But it is not an emergency. All of these other issues, which are affected by the government's shutdown, are emergencies, particularly the children's healthcare issue. Look, the American people know what is going on here. They have this figured out. The survey this week shows that a majority of Americans say that funding the government is more important than passing legislation on DACA--legislation, by the way, that doesn't really exist, which the Democratic leader cannot present to us. We hear a lot of talk about it, but we haven't seen it. Fewer than half of Democrats--in this poll I am talking about--say that dealing with DACA is more urgent than keeping the government open. These numbers came in before Americans picked up their newspapers this morning. When they did, they read from the Associated Press exactly who is responsible for this chaos. From the AP: ``Democrats blocked a four- week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter of a century.'' You might say that they pinned the tail on the donkey. The New York Times, not exactly a bastion of rightwing sentiment, put the blame exactly where it belongs. ``Senate Democrats blocked passage of a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open.'' Senate Republicans remain ready and eager to end this totally manufactured crisis. This is not a crisis. This is a manufactured crisis. We voted to avoid it entirely in our bipartisan vote last night. We are ready to vote again. All the country needs is the Democratic leader to withdraw his filibuster and let a bipartisan majority pass this bill and reopen the U.S. Government. Earlier today, I asked for consent to move up a vote on this bipartisan solution and to end the craziness today. The Democrats objected. That will not work forever. If they continue to object, we cannot proceed to a cloture vote until 1 a.m. on Monday. But I assure you, we will have the vote at 1 a.m. on Monday unless there is a desire to have it sooner. In the meantime, shutdowns have consequences. The Democratic leader may be playing for political points. But the rest of us understand the readiness of our Armed Forces, health coverage for poor children, and survivor benefits for families of fallen servicemembers are the furthest thing from a game--playing with all of those lives over the issue of illegal immigration. Congress has a lot of work to do. We need to provide for our war fighters, secure the border, resolve the DACA issue, continue work on healthcare, and attend to many other key priorities. I want to move forward on all these issues, and we can when the Democratic leader's filibuster comes to an end. These talks are only being delayed--not advanced, but delayed--by the Democrats' filibuster and the Democratic shutdown it has created. I want to assure the American people that we will be right back at this tomorrow. I say again to the American people, we will be right back at this tomorrow and for as long as it takes. We will keep at this until Democrats end their extraordinary filibuster of government funding and children's healthcare and allow a bipartisan majority of Senators to reopen the Federal Government for all Americans and to get Congress back on track. The Democratic leader may put his personal political priorities ahead of everything else, no matter the cost, but Republicans stand with the American people.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I want to call to the attention of my colleagues a part of the statement of the White House Press Secretary tonight, presumably on behalf of the administration. It simply says: We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. That appropriately represents the White House view of where we are. And what we have just witnessed on the floor was a cynical decision by Senate Democrats to shove aside millions of Americans for the sake of irresponsible political gains. A government shutdown was 100 percent avoidable--completely avoidable. Now it is imminent, all because Senate Democrats chose to filibuster a noncontroversial funding bill that contains nothing, not a thing, they do not support--nothing they do not support. Perhaps across the aisle some of our Democratic colleagues are feeling proud of themselves, but what has their filibuster accomplished? What has it accomplished? The answer is simple: their very own government shutdown. The shutdown effects on the American people will come as no surprise. All week, as we have stood on the floor and begged our colleagues to come to their senses, Senate Republicans have described exactly what this will mean. For America's men and women in uniform, shutting down the government means delayed pay. For the many thousands of civilian employees who support their missions, it means furloughs. And for the families of fallen heroes, it may well mean a freeze on survivor death benefits. For veterans who rely on our promise of care, shutting down the government means threatening their access to treatment. For so many Americans struggling with opioid addiction, the same is true. Thanks to the Democratic leader's decision to filibuster an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, low-income families will slip closer to losing health coverage for their kids, and in many States, this is an emergency. I am having trouble understanding which one of these outcomes my Democratic colleagues could possibly be proud of. Which one of them? I think our friends on the other side took some bad advice--really bad advice. I would hate to have to be trying to explain this myself. They ignored the Governors, including seven Democrats who wrote Congress begging us to extend SCHIP for 9 million children. They ignored the needs of millions of Americans who rely on the Federal Government for important services. They held all this hostage--all of this hostage over the completely unrelated issue of illegal immigration. Republicans in the Senate have done all we can to continue the normal operations of the Federal Government and secure certainty for these SCHIP kids. We could pass it tonight, it could go to the President for signature, and these kids would be OK. Well, we are going to continue to do all we can. We will vote again so the American people know who stands for them. And when our friends across the aisle remember who it is they actually represent, we will be ready to come together in a bipartisan discussion that will be necessary to clean up all of this mess. We have all been having private conversations here on the floor. Almost everybody on both sides doesn't understand how we ended up here, because most of the stuff, we agree on. Well, there is only one reason we ended up here: the shoehorning of illegal immigration into this debate. Now, having said that, there is a lot of sympathy in this body for doing something about the DACA kids. It is not like nobody is interested in that. We have been talking about it for 3 months. But the one reason we are where we are is because we couldn't close out any of these other component parts because our friends on the other side said: You have to deal with this issue. This issue is the key to getting defense spending, this issue is the key to getting help for SCHIP kids, and on and on and on. I think most of the American people believe that shutting down the government over this issue, which doesn't even ripen until March, is irresponsible. And I have just listed all of the people who are going to be adversely impacted by this action. So we are going to keep on voting, and the government may be heading into a shutdown, but the Senate is not shutting down. We are open to talk and to resolve this. I don't think it makes the institution look very responsible. The American people should expect better from us than this.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I want to particularly commend the five Democrats who voted not to shut the government down. The new Senator from Alabama, during his campaign, said it was important to fund the S- CHIP program before it ran out of money, and he listened to the seven Democratic Governors who said: This is an emergency; we need help. There were five courageous Democrats on the other side who stood up to this ridiculous argument that it made sense somehow to shut down the government over an illegal immigration issue that the vast majority of this body would like to do something about anyway. I want to particularly commend the five Democrats who had the courage to stand up to this ridiculous strategy that put their whole party in an incredible predicament because, as the White House just indicated, the President is not going to talk about the issue at all while the government is shut down. He made it quite clear. He said: ``When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders, we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform.'' So this particular strategy has eliminated the possibility of getting a signature on the thing they shut the government down over. Can anybody explain to me this strategy? I am perplexed. I wasn't first in my class, but I wasn't last either. How does this get them what they are looking for? We will continue to talk because when all the games stop, the issues are still there--every single one of them are still there. The American people expect us to act like adults, to get together and solve the problems. Now I will be offering an amendment to change the date to February 8. We will, unfortunately, not be able to get that vote tonight, but I will be subsequently asking for consent, but at some point here, we will be voting on February 8. That is the date the senior Senator from South Carolina and I have been talking about, and the Democratic leader and I have been talking about--which begins to move a little bit closer to where our friends on the other side said they wanted to be--but a reasonable period of time that takes into account the State of the Union, our party conferences, and the amount of time it takes to actually write a bill once you have an agreement. You can't just reach an agreement, snap your fingers, and everything falls into place and you are ready to go. It is a reasonable period to first agree, and then write, get ready to negotiate a settlement that we have been working on for months. February 8 is a very reasonable time. I hear there is sentiment for that on both sides of the aisle. I hope so. At some point, we will vote on that option. I can't get that vote tonight, but I am going to ask consent to have that vote tonight. Vote on Motion to Refer with Amendment No. 1905

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, the deadline to fund the government is nearly upon us. The Senate is now just hours away from an entirely avoidable government shutdown. At midnight tonight, funding for programs that millions of Americans rely on--veterans services, opioid treatment centers, death benefits for the families of fallen soldiers, and health insurance for 9 million vulnerable children--would be thrown into chaos. Last night the Senate began consideration of a bill passed by the House that would erase all of these threats. The bill keeps the Federal Government open. It extends the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for 9 million children and low-income families for 6 years. This vote should be a no-brainer, and it would be, except that the Democratic leader has convinced his Members to filibuster any funding bill that doesn't include legislation they are demanding for people who came into the United States illegally. What has been shoehorned into this discussion is an insistence that we deal with an illegal immigration issue. He has insisted that he will not support any legislation at all for the American people no matter how noncontroversial or how bipartisan unless we pass a bill on illegal immigration first. If that means shutting down the funding for veterans, military families, opioid treatment centers, and even Federal grants to his home State of New York, so be it. If it means throwing a wrench into the gears of the U.S. economy, just as Americans are starting to feel the benefits of historic tax reform, so be it. If it means failing to renew the Children's Health Insurance Program, which the House-passed bill funded for a full 6 years, apparently that is just fine with those on the other side. Nearly every Democrat in the House made the same demand. That has been their stated position: Nothing for hundreds of millions of Americans and no healthcare for 9 million vulnerable children until we solve a non-imminent issue related to illegal immigration. To even repeat this position out loud is to see how completely ridiculous it is. Now that we are 13 hours away from a government shutdown that the Democrats would initiate and Democrats would own, the craziness of this seems to be dawning on my friend the Democratic leader. Perhaps he is remembering his own words from 2013. Here is what he said back then about threatening a government shutdown. No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you shouldn't hold millions of people hostage . . . that's wrong. A few days later, the Democratic leader added: It's sort of like this. Someone goes into your house, takes your wife and children hostage, and then says, ``Let's negotiate over the price of your house.'' He went on to say. We're shutting down the government, we're not gonna raise the debt ceiling until you pass immigration reform. It would be governmental chaos. Now maybe he is remembering those words today because now he is saying: Never mind, I really didn't mean it, and he himself is calling for an even shorter short-term funding bill. Of course, his last-ditch proposals would do nothing for the Children's Health Insurance Program or the 9 million children who are waiting on us to renew it. What is more, the incredibly short-term continuing resolutions he is now proposing do not meet any of the demands--none of them--that he and his own conference and Democrats in the House have been making for weeks. None of that would be solved in a short-term CR--the stuff they have been calling for. So apparently now he wants his Members to default on their own demands. He has spent days apparently persuading all of his colleagues to insist that we cannot pass another continuing resolution. Now he wants them to pass one. He spent weeks getting his Members to proclaim that we should not do anything to fund the government unless we address the DACA issue, and now apparently he is calling on them to do just that. These incredibly short-term extensions would not even give us enough time to actually write the legislation the Democratic leader is demanding. One extremely short-term CR would lead to another and another--exactly the outcome Democrats have declared they cannot accept. Now, I wish for all of our sakes that the Democratic leader would figure out what he actually wants. I feel bad for his own Members. He has painted them into a corner, but I especially feel bad for the American people whose government the Democrats are threatening to shut down and the 9 million children whose health insurance could be thrown into jeopardy because Senate Democrats cannot get their story straight. Now, my friend the Democratic leader now wants his Members to pass a bill that allows SCHIP to expire. Apparently, he now wants every Democrat in the House of Representatives to break their word and pass a separate funding bill of his own that does not address the illegal immigration issue they said they must have. So let's think about this for a minute. First, he leads his own troops into a box canyon, and then tells them it was really all for nothing. Maybe it is time to come back to reality. We already have a bill that we know can pass the House because it already did. We have a bill that we know the President will sign into law because he has already committed to do just that. We know that with one noncontroversial and bipartisan vote we can keep the government up and running. We can fund the children's healthcare program for 6 years, and we can give ourselves the time we need to finish ongoing negotiations on DACA, border security, and the long-term needs of our military. We could do all of that today--all of it--or our Democratic friends can continue to take the Democratic leader's advice and vote to shut down the government, destabilize funding for our troops, shut down the children's healthcare program, and still not get what they are demanding on illegal immigration. It is really up to them. I look forward to voting soon on cloture on the House bill. The American people, the citizens who actually elected us, will be watching. They will see which Senators make the patriotic decision to stand up for the American people and vote to continue government funding and extend children's healthcare while we continue our bipartisan talks, and they will see which Senators vote to shove aside veterans, military families, and vulnerable children and to hold the entire country hostage until we pass an immigration bill they haven't even written yet. It is completely unfair and uncompassionate for my Democratic colleagues to filibuster government funding, harm our troops, and jeopardize health coverage for 9 million children because extreme elements of their base want illegal immigration to crowd out every other priority. Apparently, they believe the issue of illegal immigration is more important than everything else--all the government services the American people depend on. I would recommend to stop the wild-goose chase. Don't go to a destination that cannot be explained. Let's fulfill the core responsibilities of Congress. Let's fund the government, provide for the American people, and then resume serious negotiations on the issues that matter most. Let's fund the government for a full month so we can actually get something done.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.