John Thune

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

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

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

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the postcloture time with respect to the Dunlap nomination be expired and the Senate vote on the confirmation of the nomination, notwithstanding rule XXII, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, no earlier than Tuesday, November 4; further, that if cloture is invoked on the Tung nomination, that all postcloture time be expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination, notwithstanding rule XXII, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, no earlier than Wednesday, November 5; finally, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar No. 451, Calendar No. 490, Calendar No. 492 through Calendar No. 495, Calendar No. 496, with the exception of Lt. Gen. Christopher O. Mohan, Calendar No. 497 through Calendar No. 502, and Calendar No. 504 through Calendar No. 508, and all nominations on the Secretary's Desk with the exception of PN89; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that the President be notified of the Senate's action immediately and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I have two requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3002 and the bill be referred to the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions at the desk: S. Res. 478 and S. Res. 479.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this resolution concerns a request for evidence in a criminal action pending in Federal district court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In this action, the defendant is charged with several pandemic-related fraud offenses, including wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements. The prosecution is seeking documents from former Senator Bob Casey's office as well as testimony from staff of that office who provided routine constituent work to Mr. Kaminski related to his pandemic loan applications. Senator Casey would like to cooperate with this request by providing documents and relevant employee testimony from his office. This resolution would authorize the production of documents and relevant employee testimony from Senator Casey's staff, with representation by the Senate legal counsel.

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, November 3, 2025; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; finally, that the cloture motion with respect to the Tung nomination ripen at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I move to adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we are now in day 29 of the Democrat government shutdown, and I say that because it is a Democrat shutdown. Now, the Democrats are out there publicly saying: Well, these are the Republicans who are responsible for shutting down the government, notwithstanding the fact that the House of Representatives has passed a bill sitting right here; that with five more Democrats, we could pick up and pass, put on the President's desk, he would sign it into law, and we could reopen the government. Those are the simple facts. Those are the indisputable facts. What it suggests to me, however, when they say that it is the Republicans' fault or somehow the Republicans are responsible for shutting the government down, it really defies facts. It defies history. It defies reality because as everybody who has been around here knows, we have now voted 13 times--13 times--on that bill sitting at the desk that would open up the government, put everybody back to work, and all the pain that is being caused on the American people would go away. Thirteen times we had that vote. Interestingly enough, that matches the number of times the Democrats passed a clean CR when they had the majority the last 4 years under President Biden. On 13 different occasions--13 different occasions-- they voted for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government. At the time, they talked about how terrible it is, you know, that the government should be taken hostage when you have a dispute over other issues. You have tons of statements. I could spend all day just repeating the statements the Democrats made over and over and over again about the importance of funding the government and not taking it hostage to discuss other issues. The Record is replete with statements like that coming out of the Democrats. So 13 times they have voted against funding the government right here. Thirteen times while they were in the majority, they voted for a clean continuing resolution. Now, explain that logic to the American people who are the ones that are experiencing the pain and the consequence of their shutdown. I think the American people understand what is going on here. And we consistently see that, so much so that you even have the organizations--the unions around the country have come out now. You have the American Federation of Government Employees, you have the Teamsters, part of the Air Traffic Controllers Union all have endorsed a clean funding resolution. That, to me, suggests that it is resonating with the American people about who is responsible for this government shutdown. But don't take my word for who it is, take the Democrats' own words. If you look at what has been said by some of the Democrat leadership here just in the last few days since the government actually shut down, that, of course, is the Democrat leader Senator Schumer, who said: ``Every day gets better for us,'' commenting about the government shutdown. My simple observation is, better for whom? For you because you think you are winning politically? What about the air traffic controllers? What about the TSA agents? What about the American troops? What about our Border Patrol agents? What about the people who work in this building? What about the 40 million Americans who are not going to get SNAP benefits starting Saturday if the government doesn't open up? But ``every day gets better,'' according to Senator Schumer. Then, of course, this last week there was the House Democrat whip who said: Of course there will be families that are going to suffer . . . but it is one of the few leverage times we have. Of course there are families that are going to suffer. Yes, true, but it doesn't matter because we have leverage. Then, of course, we have a third one here, one of our colleagues here in the Senate, the Senator from Delaware, who said this in an interview: Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage and although a very unpleasant tool to use. . . . Yes, it is unpleasant, unless you are a Democrat who thinks that this gives you a moment of leverage. So lest there be any question about who is responsible for shutting the government down, make no mistake about it, these guys are the ones who are out there bragging about it ``getting better for us every single day,'' or ``we have more leverage now.'' This has gone on long enough. We made it abundantly clear that this is not about what the Democrats say it is about. It is about the President in the White House. This is TDS. This is Trump derangement syndrome on steroids. And they are asking the American people to pay the price for that. Thirteen times when Biden was President, they had no issues with funding the Federal Government with a clean CR. Now, we bring a clean, nonpartisan CR--no partisan riders, no Republican policies attached, just funds the government, comes over from the House a month ago now, we put it here just asking a handful of Democrats to join us because, as we know, it takes 60 in the Senate. I think most people understand that. I mean, they are trying to ignore the fact now that Republicans have control of Washington. They have the House, the Senate, the White House. Anybody who follows this knows that in the U.S. Senate, the rules, the procedures in the Senate by which we operate and are governed, require a 60-vote threshold. So it takes more than 51. Meaning, since we have 53 Republicans, it is going to taking take a handful of Democrats. We have been able to generate 55 votes consistently now 13 different times for funding the government, opening up the government, but we need five more. The question is, Are there five people over there with a backbone, five courageous Democrats, five Democrats who don't buy this, who don't believe that they ought to be using the American people as leverage--as leverage--to try to win a political battle? Are there five Democrats over there who believe we ought to do what is in the interest of the American people, the best interest of the air traffic controllers and the TSA agents and the men and women in uniform and the SNAP recipients that, starting on Saturday, are going to go without food assistance? This is not a game. You are playing with real people's lives. In the Washington world, in the political world, they may think that they are winning this debate because it gives them leverage, but in the real world where real people live, people are hurting. People aren't getting paid. Federal workers aren't getting paid. As of Friday, last paycheck. Air traffic controllers' paychecks started going away yesterday. I am still hopeful. I remain hopeful that there are enough sane Democrats who are not so afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome because that is what this is about, fundamentally, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. This is about Trump derangement syndrome. And it has broken out here in a way unlike anything I have seen in my time here. Disagree with the President, that is fine. Come down here, make statements, cast votes. Don't take the American people hostage and make them pay the price because you think that every day this is getting better for us. Healthcare Mr. President, the Democrat leader was on the floor yesterday morning claiming, once again, Republicans don't want to talk about fixing healthcare. Let me just say, for the 1,282nd time, that Republicans are more than happy to have a discussion about healthcare. We should have a discussion about healthcare because Democrats' signature healthcare law has done exactly nothing to address the problem of rising healthcare costs. We were promised, of course, that it would. We were, in fact, promised the Democrats' signature law would fix our entire healthcare system. This is a quote: [A]n historic bill that will finally reform our broken healthcare system and help millions of our families and small businesses get the coverage they need at a price they can afford. That is from the senior Democrat Senator from Washington speaking of ObamaCare back in 2009. Or to quote President Obama himself: This law will cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and small businesses. ``Cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and small businesses''--except, of course, it didn't. And what has been very striking about the last few weeks is that Democrats are, at least, now admitting that. Oh, yes, they are not saying it straight out. But every time they talk about Americans facing a healthcare crisis, they are admitting that their signature healthcare law failed, that it did not address the problem of high healthcare costs, and that it did not make healthcare more affordable for hard- working Americans. Now, I could go down the list of ObamaCare's broken promises: If you like your health insurance, you can keep it--not true. If you like your doctor, you can keep him or her--not true. Premium costs will go down--not true. It is exactly the opposite. If you look at 2013 to today, what premium costs have done in the individual marketplaces and on the exchanges is a line like this. Suffice it to say, as Democrats are now implicitly admitting, ObamaCare massively failed in its aims. Democrats, of course, now want to put a bandaid on a gaping wound by extending the Biden COVID bonuses. But, of course, extending those credits will do nothing to fix the underlying problem, which is that healthcare costs will continue to spiral under ObamaCare. Throwing $350 billion--taxpayer dollars--at the problem in the form of enhanced tax credits will do nothing to stop ObamaCare premiums from going up by double digits, because that is what they have been doing. And it will do nothing to improve healthcare for the majority of Americans, who are not--not--on ObamaCare health plans, like our seniors, our most vulnerable citizens, and those who get their coverage through their employers. While Democrats are, shall we say, shaky on the facts when it comes to their dramatic healthcare speeches--while ObamaCare premiums are increasing, the median plan premium is not, in fact, going to double next year--it is absolutely true that Democrats have created real healthcare problems. And as I have said more times than I can count, Republicans are ready and willing to have a discussion about those problems and about how we lower costs for hard-working Americans. We are, in fact, eager to have that discussion. The President is willing to have Democrats over to discuss it next week, if they vote to reopen the government, because in the words of the Democrat leader, back in 2013, ``we are not going to negotiate with a gun to our heads.'' That is what he said. This is a serious matter. I know Democrats think you can solve any problem simply by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it--the record is pretty clear on that--but you can't. Genuine remedies for the problem of soaring healthcare costs are not going to be arrived at with a brief, late-night session, behind closed doors, in the Democrat leader's office. We need extended, serious bipartisan work, with input from all Senators, and we need Democrats to reopen the government so that work can start. Republicans are brimming over with healthcare ideas, from cost- sharing reductions to actually lowering health plan costs, to association health plans, to ways to stopping ObamaCare's spiral of enriching insurers at the expense of everyday Americans. In fact, we already took steps to make healthcare more affordable and accessible when we passed the One Big Beautiful Bill this summer, which expanded health savings accounts and telehealth for Americans, to say nothing of investing heavily in rural healthcare and ensuring that our healthcare entitlement programs were focused on those most in need. So I say, we are looking forward to having a real discussion with Democrats. But to quote another Democrat Senator, the junior Democrat from Connecticut: There is a time and a place to debate healthcare, just like there is a time and place to debate energy policy and immigration and education--but not when the funding of the Federal Government, and all of the lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance. There are a lot of Americans suffering right now because of the Democrats' monthlong shutdown, and the suffering increases every day. It is time--it is past time--for Democrats to reopen the government. Once they do, Republicans look forward to having some serious discussions about how to address rising healthcare costs and the failures of the Democrats' signature healthcare law. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Mr. President, before I close, I would like to mention a bill that Democrats are reportedly going to attempt to move by unanimous consent today. I would just say that, after a month of steadily increasing pain thanks to the Democrats' shutdown, the Democrats have, apparently, woken up to the fact that, in 3 days--in 3 days--they are going to be responsible for SNAP recipients starting to go without food stamps. So what are the Democrats doing? Are they making plans to end their shutdown and reopen the government? Nope. They are going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown. That is right. The Democrats don't want the bad press of hungry Americans, but they are also, apparently, unwilling to even contemplate ending their monthlong shutdown. So they are trying to insulate themselves with this bill. Do you know what is not in this bill? Paychecks for our troops, paychecks for law enforcement officers and Federal firefighters, paychecks for air traffic controllers, paychecks for other government workers, funding for rental and housing assistance, funding for small business loan programs, funding for farm loan programs, funding for Tribal programs, funding for Head Start, funding for rural development programs, funding for National Guard training, funding for telehealth services. Shall I go on? Because I am happy to. Every one of those programs I mentioned has either run out of money, is running out of money, or is otherwise in jeopardy because of the Democrats' government shutdown. The Democrats' bill would do nothing to support even one of those programs. Thanks to Democrats, Federal workers are lining up at food banks. The Democrats' bill is certainly not going to help them as they struggle to pay the rent or the electric bill or to make the car payment. Enough is enough. This bill is a cynical attempt to buy political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown even longer. We are not going to let them pick winners and losers. It is time to fund everybody, and the bill sitting at the desk right there does that. We just need five brave Democrats. If Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC, we have a bill for them--a clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire Federal Government--or we can pass the Agricultural appropriations bill the Democrats have been resisting behind closed doors. That would fund SNAP, WIC, and our farm and conservation programs, not to mention ensuring salaries for the people who inspect our food and support our farmers. I am happy to bring that up right now. The Democrats have spent a month--a month now--playing with people's livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won't let them accept a clean, nonpartisan CR. Enough is enough. We are not giving Democrats political cover. If they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, then they can end their shutdown. The bill is right there at the desk, and I will call a vote the minute the Democrats tell me they have enough votes to fund the government. The ball is really in their court. Is this what you want the American people to think--that you are willing to give them enormous amounts of pain and adverse consequence so that you can gain leverage--political leverage? It is time to end it. I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me just point out, if I might, that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown. And the Senator from New Mexico is absolutely right--SNAP recipients shouldn't go without food. People should be getting paid in this country. We have tried to do that 13 times, and you voted no 13 times. This isn't a political game. These are real people's lives that we are talking about. And you all just figured out 29 days in that, oh, there might be some consequences. There are people running out of money. Yeah, we are 29 days in, and they have done their best to make sure that a lot of these programs are funded, but at some point, the government runs out of money. Thirteen times people over here voted to fund SNAP. Thirteen times they voted to fund WIC. My aching back. Finally realized this thing has consequences. Well, you know what, what Democrats are doing here--they are making plans to keep the shutdown going, and they realize all of a sudden, 29 days in, that this is a real consequence, real-life pain for American families--something that results from their shutdown. So are they making plans to end the shutdown and reopen the government? Nope. They are going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown. This request is a transparent admission that Democrats want to keep the shutdown--for what? Another month? Longer? This bill is a cynical attempt to buy political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown for the long term. Now, I will point out that we did 13 short-term, clean CRs when they had the majority, and President Biden was in the White House--13. They have now voted 13 times against a clean CR. I have no idea where you are coming from. The Democrat leader said that President Trump could end this with a stroke of his pen, and he is right. We pass that bill, and with a stroke of his pen, he will sign it into law, and the government opens up, and SNAP beneficiaries, SNAP recipients get food assistance. But do you know what else? TSA workers get paid, air traffic controllers get paid, Border Patrol agents get paid, and troops get paid. These people here get paid who are working without pay. Do you want to extend that and keep that going? Give me a break. So the people who aren't going to get the benefit of what they are trying to do today are all the other programs that are affected: Head Start; grants to law enforcement to fight fentanyl and hire more cops to protect communities; rural development programs that are important in my State and the Senator from New Mexico's State, I assume; as well to support housing, utilities, and infrastructure projects in rural communities; small business loans; certain direct loan and emergency programs that farmers rely on; National Guard training critical to our Nation's military readiness; veterans' transition assistance as they come out of service; veterans cemetery services. Right now, there are no headstones, memorial certificates, or cemetery maintenance. Programs that are at risk: rental and housing assistance; delays in processing FHA-insured loans; delays in aircraft inspections and maintenance for air traffic control equipment. People that are currently not getting paid: I mentioned some of them but air traffic controllers; TSA officers; Capitol Police; the people who protect us in this building; NOAA employees who are tracking hurricanes and other potential weather disruptions and disasters; food inspectors; other food and drug safety officials; mine safety inspectors. People who don't have pay certainty right now: troops; Coast Guard; ICE; Border Patrol; Federal law enforcement; Federal wildland firefighters. Extenders that have lapsed: telehealth and at-home care; community health centers; teaching health centers; special diabetes programs; payments for ambulances, hospital at-home services. Other lapsed authorizations: CISA to prevent against cyber attacks; National Flood Insurance Program to prevent closure on homes in flood zones. That is what you are leaving on the table. The bill at the desk takes care of all of it--funds SNAP, funds WIC. And, yes, with the stroke of the President's pen, he can sign it into law, and everybody starts getting paid again. This has got to stop. Hostage taking. Now you want some political cover. How long is this going to go on? How much longer do you want to see it go on, just out of curiosity? So you think this buys some time. You want the shutdown to go on for another month, and then we are going to have other people come down here: Well, let's carve this out or carve this out. Why don't we just open the government? I have never seen anything like this. I have been here a good amount of time. I have seen continuing resolutions and appropriations problems and funding fights and government shutdowns. I have been through a few, but I have never seen anything like this. This just isn't done. You want to have a discussion about healthcare? Absolutely. Let's do it. Open the government. Let's do it. The President will sit down with Democrats next week if you want to talk about healthcare. That is not what this is about. So we are not going to pick winners and losers. It is time to fund everybody who is experiencing the pain from this shutdown. If the Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC, I have a bill for them sitting right there at the desk--a clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire government, and all the many programs and people that the Democrat SNAP bill completely ignores. Democrats have spent a month--a month now--playing with people's livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won't let them accept a clean, nonpartisan CR. If they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, they can end the shutdown. The bill is right here at the desk. Mr. President, I ask that the Senator from New Mexico modify his request so that the Senate can proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I regret the fact that the Senator from New Mexico and his Democrat colleagues are unwilling to modify his request to include keeping the government open. And I would say--a rhetorical question to my colleague from New Mexico: If the government reopens, do SNAP beneficiaries get paid? Yeah. Right? So do WIC beneficiaries, veterans, low-income elderly people, people who need this assistance. It is not like you are doing anything here that isn't accomplished by reopening the government and paying everybody else, and you guys know that. There are a lot of people, today, who aren't getting paid. Last Friday, Federal employees didn't get paid for the first time. I should say air traffic controllers didn't get paid for the first time. And it only worsens over time. And so I would be more than willing--and have said this multiple times, as you all know--to sit down, get a group together, and talk about healthcare. We think that ObamaCare and, particularly, the enhanced subsidies, are in desperate need of reform. There is no income cap. There is no asset test. People are making 500, 600 grand a year and getting subsidies from the Federal Government for their healthcare. There are zero-dollar premiums. There are millions of Americans who don't even know they have coverage because the way that program is structured, the payments go directly to the insurance companies. Insurance companies are out there auto-enrolling people and making bank. A lot of people don't even know they have insurance coverage. So this program is desperately in need of reform. The waste, fraud, and abuse in this program has kind of gotten to an epic level, because if you look at what has happened since 2013, when the exchanges went online, insurance premiums in the individual marketplace on the exchanges have gone up 221 percent. I mean, you tell me anyplace else in the economy that goes up 221 percent in that amount of time. It is going up double-digits every year. In the employer market, it would be 6 to 7 percent. So it is a program that is fundamentally in need of change and reform. It is unsustainable, and it is unaffordable. And to give you an example of that, doing the very thing you are talking about, which is included in your bill, which was offered as an alternative to the Republican proposal--the clean Republican proposal that simply opens the government--the proposal included in your bill is a $400 billion item, a cost to the taxpayers. And so we are willing to sit down and see--and I have said, on behalf of the President, as well, that he is willing to sit down--and talk about how we can reform and make healthcare in this country more affordable and less inflationary, because this program is inflationary. It is going up every year. Now, you all are going to blame the doing away with the Biden bonus payments in that legislation for the increase. But the fact of the matter is, that will be a very small part of that because of the way the program is structured in the first place. There is no incentive to constrain or control costs. So let's have that conversation. I have said that. We can sit down and do it. But as many of you have said--and there are quotes out there from all of you--from all of you: In previous shutdowns, or when there are fights over a continuing resolution, you can't negotiate when you have a gun to your head. The Democrat leader said that. And so let's just get beyond this silliness and fund the government and make sure that SNAP recipients and WIC recipients and recipients of other government programs, which I mentioned--it is a long list, which isn't covered by your bill, by the way--that those people and those programs also get taken care of. We have a chance to do that. And we actually have a chance, I think, to have a normal appropriations process, where we move bills across the floor, open them up to the amendment process--something that hasn't been done here in a while. We can do that. I want to start now, but it starts when we open up the government. So let's just do what normal people would do. And the Senator from New Mexico is right. I represent a lot of hard- working Americans--farmers, ranchers, small business people, schoolteachers, educators. My dad and mom were educators. And I just think that there are a lot of people out there who look at this and say: This doesn't make any sense to me. If they want to talk about healthcare, then let's do that. But why take the Federal Government hostage and every Federal employee--including everybody in this room that is not getting paid--that isn't covered by the bill that you are putting forward. The bill that does cover everybody is the one right there, which we have now voted on 13 times. Just a few of you decide to vote differently. Let's get on appropriations bills and start funding the government the old-fashioned way. I am for that. I think everybody over here is up for that. I know the chair of our Appropriations Committee, Susan Collins, and most of the appropriators have worked together in a constructive way, in a bipartisan way, to get bills to the floor that we can consider. But, so far, everything we have tried to do here, at least in the last few weeks, has been blocked, including getting on the Defense appropriations bill and going to conference on three bills we have already passed. So as much as I appreciate what the Senator from New Mexico is trying to do here, and he is not--I don't question his intentions. I think he is sincere. But I also think that this is missing the larger point here, and that is, this government is closed. And what you are trying to do and accomplish here is make it harder, not easier, to get the government opened up again and to make sure everybody else gets paid. So, Mr. President, I object.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this is a quote: The path forward for Congress is clear: Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues. That is from the president of the American Federation of Government Employees--a labor union, I would add, most often aligned with Democrats. But this is what AFGE's president says: It's time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. I couldn't have said it better myself, and actually I have been saying that for about a month now. The far-left activists wanted a showdown with President Trump, and so Democrats have shut down the government and have forced hard-working Americans to live in uncertainty for 4 weeks--4 weeks and counting. Even as nutrition programs are running out of money and Federal workers are lining up at food banks, Democrats continue--continue--to reject every opportunity to end the shutdown or mitigate its pain. They now blocked a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution 12 times--12 times. A clean resolution is sitting right there to open up the government, get everybody paid, get Federal employees back to work. That thing sitting at the desk that funds the government doesn't have a single new Republican policy in it. It doesn't have a single partisan policy rider. It simply extends current government funding. But Democrats have said no to that now 12 times. We offered them a chance to continue the bipartisan appropriations process starting with the Defense appropriations bill, a bill that passed out of the committee by a big bipartisan vote of 26 to 3. But Democrats said no to that too. They didn't want to lose leverage in a shutdown. Then, last week, we offered up a bill to pay any Federal employee who is working during the shutdown, including everybody here. Once again, Democrats said no. I don't know what Democrats are holding out for. Do Democrats think that we are suddenly going to vote for their partisan CR, which, by the way, would spend an additional $1.5 trillion to keep the government open until the end of this week. That is their alternative--$1.5 trillion to keep the government open until Friday. That is their alternative. It wouldn't pass here; it can't pass in the House; and it wouldn't be signed into law by the President. Our bill, on the other hand, passed the House a month ago. It has been sitting here for an entire month and would be signed by the President immediately to reopen the government. I have to say, this wasn't my plan for the month of October. A government shutdown may have been what Democrats had in mind to show the far left that they are fighting President Trump and get some cheers at the No Kings rally. That wasn't my plan. My plan was to get the government funded with as little drama as possible. That is why Republicans put forward a clean continuing resolution, no partisan policies, nothing new. Who could possibly have a problem with that? It would give us more time to continue progress on full-year appropriations bills, the way we are supposed to fund the government. I realize that would be out of the ordinary, given the past few years under the Democratic majority and Leader Schumer. But I was clear from the day I took office, I want to do things differently around here. My goal was to have an open process conducted through regular order, something that I think is in the best interest of this institution and of all Senators, both sides of the aisle. I know I was not alone in wanting an open process. Until Democrats derailed everything, we had actually made a lot of progress on restoring regular order this year. We passed three bipartisan appropriations bills before the August recess, the first time the Senate had done that since 2018. Now we are trying to go to conference on those three bills to reach a final agreement with the House, and the Democrats are blocking that. That includes the Agriculture bill that funds farm programs and nutritional assistance, the Military Construction and VA bill that funds programs that veterans rely on. As I said, we tried to bring up the Defense appropriations bill this month in hopes that if Democrats wouldn't agree to fund the entire government, we could, at least, make some progress on this critical aspect of it. I told my Democrat colleagues at the time, if we got on that bill, we would work to add other bipartisan bills, the same way we did it just a few months ago. But once again, Democrats said no--no to funding programs they claim they support, no to an open process, no to bipartisanship. Time and again, we heard the Democratic leader lecture about bipartisanship. So why is his caucus blocking progress on bipartisan appropriations bills? Why are Democrats blocking bills that they helped write in the Appropriations Committee where these bills are passing with overwhelming bipartisan margins, as I said, 26 to 3? Why are they upending a bipartisan process that benefits all Senators on both sides of the aisle? The senior Senator from Hawaii said recently: We still have hope for the appropriations process. There's a bipartisan desire to get something done and avoid a full- year continuing resolution. All I can say in response is if Democrats still have hope for the appropriations process, they need to start acting like it. We are running out of time. Every day Democrats say no to reopening the government is another day lost. We have given Democrats a lot of opportunities to work in the best interest of the American people. But Democrats seem more interested in getting the upper hand in their partisan games. The No. 2 Democrat in the House said last week: I mean, shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer . . . but it is one of the few leverage times we have. ``Of course there will be families that are going to suffer . . . but it is one of the few leverage times we have.'' That from the second ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. I think it describes where we are at. Sure, people are suffering, but Democrats need their leverage. Are they serious? Mr. President, I end as I began, quoting the president of a major labor union and a Democrat ally: The path forward for Congress is clear: Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the motion to reconsider the cloture vote on October 14 to the motion to proceed to H.R. 5371.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5371.

Mr. THUNE

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