Susan Collins Warns Of The Danger Of Letting The Government Shut Down

yesterday

In remarks on the Senate floor Friday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) spoke about the CR and avoiding a government shutdown.

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Transcript

00:00With that, Mr. President, I see that my friend from Maine and the chairman of

00:05this great committee that we're going to make sure is able to do its work. I yield

00:11to her. Mr. President. Senator from Maine. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank

00:21the senator from Alaska who is an extraordinarily talented leader on the

00:28Appropriations Committee for her comments. Mr. President, I rise to urge

00:36passage of this funding measure to prevent an unnecessary, harmful, and

00:44costly government shutdown at midnight tonight. Mr. President, government

00:52shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative

00:59consequences all across government. They inevitably require certain government

01:07employees, such as border patrol agents, members of our military and Coast Guard,

01:14TSA screeners and air traffic controllers to report to work with no

01:22certainty at all on when they will receive their next paycheck.

01:31That's just unfair.

01:34Shutdowns also put critical investments in our national defense on hold.

01:42Training exercises would be limited, which could hurt our nation's readiness.

01:49New programs would be paused, delaying new capabilities from getting to our

01:56war fighters. That's why we have always in the past avoided CRS for the

02:05Department of Defense. At our borders, the men and women performing vital law

02:13enforcement activities would have to do so without pay and without the

02:20assistance of support staff putting more pressure on frontline operators.

02:27Other harmful potential impacts include curtailed operations for the Veterans

02:36Benefits Administration, resulting in the closure of education and GI Bill

02:42call centers and the suspension of career counseling and transition

02:48assistance for our veterans. The closure of our wonderful national parks to

02:56visitors, increased travel delays as the onboarding of additional TSA agents

03:04would stall, and some FAA employees would face furloughs and costly delays

03:13for projects at the Army Corps of Engineers and critical water

03:19infrastructure projects. That is just a very partial list of the harm that

03:27would be done from a government shutdown. This unfortunate situation

03:34that we're in with a continuing resolution should, however, have been

03:41avoided. The Senate should have finished these bills last year, and I called for

03:49that repeatedly, as did many other members. Senator Murray and I worked as

03:57a team, provided leadership, consulted with the members of our Senate

04:06Appropriations Committee. Each of us worked so hard to report 11 of the 12

04:14bills with overwhelming bipartisan support, including six which came out of

04:22our committee unanimously. Unfortunately, these bipartisan bills languished on the

04:31calendar for months, never being brought to the floor for consideration. This

04:39decision by the then Senate Majority Leader denied senators the opportunity

04:48to debate and amend our reported bills, and denied the House and the Senate the

04:55chance to go to conference and work out the differences among the bills.

05:03Similarly, attempts since January by House Chairman Tom Cole and I to reach

05:11agreement with our Democratic counterparts regrettably were not

05:17successful, despite my making five good faith offers. Now, Madam President, that

05:27opportunity is gone. A year-long CR is by no means my first choice, but our

05:38focus now, given where we are, must be on preventing a government shutdown. For the

05:47most part, this is a straightforward CR that simply continues fiscal year 2024

05:55funding levels. Now, it does include, and this is important, a number of needed

06:04anomalies that are aimed at addressing pressing needs. For example, the CR

06:12realigns funding in the appropriations accounts for the Department of Defense

06:18to meet current global threats, and covered the cost of pay raises for junior

06:25enlisted personnel. It provides increased funding for housing assistance, and for

06:34what is known as the WIC program for women, infants, and children, to maintain

06:41support for these vulnerable families. Within the Department of Homeland

06:47Security, the continuing resolution includes targeted increases to support

06:54ICE operations, avoid furloughs of TSA airport screeners, and to fund much

07:03needed pay raises for members of our Coast Guard. It also includes increased

07:10funding for the FAA so that more air traffic controllers can be hired to make

07:18our nation's airspace safer. Madam President, we can delay no longer. It is

07:28essential that the continuing resolution be adopted today in order to prevent a

07:37harmful government shutdown. I urge its adoption. And, Madam President, let each

07:47and every one of us here commit to working together on the FY 2026 budget

07:56so that we can enact appropriations bills prior to the start of the new fiscal

08:05year. Thank you, Madam President.

Susan Collins Warns Of The Danger Of Letting The Government Shut Down

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