Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor today to urge her colleagues to support the continuing resolution to prevent a harmful government shutdown.
A transcript of Senator Collins’ remarks is as follows:
“Mr. President, I rise to urge passage of this funding measure to prevent an unnecessary, harmful, and costly government shutdown at midnight tonight.
“Mr. President, government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative consequences all across government. They inevitably require certain government employees, such as Border Patrol agents, members of our military and Coast Guard, TSA screeners, and air traffic controllers to report to work with no certainty at all on when they will receive their next paycheck.
“That's just unfair.
“Shutdowns also put critical investments in our national defense on hold. Training exercises would be limited, which could hurt our nation's readiness. New programs would be paused, delaying new capabilities from getting to our war fighters. That's why we have always in the past avoided CRs for the Department of Defense.
“At our borders, the men and women performing vital law enforcement activities would have to do so without pay and without the assistance of support staff, putting more pressure on front line operators.
“Other harmful potential impacts include curtailed operations for the Veterans Benefits Administration, resulting in the closure of education and GI Bill call centers, and the suspension of career counseling and transition assistance for our veterans; the closure of our wonderful national parks to visitors; increased travel delays, as the onboarding of additional TSA agents would stall and some FAA employees would face furloughs; and costly delays for projects at the Army Corps of Engineers and critical water infrastructure projects.
“That is just a very partial list of the harm that would be done from a government shutdown.
“This unfortunate situation that we're in with a continuing resolution, should, however, have been avoided.
“The Senate should have finished these bills last year, and I called for that repeatedly, as did many other members.
“Senator Murray and I worked as a team, provided leadership, consulted with the members of our Senate Appropriations Committee. Each of us worked so hard to report 11 of the 12 bills with overwhelming bipartisan support, including six which came out of our Committee unanimously. Unfortunately, these bipartisan bills languished on the calendar for months, never being brought to the floor for consideration. This decision by the then-Senate majority leader denied Senators the opportunity to debate and amend our reported bills, and denied the House and the Senate the chance to go to conference and work out the differences among the bills.
“Similarly, attempts since January, by House Chairman Tom Cole and I to reach agreement with our Democratic counterparts, regrettably, were not successful, despite my making five good faith offers.
“Now, Madam President, that opportunity is gone.
“A year-long CR is by no means my first choice, but our focus now, given where we are, must be on preventing a government shutdown.
“For the most part, this is a straightforward CR that simply continues fiscal year 2024 funding levels.
“Now, it does include, and this is important, a number of needed anomalies that are aimed at addressing pressing needs.
“For example, the CR realigns funding in the appropriations accounts for the Department of Defense to meet current global threats and cover the cost of pay raises for junior enlisted personnel.
“It provides increased funding for housing assistance, and for what is known as the WIC Program – for women, infants, and children – to maintain support for these vulnerable families.
“Within the Department of Homeland Security, the continuing resolution includes targeted increases to support ICE operations, avoid furloughs of TSA airport screeners, and to fund much-needed pay raises for members of our Coast Guard.
“It also includes increased funding for the FAA so that more air traffic controllers can be hired to make our nation's airspace safer.
“Madam President, we can delay no longer. It is essential that the continuing resolution be adopted today in order to prevent a harmful government shutdown. I urge its adoption.
“And Madam President, let each and every one of us here commit to working together on the FY 2026 budget so we can enact appropriations bills prior to the start of the new fiscal year.
“Thank you, Madam President.”
###