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Floor Speech
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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, today, I want to talk about something that has been going really right here in the U.S. Senate, and that is the use of regular order to consider the annual appropriations bills.
What do I mean by ``regular order''? For starters, regular order refers to allowing bills to go through the committee process--including hearings and a markup--where members of the committee have a chance to amend and approve the bill before being referred by the committee to the Senate as a whole for additional debate and deliberation.
The regular-order process is key. It provides the time and space for real deliberation. It allows for input from a broad array of Members and promotes collaboration and compromise. It is a transparent process, one that ensures that both Senators and the American people can see how the legislation in question is made and have ample time to digest it, not to mention the fact that by ensuring the input of more Senators, the regular-order process helps ensure that a broader swath of the American people is represented in any final legislation.
One of Congress's most basic responsibilities is funding the government. For all the reasons I just listed, the way we should be doing that is through regular order. But we haven't been doing the greatest job of that lately here in the Senate. But this year, for the first time in 5 years, the Senate Appropriations Committee has processed all 12 appropriations bills through the committee. A huge amount of credit goes to Senator Collins and to her Democrat counterpart, Senator Murray, for making this happen.
I hope this will not be a one-off but the start of a new habit for the Senate--a habit of giving each of the appropriations bills the time, debate, and serious consideration that it deserves.
In their press release following passage of all 12 appropriations bills out of committee, Senators Collins and Murray noted that the bills had passed the committee by overwhelming bipartisan margins, and it is not surprising. When you give Members time to debate and amend legislation and make their concerns and the concerns of their constituents heard, you are a lot more likely to get bipartisan buy-in on the final product.
Today, we expect the Democrat leader to file cloture on what we call a minibus of three appropriations bills: Agriculture; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, or what we call THUD; and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, or MILCON-VA. I hope the hearing these bills got in committee will be matched by a similarly deliberative process on the floor, including ample time for consideration of amendments.
Debate and amendment on the floor is another key element of the regular- order process and one that also helps promote a bipartisan final bill. The debate on the National Defense Authorization Act in July was a good example of this. Members had the opportunity to file and offer amendments when the bill came to the floor, resulting in consideration of 131 amendments, including 33 amendment votes, which helped the bill pass the full Senate by an overwhelming bipartisan margin.
I am looking forward to next week's debate on the minibus, and I am very pleased that, among many other good provisions, this year's MILCON-VA appropriations bill will continue funding for building out the necessary infrastructure for the B-21 long-range strike bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The B-21 will revolutionize the Air Force's long-range strike capabilities and is an important step forward in ensuring that our military is prepared to meet and defeat 21st-century threats. I have been working to ensure that the Air Force--and Ellsworth, the main operating base for the first B-21s--has everything it needs for the B-21 mission.
So, as I said, I am looking forward to debate on the Agriculture, THUD, and MILCON-VA appropriations bills. I trust that we will continue working through appropriations bills in the coming weeks with full debates on the Senate floor. I expect we will need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to enable these debates and to allow for time to reconcile the House and Senate versions of these bills and get final versions to the President's desk.
Before I close, I do want to mention one troubling thing among the good news about the regular-order process, and that is the Democrat leader's decision, in his words, to ``invent a new process'' to deal with the thorny question of regulating AI, or artificial intelligence, because the committee process ``won't suffice''--``won't suffice.''
I am not too sure what the majority leader hopes to gain by taking responsibility for oversight and examination of this subject away from the relevant committees of jurisdiction that consider issues like this day in and day out and are well-versed in developing solutions. I am definitely worried that this new process will restrict Senators' input into the final product, leading to legislation created by the leader exclusively without collaboration with other Members or relevant committees.
It is a disappointing move, especially considering the progress we have made on returning to regular order with appropriations bills. I would like to see the leader show a little more faith in the committee process and in his committee chairs.
But, again, I am very pleased that at least on the appropriations front, we are back where we should be, and that is processing appropriations bills in committee and on the Senate floor.
I am looking forward to next week's Ag, THUD, and MILCON-VA appropriations debate.
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