Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, we for a second time failed to pass a continuing resolution to allow the Federal Government to continue to operate. It is because we are coming to the end of the fiscal year. Not all the appropriations bills have been approved, though most all of them have been approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In fact, three have been passed by the Senate.

This makes no sense to me. This is not a shutdown that makes any sense at all. The American people, Kansans, deserve something different from the U.S. Senate.

Every city council or commission, every school board, every local government office in my State passes a budget and then lives within that budget every year. Every local unit of government can figure this out, and the U.S. Senate is failing one more time.

A shutdown means uncertainty. A shutdown means dysfunction. The issue to me is this continuing resolution that would fund the Federal Government until November 21--a short period of time--is designed to avoid that dysfunction, to avoid that uncertainty. All that is required is that we pass the continuing resolution, 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, to keep the government functioning so--and this is the reason it makes no sense to me--so that we can pass the remaining appropriations bills, all but one of which have been passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and most in a bipartisan manner. For whatever purpose and for whatever reason, that seems beyond our capability.

I understand there are those who wish to bring other issues to this bill. Could we do one thing at a time, and when that one thing is as important as this continuing resolution, to do it now? to do it yesterday? to do it tomorrow?

We can't pass a continuing resolution because there are those who want to bring other issues into the bill. Could those other issues not be considered at a later time?

It seems to me that appropriating, passing appropriations bills, keeping the Federal Government functioning, is one of the primary necessities and responsibilities of the Congress of the United States. This is simple and straightforward. Give us a few more weeks to process the remaining appropriations bills, and the government continues to function while we do so.

A continuing resolution, particularly long term, is a crazy thing because it says we are going to fund the Federal Government at the same level, in the same way that we did last year. And if it is multiple years of continuing resolutions, the same way we funded the government the year before that. Does anyone believe that the priorities of this country are identical to last year? Does anybody believe that they are identical to 2 years ago? Aren't there things that deserve a higher priority? Aren't there things that deserve no money? Aren't there things that deserve less money or maybe even the same?

A long-term continuing resolution is a crazy idea, but the short-term resolution that we are dealing with now is a necessary solution. It is necessary because we can pass the appropriations bills and avoid a long-term CR. And we just need the time to do it.

So pass a short-term continuing resolution, do it, take up the appropriations bills as this majority leader has promised to do--and this majority leader has demonstrated he is willing to do it--is a straightforward solution. Give us a little more time--a few more weeks--immediately begin the consideration of the appropriations bills that have been reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and at the end of that period of time, we won't need a continuing resolution. We will have done our task.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source