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Floor Speech
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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I am glad to be able to say that eight Democrats joined Republicans last night to take the first step to reopen the government. And in the very near future, we will be voting on a final package, a clean continuing resolution until January 30 and three bipartisan full-year appropriations bills.
These bills are the Military Construction-VA, Agriculture, and Legislative Branch appropriations, 3 of the 12 bills that Congress needs to pass on an annual basis.
What that means is that yearlong funding for SNAP, for WIC, for veterans, for essential farm programs, and for a number of other critical priorities will be met. I said that we will be voting on the final package in the very near future, and I am hoping that will be hours and not days.
We are on the 41st day of this shutdown. Nutrition benefits are in jeopardy, air travel is in an extremely precarious situation. Our staffs and many, many other government workers have been working for nearly 6 weeks without pay. I could spend an hour talking about all the problems we have seen, which have snowballed the longer this shutdown has gone on. But all of us, Democrat and Republican, who voted for last night's bill are well aware of the facts, and I am grateful that the end is in sight.
But I would encourage every Member of this body, Democrat and Republican, pro-bill or anti-bill, not to stand in the way of our being able to deliver the coming relief quickly. The American people have suffered for long enough. Let's not pointlessly drag this bill out. Let's get it done, get it over to the House so that we can get this government open.
As I have emphasized since being elected majority leader last November, I remain deeply committed to advancing full-year appropriations bills through regular order. And we have drafted this continuing resolution to extend to January 30, specifically, to give us more time to get this bipartisan work done.
I look forward to taking up additional appropriations bills on the floor in the near future. After 41 days, I am grateful to be able to say that we are close to getting the government reopened. And again, I ask all of my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, of both parties, to make it possible to quickly pass this bill.
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