[Pages S1757-S1758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. President, as we talk about the government shutdown looming 
tonight at midnight, I want to remind you and this body again: This is 
something I have spoken out on for years. Years ago, I sat down with my 
Democratic colleagues and said: How do we take government shutdowns off 
the table? How do we end this?
  There have been proposals for literally decades to be able to end 
government shutdowns. Republicans have had a proposal for decades that 
said: Well, if we get to the end of the fiscal year and we haven't 
passed all the bills, we will just cut spending 1 percent every month, 
and that will force us to come to the table. And my Democratic 
colleagues have said to me over and over again: You guys are so crazy 
about reducing Federal spending, you will never reopen the government; 
you will just cut funding every single month. It is easy. Never going 
to vote for that.
  My Democratic colleagues literally have a bill to say: We will end 
government shutdowns by every single month that we don't have a bill 
passed on it; we will increase funding by 1 percent every single month. 
And Republicans have looked at our Democratic colleagues and said: You 
have lost your mind. You want to increase spending every single month 
anyway. You will never pass a bill. We are never going to do that. 
There was a bill that was out there for a while--it sounds great--
called No Budget No Pay.
  That says if we don't pass our budget, we don't get our 
appropriations bill done, then Members of Congress won't be paid. And a 
lot of people say that is a great idea. I smile at folks back home, and 
I say: I hate to be blunt, but do you know how much most Members of the 
Senate are worth? Their congressional salary for many of my colleagues 
is a rounding error to their investment portfolio.
  They are really not worried about their congressional pay to be able 
to make ends meet at the end of that month. In addition to that, 
constitutionally, you actually can't change a Member's pay during the 
time that they are actually set. So all it would mean is they wouldn't 
get their paycheck for however long it took to negotiate it, then they 
would still get their money.
  That is really not going to make a difference. When I sat down with 
my Democratic colleagues several years ago and said: What is the one 
pressure point that we all feel that we can hold the American people 
harmless but actually get our work done? It is the same thing, rich or 
poor, live far away, live close, all of us have the same precious 
possession that we are all attentive to and it is time.
  We all have the same amount of time in a day. And we all fight our 
calendars because they are full. So our simple solution to end 
government shutdowns is, if we get to the end of a fiscal year, like we 
are at tonight, and we haven't got our work done, like it has happened 
so far, the government stays open, same year's level as last year, 
nothing

[[Page S1758]]

changes on it. The American people are held harmless, all the Agencies 
are held harmless, but Members of Congress, both House and Senate, we 
stay in session 7 days a week. We have a quorum call at noon every 
single day. And we can't move to any bill other than appropriations.
  In other words, if you don't have your work done, you have got to 
stay until your work is actually done. And we can't go do something 
else. We have to stay here to be able to get it done. I guarantee you, 
if this body was in session 7 days a week for two weeks, by the end of 
the second week, we would all be staring at each other saying: I want 
to go see my family. I want to be able to do the other things that are 
responsibilities that a Senator has. I need to be able to do those 
things; let's get this thing resolved.
  If you remove all of our time, it puts the pressure on us to be able 
to actually get our work done. If I can say it just as simple as this: 
My mom, when my brother and I--and I know it may be shocking to some 
people that my brother and I didn't always get along every day growing 
up--but when my brother and I would get into a fight, my mom would send 
both of us into our rooms and say: You guys stay in that room, fight it 
out, then when you are done, then you can come out to the rest of the 
house. But go settle it in there, but make sure it is settled before 
you come out here.
  As silly as it sounds, this government shutdown prevention bill I 
have brought year after year is just as simple as my mom's advice, 
don't make everybody else have to listen to the fight. Members of 
Congress should get in the room, fight it out, settle it; and when we 
are done, we come out and actually vote for it.
  But, in the meantime, the rest of the country shouldn't have to 
suffer because we didn't get our work done on time. That seems pretty 
straightforward to me. It has had wide bipartisan support, and there 
have been lots of moments when we have been very close to passing it. 
There is no trick in it. There is no anything else. It is just, why do 
we have these crazy government shutdown fight moments that the rest of 
the world looks at us as Americans and says: Why can't the Americans 
get their act together?
  And the rest of the country looks at us and says: We have to work out 
all of our details. Why don't you have to work out all of your details?
  Those folks are not wrong.
  We will, one day, solve this. Apparently, it is not today. Today, 
there is still a fight over whether we are going to keep the government 
open for tomorrow.
  Federal workers that are already dealing with a lot of tension in 
their life, quite frankly, they have gotten emails and messages. They 
are hearing about downsizing in Federal Agencies. They are anxious 
right now.
  And there are a lot of folks in my State, and, quite frankly, around 
the country, that say we need to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, 
which we do. The last time we had a major reduction in the size of the 
bureaucracy was under Bill Clinton. When Bill Clinton was President, he 
declared: We are going to reinvent government.
  And under Bill Clinton's Presidency, they reduced the Federal 
workforce by 400,000 people. That was a big reduction in Federal 
workforce. That is the last time that has occurred, decades ago.
  We have grown now to a massive size that we have got to reduce again. 
Everybody knows it. But if you are a Federal worker or a family member 
or a next-door neighbor or you go to church together, you know how 
agonizing this really is. The last thing those Federal workers need is 
one more thing hanging over their head and a government shutdown at the 
same time. But it is being debated right now, and my Democratic 
colleagues are trying to determine if we are going to go into shutdown 
tonight still.
  I would simply say: Let's get our work done. We disagree on many 
issues. OK? That is what grownups have; we have disagreements. Let's 
settle our disagreements. Let's keep us operating. Let's take this off 
the table for good at some point so we don't have this threat hanging 
over us and some countdown clock on 24-hour news: Here is how many 
minutes it is until we have a government shutdown. Let's take that off 
the table, and let's get our work done.
  We have a giant deficit--giant--$2 trillion in overspending this 
year. We should have budget fights. We should be more efficient. We 
should allow DOGE and some of those folks to be able to go after some 
of the wasteful spending.
  I don't have a lot of people back in my State that are contacting me 
and saying: I really want to make sure that we are still spending money 
for the grants to go to the transgender opera in Colombia that USAID is 
funding, or the DEI initiatives in Serbia that the USAID is funding. No 
one is calling me and saying: We need to make sure we keep doing those 
things.
  Everyone looks at it and shakes their head and says: What in the 
world? I want my tax money to go to education, and I want it to go to 
roads, and I want it to go to national defense. Don't do that.
  So let's find ways to be more efficient. Let's find ways to be able 
to reduce waste and fraud. But let's also have the fight during office 
hours so the American people don't have to feel the effects of a 
government shutdown.
  The clock is ticking today. My Democratic colleagues have got to 
determine if we are going to have this vote today. Let's pass it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.