While id rather be speaking on the hill about final Appropriations Bills, i want members to understand what passing the short term funding bill today is so important. I want to explain how we find ourselves in this situation, just nine months ago house, our commitment was to regular order for proceedings. No more omnibus measures released in the dead of night, no more Christmas Eve votes on thousands of pages of texts that members of congress have not read. Unfortunately, there were a few stumbling blocks as we sought to change the process. For example, the administrations budget request was more than a month late. It then took months for the president to come to the table on the debt ceiling negotiations. But even before the debt sealing agreement spending framework was in place, the Appropriations Committee got to work. In fact, this year we held more than 70 hearings. We reviewed roughly 80,000 requests for members. We listened and then we acted. We began markups in may five months ago and then made adjustments to reflect changes in the law that set spending caps for the year. The appropriations bill moved through the subcommittee, committee, and then the floor. Even though a few bills have more steps to take in the process, im proud of the work weve done. As of today, weve sent four appropriation bills to the senate totaling roughly 70 of funding needed for this year. The senate has not sent us any bills yet. The house has now laid down a marker on what i believe are our highest priorities. It should be Crystal Clear to the American People that House Republicans support what is in our national security. Most importantly, we are focused on our rooms and veterans as well as defending our homeland and interests abroad. At the same time the bill we have drafted demonstrates we must stop government overreach and the out of control spending of the last few years. These are the most conservative appropriation bills in history and simply need more time to get our important work done. While a continuing resolution is not ideal, it prevents a harmful Government Shutdown and gives us more time to pass the Appropriations Bills on the floor of the house and allows us to start negotiations, final full year bills with the senate. Yesterday i voted for a different version after short term funding bill that had keyboarder issues and i strongly will support these efforts and continue to fight for them as this process moves along. But today, the most important priority is keeping government open while we work on full year appropriation bills that reflect conservative priorities. Passing this bill is the best way for us to move the process forward. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time is reserved. The gentlelady from connecticut is recognized. Ms. Delauro mr. Speaker, we have had 15 minutes to review a 71page document, a document that was filed before midnight last night. There hasnt there hasnt been any time for staff to review a 71page document on such an important issue that we are facing. It demonstrates a lack of responsibility, a lack of a willingness to have a bipartisan agreement on the continuing resolution. I rise in strong opposition to the bill. The day before the government shuts down and the majority is still throwing anything that they can at the wall to see if anything sticks, House Republicans have already proven that they cannot and they will not pass a continuing resolution on their own. Even one with outlandish spending cuts that could never pass the senate or be signed into law. A bipartisan, a bicameral solution is the only way forward. I worked on these efforts. Last december. And House Republicans at that time decided not to participate. But what the senate republican, senator shelby and senator leahy, we hammered out a budget for 2023. The speaker knows the Bipartisan Senate continuing resolution would easily garner a majority in this house of representatives. Yet he refuses to let it go to the floor of the house. What is he afraid of . So what are we trying instead . Well, yesterday republicans voted to defund our support for our allies in the middle east. Including a billiondollar cut to israel, a further cut to jordan. That did not work. So today the target is ukraine. And despite the fact that it is the majoritys will demonstrated several times this week to provide support for ukraines selfdefense, the biggs amendment that would strike all Ukraine SecurityAssistance Initiative funds from the defense bill failed 104330. The gaetz amendment that would have prohibited all funding for ukraine in the defense bill failed 93339. A greene amendment to prohibit assistance to ukraine in the state and foreign operations bill failed 90342. And this body voted to separately fund ukraine after it was stripped from the defense bill in the darkness of night. And that was 311117. Mr. Speaker, the appeasement strategy of the far right does not have majority support in this body. Standing with our allies does have support here, which is tried and true american patriotism, american justice, maybe views and their values for freedom americas views and their values for freedom and their fight for democracy. Thats who we are and thats what we are about and those who would do otherwise, shameful, shameful in bringing down the United States of america and its support for those people who seek freedom in our world today. The department of defense officials recently sent letters to the four corners of the congress, undersecretary mccord writes, and i quote, without additional funding now we would have to delay or curtail assistance to meet ukraines urgent requirements, including for air defense and ammunition that are critical and urgent now as russia prepares to conduct a winter offensive and continues its bombardment of ukrainian cities, end quote. But then he continues, delays to additional funding would also be perceived by ukraine as a sign of wavering u. S. Support and likely a betrayal of our previous commitments. Allies and partners are also unlikely to sustain their increased level of support without clear continuing u. S. Leadership. As you know, secretary austin successfully engages over 50 nations every month to press for sustained support. It is crucial that the United States continues to lead this Global Coalition, lead. The United States should lead. And we need the resources to underwrite our leadership role, end quote. House republicans have shown that they are unwilling and they are unable to govern. Some have shown they are willing and they are able to abandon our allies. It is time for this body, for my republican colleagues to abandon the gaetz strategy or the greene strategy and try as we have in the past for a bipartisan strategy that we all know will ultimately conclude the shutdown and fully fund the United States government. A shutdown will hurt families and farmers, children and Service Members at a time when families are living paycheck to paycheck. Let us keep the u. S. Government open, let us proceed with a bipartisan, bicameral agreement and, as has been proposed by the United States senate, and let us continue to support ukraines fight for freedom. Mr. Speaker, lets get to work. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time is reserved. The gentlelady from texas. Ms. Granger i yield to the gentleman from new york, mr. Lawler, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Lawler thank you. Would the gentlelady from connecticut yield for a question . Ms. Delauro yes. Be happy to. Mr. Lawler thank you. Do you support the Senate Version of a c. R. . Ms. Delauro yes, i do. Strongly sport Senate Version. Mr. Lawler ok. So, the difference between the Senate Version and this version is that this version does not include ukraine funding. So are you telling me that you would shut down the government if theres not ukraine funding . Ms. Delauro i just say to you that maybe you have a chance have had the chance to read 71 pages. This bill doesnt extend the authority to help ukrainian refugees mr. Lawler reclaiming my time. Ms. Delauro of course youre reclaiming your time. Mr. Lawler reclaiming my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york has the floor. Mr. Lawler thank you. Today on the last day before a potential Government Shutdown, Speaker Mccarthy will be putting a 45day clean c. R. With Disaster Relief on the floor. I will vote in support of this legislation so that we can keep the United States government funded and open while we finish our Appropriations Bills. Anyone, anyone, democrats or republicans, who vote against a clean c. R. With Disaster Relief is voting to shut the government down. When it is ukraine funding, securing the border or reducing spending, all of which i support, it will have to be negotiated during the appropriations process. All of us have a responsibility to lead and to govern. In a guided government divided government, none of us will get everything we want. To shut the government down would be disastrous for the American People, our military and our economy. The time has come for everyone to put the American People above all interests and continue to do our work as responsible, reasonable and serious legislators. For anyone to vote no on this bill, they are voting to shut the government down and if youre saying that you support the senate c. R. But you dont support this one, the only difference is ukraine. And if youre telling the American People with a straight face that you will shut the American Government down over ukraine, shame on you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Members are advised to direct their comments to the chair. The gentlelady from connecticut. Ms. Delauro i find it very strange indeed that there is no mention of several things, at least preliminarily, which we have looked at in this bill. There are many changes between this bill, as the gentleman asked me, and the senate bill. There are many changes. The gentleman from new york should understand that there are many changes between this bill and the senate bill. Here is one that i believe the majority will not mention. They amend the senate bill to give themselves a pay raise. A pay raise. Its there. Yeah. You can look at me, you can smile, but what you did was you amended the senate bill to give yourselves a pay raise. While you have threatened day in and day out Service Members, you have threatened workers across this country and youve said to them, we dont really care about you and whether or not you can support your family. We dont care about that. No. We mainly care about ourselves and our pay raise. And you know, it is pretty true to form with what the American People thinks about members. But they should know which members are willing to give them up in their own selfinterest for a pay raise. It is despicable. You are about to shut the government down, but hours before you do so you give yourself a pay raise. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will suspend. The gentlelady will suspend. Ms. Delauro its pathetic. Yes. The speaker pro tempore the chair will remind the members in this chamber, as a matter of decorum, direct your comments to the chair. Ms. Delauro will do. The speaker pro tempore and heed the gavel. The gentlelady may resume. The gentlelady reserves. Ms. Delauro i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas. Ms. Granger i yield to the gentleman from new york, mr. Molinaro, for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. Mr. Moolenaar with hours to go before the potential shutdown of this federal government, we are posed with a single question. Vote yes to continue to provide services and support to our military, to our defense, to our communities, to Law Enforcement, or vote no and shut the government down. Thats the question. And being told, by the way, for years that during the pandemic with the government shut down that somehow people should just sort of fend for themselves, being told for years how great that was, we have an opportunity in this very moment to confront what is a real crisis for real peep. Keep the government people. Keep the government functioning. Continue to focus on appropriations. Drive down federal spending. But meet the needs and the expectations of the American People today. Vote yes to keep the government open. Vote no to shut the government down. I, on behalf of my constituents, will be voting yes to keep this government functioning. And with that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from connecticut. Ms. Delauro if i might, id like to read a letter that was sent by the undersecretary of defense, michael mccord. And the letter was sent to the speaker of the house, as well as to the Senate Majority and minority leaders. And it is just addressed to leader jeffries. I write to express the department of defenses deep concern with the absence of Security Assistance funding for ukraine in the continuing resolution. Being considered in the house. Or any similar continuing resolution that might be proposed. The department of defense is anxious to avoid a lapse in appropriations, but it is important that a c. R. Protect our security interests and uphold our commitments and our values. As you know, the department has been providing vital Security Assistance to ukraine since russias unprovoked invasion in february, 2022. Thanks to the bipartisan support of the congress, it is just as vital today that we continue that support. Today d. O. D. Has exhausted nearly all available Security Assistance funding for ukraine. We are already out of funding for the Ukraine SecurityAssistance Initiative, one of the two Security Assistance tools we have. The other funding tool we need are those funds provided to replenish our militarys inventories for the weapons and supplies we provided to support ukraine in their fight via drawdown. We have only 1. 6 billion remaining of the 25. 9 billion that the congress has provided. We have already been forced to slow down the replenishment of our own forces to hedge against an uncertain funding future, our own forces. Failure to replenish your military forces could harm our military readiness. Without additional funding now wed have to delay or curtail assistance to meet ukraines urgent requirements including for air defense and ammunition that is critical and urgent. Now as russia prepares to conduct a winter offensive and continuities bombardment of ukrainian cities. For example, a lack of usai funding now will delay contract funding actions that could negatively impact the departments ability to purchase essential additional 150 millimeter artillery and critical munitions that are successful for Ukraines Armed forces. This is critical to sustaining Ukraines Armed forces including for their ongoing counteroffensive. An inability to assure timely procurement and deliveries could undermine essential ukrainian operations to retake additional territory or defend against potential future russian offenses. It would also affect our ability to support ukraines land forces including obstacle breaching equipment, sustainment of previously provided small unmanned aerial systems, systems to detect, analyze, and locate adversary signals and democrat mission equipment. It would affect equipment and maintenance we previously provided, affordability equipment, spare parts and other or other activities to sustain ukraine at a full capacity. A cutoff would send a mixed signal to our Industrial Base which weve asked to step up munitions production across the country resulting in increased capacity and higher employment. We cannot afford to throw that progress away. In fact we are counting on it to implement our National Defense strategy and important to note from workers supporting stinger, a manufacturing actor in arizona that produces patriot interceptors and g. L. R. S. In arkansas, this funding is strengthening the American Economy and creating hundreds of new american jobs. Some have suggested the department could still execute the mission and support ukraines needs if it were given permission to transfer funds from inside a shortterm c. R. From our own needs to fund more Security Assistance. I want to be clear, the department does not support that approach that would create unacceptable risk to us. Under a c. R. , the department will be operating at a level approximate 25 billion below our budget request for fiscal year 2024 which is consistent with the fiscal responsibility act of funding levels. The bottom line is we cannot sustain adequate levels of ukraine assistance with transfer authority only. Delays to additional funding would also be perceived by ukraine as a sign of waiverring u. S. Support and likely as a betrayal of our previous commitments, allies, and partners are also unlikely to sustai