Majority missed a major deadline, a deadline to pass a budget for america and its government and Appropriations Bills that fund the government for the year. Republicans have the power of the majority here in the United States senate, in the house of representatives, and the presidency. Yet, the Republican Leadership has failed, failed to put together a budget for america and its government. That provides certainty for our country. Families in wisconsin who are struggling pie check to paycheck to paycheck, they put together a budget for their families because they have to in order to make ends meet. But here in washington, my friends on the other side of the aisle have played by a different set of rules. On friday night they didnt put forward a budget for america and its government. Instead they offered their fourth shortterm continuing resolution for the last four months. This is no way to govern, simply kicking the can down the road each month and ignoring the real needs of our country. The federal budget is not a calendar year budget. Rather it runs from october 1 to september 30 each year. There are all sorts of historical reasons for why that is, but among them, if we get our work done on time, local governments and other entities that have calendar year budgets get to see what federal funds have been allocated for the things that we do jointly, that make a real difference in peoples lives. And the congress is supposed to get its budget done actually in the spring, and then finish its appropriation process by september 30. In fact, today we should be starting our work on the 2019 budget. Instead we are still working on the 2018 budget that should have been completed last spring and Appropriations Bills that should have been done by september 30. The majority had from september 30 until december 9. That was the first shortterm continuing resolution as its known, to get the job done. And on a bipartisan basis we allocated that time through a continuing resolution. The majority had then from december 9 until december 22, another shortterm continuing resolution. And then from december 22 to january 19, another continuing resolution. But the governing majority still hasnt done its work, so they asked for yet another four weeks. This monthbymonth approach from the majority has failed. It has failed to provide our military and troops with the budget certainty they need. We heard from secretary mattis and his team this week about how harmful these continuing resolutions are to our nations military, and the majority should heed those words because it impedes the militarys ability to plan for the defense of our nation. Under repeated continuing resolutions, the department cant start new programs, hiring and recruitment are limited, and our National SecurityFunding Priorities are left on auto pilot. The Defense Department has made it clear that they need a longterm budget, not week by week and month by month measures. But the majority has failed to deliver results. Our veterans need v. A. Reforms so that they can get the Health Care Services that they have earned. And ive worked in a bipartisan manner on a number of reforms of the v. A. Choice program, but the continuing resolution offered and rightly rejected by both democrats and republicans shortchanges Veterans Health when we should be working together to serve those who have bravely served this nation. Four months ago Congressional Republicans let funding for Childrens Health care expire. They refused to pass legislation that funds the Child Health Insurance program otherwise known as chip. 170,000 children in the state of wisconsin rely on chip for their health care. But the Congressional Republicans were more concerned at that period of time in giving away massive tax breaks. 80 plus of the benefits go to the upper 1 in big corporations. In fact, while these children were ignored, republicans gave permanent tax cuts to powerful corporations and now wont provide permanent funding for the chip program, for Childrens Health insurance for lowincome families. Four months ago the Majority Party that controls washington let funding for Community Health centers lapse. In my home state, 300,000 wisconsinites are served by Community Health centers, including kids on chip. Two weeks ago i visited one of those Community Health centers in green bay, wisconsin. The Health Care Workers and staff describe the anxiety and uncertainty they feel every day because they dont know whether they will have the funding they need to minister to the Health Care Needs of those that they serve. Many Community Health centers cant move forward with longerterm contracts for services or repairs or invest in new medical equipment because they dont know if or when washington will act. They found out on friday night a continuing resolution offered just like the three before it failed to address funding for Community Health centers once again. But it did give tax breaks to big insurance companies. We cannot leave our Community Health centers without the funding they need to serve the people that we all work for. We should take action now to fully fund them because they cant wait any longer. I know that every one of my colleagues here in the senate has come facetoface with the opioid epidemic. I know i have. I traveled my state and met with Health Care Workers, local officials, people from Law Enforcement and the judiciary who are working on the front lines of this crisis. I know what its like to have a loved one dependent upon narcotics. I met with families who have lost a loved one to this epidemic. I met with family members who are currently finding their own lives totally upended because of a loved one hooked on opioids. There is bipartisan support for doing more. There is support across party aisles for the federal government to step up and be a stronger partner in this fight. A shortterm stopgap measure isnt going to do it, and we all know it. So lets find the will to Work Together to provide strong investments in local communities so they have the resources they need for prevention treatment and recovery efforts. Lets Work Together to save lives. We are where we are right now because i think washington has lost sight of what our work here should be about. Making a difference in peoples lives. Hundreds of thousands of young people have had their lives placed in limbo by the politics of washington. The dreamers who have only known america as their home, are working hard. Theyre going to school. Theyre serving in our military. President trump has threatened them with deportation. Right now we have a bipartisan solution that Republican Leadership in both the senate and the house have refused to make a commitment to passing. This bipartisan solution strengthens Border Security and does right by the dreamers. Just a couple of weeks ago i spoke with an education leader in wisconsin. He told me that his school, a catholic k through 12 school, employs by his count 23 dreamers. He cant imagine the devastating impact it might have if we dont figure this out. On thursday last week i spoke with a wisconsin dreamer. She made her way to d. C. , and this wasnt her first trip, to tell her powerful story. She asked for an why you want she asked for an update and i told her what i thought was happening here, and she told me she had just eight days left before her daca status expires. And she said i dont know what im going to do, how ill be able to work. Today she has only five days left. We have a bipartisan solution that Senate Republicans and democrats have worked on together, so lets do our job. Lets get it done. I have the privilege of working for a state with a work ethic that is second to none. I am deeply humbled by that privilege, and i do everything i can to respect and reward the hard work of wisconsinites. That is why ive been working for months on pension reforms, because when people work hard and they play by the rules and build their retirement security, they should be able to depend on the pensions they have earned. Right now 25,000 wisconsin retirees and workers have had their pensions threatened through no fault of their own. I have visited with these workers throughout the state of wisconsin, in green bay, in endeavor, in milwaukee, in brookfield. Hundreds of them. They each have a powerful story. I spoke to one worker who started his job as a trucker at age 23. He worked 40 years. At several stages in his career he had the opportunity, if youll call it that, to forego a potential increase in wages so that he could put more into his pension, so that he and his wife could enjoy a secure retirement. But today he and thousands of others are facing the prospect of massive cuts to the pensions they earned unless congress acts. They cant afford to have us kick the can down the road once again. They need us to act and keep the promises of the pensions they worked so hard for. Lets Work Together. Lets Work Together and get the job done by passing the Butch Lewis Act and save the pension that over a million workers and retirees across this country are counting on. Mr. President , enough of round after round of fighting. The American People are fed up with it. They did not send us here to perform a monthly melodrama. They sent us here to get theupbgdz done. They get things done. They didnt send us here to play political games and create chaos. They sent us here to Work Together on solutions to the problems that they face and that we face jointly as a nation. The biggest problem we face right now is that washington is broken. Its up to us to fix it. So lets start working together to get the job done. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Leahy mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Leahy mr. President , i thank the senator. I see the distinguished senator from alaska on the floor, and i will not be long, as i noted to him. I am speaking in my capacity as the democratic manager of the legislation before us. I think like most of us and most people in the country, were frustrateed by what is happening because i have only heard one person say they want a Government Shutdown. He got exactly what he wanted. It was President Trump who said the country could use a good shutdown. President trump said a shutdown would be good for him politically. President trump tweeted yesterday, the shutdown was a nice present to himself. Well, the United States of america is not designed to give presents to the president. We expect the president to do whats best for the country, not for themselves. Whats best for the country, of course, would be not to have a shutdown. People are suffering under the trump shutdown. For him to call it a nice present to himself escapes reality. In fact, between rubbing his shoulders with the super wealthy at his fathers fundraiser last night, the president s son said the shutdown is a good thing for us politically. It is hard to make up this kind of detachment from our country. I want to make one thing very clear to President Trump. There is no such thing as a Good Government shutdown. Its not a good thing that today medical research has ground to a halt. Its not a good thing that a family in vermont and New Hampshire tried to help their trying to help their loved one overcome opioid addiction cannot access the resources they need. It is not a good thing training exercises for our military were canceled this weekend. But the president is apparently thinking of himself and playing the politics of fear and obstruction. In fact, he was actually prepared for it, hoping for it. Yesterday morning, the first day of the trump shutdown, the president s campaign posted a video that was nothing short of racist fearmongering. Propaganda meant to scare the American People has no place in our democracy. Instead of playing the politics of fear, the president should be leading and working with us to reach a bipartisan deal on a path forward. That could be done if the president really wanted to lead instead of talking about whats a good political present for himself . I think he knows this. In 2013, when talking about the Government Shutdown at that time, he said the president has got to give everybody the room and hes got to lead. So far, the president and the Republican Leadership continue to lock democrats out of negotiations. If they do that, they include the voices of half of the American People. This morning, the president even said the senate should change its rules to permanently exclude the input of the minority party. I have been here many times in the majority, many times in the minority. I cant think of republicans or democrats who wanted to take that chance because someday the shoe is always on the other foot. I was so proud to be asked by senator bob dole, one of the great leaders of this senate, a republican leader to speak on his behalf at the gold medal presentation this past week, because he knew both sides have to Work Together. I have long said the senate could be the conscience of the nation. It could be the con shins of thn precisely because it forces bipartisan compromise. It forces the inclusion of views across the political spectrum and because its members and i include the republican leader, the majority leader today. They have a deep respect for this institution. Were not going to take a sledgehammer to the senate. Now, its the majoritys responsibility to produce a bill to send to the president. They didnt get 60 votes because they had not negotiated with democrats. The Republican Leadership presented the senate with a bill that was produced behind closed doors with no involvement from the democrats. I suspect no involvement from any of his own party and he allowed no amendments. Thats a recipe for failure, and that failure and the president s inability to keep his word puts us here. The republican Party Controls the house, the senate, and the white house, and its their job to govern and to lead. Its their job to reach out with us and come up with a compromise. In my 43 years here, i have been in so many of these compromises. The people across the political spectrum where no one of us got everything they wanted, but the country was far better off. The president promised to treat Daca Recipients with great heart. Instead, hes holding our nations dreamers hostage to a rightwing antiimmigration agenda. He rejected a bipartisan deal, the bipartisan daca deal with senators graham, durbin, and others from both parties, specifically drafted to meet what the president said were his demands. In the wake of his heartless decision to end daca, nearly 122 dreamers lose status every day. 122 yesterday. 122 today. 122 more tomorrow. And the Trump Administration has acknowledged to congress that implementing any dream legislation would take up to six months, during which tens of thousands more could lose their status. The young man was excelling in medical school. In an interview, he says he worries about a knock on the door, and he may have to leave. The irony is there is a whole lot of other countries that would like to have him, even though he is in an area where we have a shortage of doctors. We know that on march 5, hundreds of thousands of Daca Recipients will lose their status because of President Trumps actions. Now, republicans argue there is no urgency to provide protections to dreamers. It couldnt be further from the truth. Since President Trump decided to revoke the protective status, these hundreds of thousands of dreamers have had to live with fear and anxiety every day. No urgency. I tell you right now, if this is part of my family, i would feel the urgency not every hour, every minute, every second. Were here because for 113 days we had 113 days to do this. Just kicked the can down the road on the basic responsibility of congress to fund the federal government. The Republican Leadership has failed to reauthorize the Childrens HealthInsurance Program. They have failed to advance legislation to protect the dreamers. Now, for 113 days, democrats supported three continuing resolutions. I voted for a critical one of those. But we had the promise from the republicans to do a little more to reach a bipartisan deal. The time they said they needed it is long gone. We voted for a continuing resolution in september to provide more time. We voted for a second continuing resolution in early december to provide more time. We voted for a third continuing resolution in late december to keep the government going. It wont be different if we wait another four weeks. We have all the pieces to reach a bipartisan path forward. All we have to do is say ye