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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I know I speak for the entire Senate when I say it was a privilege to welcome the Pope to the Capitol this morning. For the thousands who gathered on the Capitol lawn, it was an experience they are unlikely to ever forget.
A quiet nod, a soft smile, a simple wave--the gestures may have been small, but their meaning ran deep, captured forever in the hearts of the faithful and the hopeful.
As we turn back to the work of governing, many will interpret his words in many ways. The media certainly has. But we can also hear him as simply expressing his faith. And we all appreciate his closing remarks: God bless America.
Mr. President, it is no surprise that Members of the Senate have differences on issues. That is normal, healthy even. But even if our Democratic colleagues may not agree with us on every issue, let us agree that the scandal surrounding Planned Parenthood is deeply, deeply unsettling. Let us agree that it makes sense to at least place a scandal-plagued political organization on leave without pay and then use that money to fund women's health care as Congress investigates these serious allegations.
Let us also agree that it is time for our Democratic colleagues to finally allow the Senate to fund the government, just as we have worked hard to do all year long.
Here is the view the new Senate took from the beginning. The best way to fund the government is to pass a budget, and then to fund it. That may be a different approach from previous years, but it is the approach we chose to pursue when we came to office.
We didn't think it was right that the Senate hadn't passed a budget in 6 years or that the Senate's Appropriations Committee hadn't passed the 12 bills necessary to fund the government in 6 years. So we changed that.
The appropriations process got off to a great start. There was often a spirit of bipartisanship inside that committee. Consider that nearly all of the 12 funding bills passed with bipartisan support. More than half attracted the support of over 70 percent of Democrats. We saw our Democratic colleagues use phrases such as ``win-win-win'' or declare the appropriations legislation would ``do right by'' their particular State as they issued press releases praising the bills that they voted for.
It was great to see that bipartisan action. I was hopeful that our Democratic colleagues would actually join with us on the Senate floor to debate and pass the legislation they had praised in committee. But no, they took a different path.
I regret that Democratic leadership determined a crisis would be necessary to advance a policy aim of growing the government, and that our colleagues decided accordingly to block every single funding bill--every single one--almost all of which had been supported by a significant number of Democrats in committee. So we have been forced to pursue a continuing resolution as a result.
It would be much better to simply finish the appropriations process we worked so hard to advance. But if our colleagues continue to block the Senate from doing so, the Senate is left with very few options. It may be regrettable, but that is the reality we now face.
The bill before us would help get things back on track. It would ensure the government remains funded and open. It would adhere to the bipartisan spending level already agreed to by both parties. It would also allow our Democratic colleagues to join us in standing up for women's health instead of a political organization mired in scandal. For 1 year, the legislation would redirect $235 million in Planned Parenthood funding to women's health instead, strengthening health centers that provide critically needed community care.
I wish our colleagues hadn't pursued a strategy of blocking government funding. That strategy may have succeeded in bringing the country to this point, but there is no reason to continue blocking every attempt to fund the government or to protect political allies mired in scandal.
So I am calling on colleagues across the aisle to join us in standing against a shutdown. I am calling on them to join us in standing up for women's health instead.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time following the vote until 6 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; further, that all time during quorum calls until 6 p.m. be charged equally between both sides.
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, those of us who believe in protecting innocent and precious life may have lost a vote today, but we are steadily winning a larger argument--a critical argument that goes to the heart of who we want to be as a society. We can feel momentum for life on the rise just as we see extremism on the other side increasing. By placing their allegiance with the far left instead of women, Democrats are making a losing bet they will come to regret over the long term.
Today, however, we must grapple with the challenges of the present. Democrats' insistence on blocking the strategy pursued today means we have to consider the options now before us. The reality is that the government will shut down next week if Congress does not act.
The president of Right to Life said to those of us who believe in protecting life:
There are two different roads we can take. One is to insist that no more money go to Planned Parenthood and cause a government shutdown (which won't result in actually defunding Planned Parenthood). The other is to take a slightly longer-term approach, taking advantage of the fact that we have the attention of the country as probably never before. ..... Every well-informed pro-lifer wants to defund Planned Parenthood. I want to defund Planned Parenthood. There are wonderful pro-life men and women in Congress who want to defund Planned Parenthood. And, certainly National Right to Life wants to defund Planned Parenthood. The difference here is in strategy.
This is not the end of this debate or this discussion.
I urge colleagues to join me in supporting the legislation I am about to file which would ensure that the government remains open.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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