Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I come before the Senate to express my strong support for proceeding to the fiscal year 2016 Defense appropriations bill. This bill provides vital funding for the men and women of our armed services at a time of serious and growing threats to our own national security and at a time of troubling instability and violent conflicts in many countries around the world.

Proceeding would allow the Senate an opportunity to debate defense funding in an open and transparent manner and to meet our constitutional obligations. I am truly perplexed to hear some of my dear friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle suggest that there is a Republican plan to enact only the Defense appropriations bill and then proceed to a continuing resolution for all of the other vital appropriations bills. It would be an understatement to say that continuing resolutions are certainly not the preferred option of the Appropriations Committee, and I say that as a proud member of that committee. Continuing resolutions create uncertainty, they lock in last year's priorities, and they continue to fund programs that should be eliminated. They are not effective ways to govern.

I want to be clear. Supporting an individual appropriations bill in no way suggests that the Senate is somehow giving up on passing the other 11 subcommittee appropriations bills, whether they are brought to the floor individually or as an omnibus package.

Members of the Appropriations Committee now have working numbers as a result of the budget agreement. We are working together diligently in a bipartisan, bicameral manner to craft a bipartisan omnibus that can be supported by both Chambers.

Democrats and Republicans came together to pass a budget agreement just a few short days ago, and our ongoing negotiations prove our sincerity and determination to move ahead with individual bills and in crafting an omnibus. We have already made great progress this year. As our chairman, Thad Cochran, has noted previously, this is the first time in 6 years that the Appropriations Committee has approved all 12 of its bills. Many of those bills, due to the leadership on the Democratic side of my dear friend Barbara Mikulski, and others, have been bipartisan when they were reported by our committee. I would note that we completed our work despite terribly strict budget constraints months ago.

Now, we are in a new stage. We have a bipartisan, 2-year budget agreement that has provided some much needed relief to some of the budget caps, while keeping us on a fiscally responsible path.

This is the third time the Senate has attempted to take up this vital appropriations bill. The last time, my Democratic friends objected because there was no bipartisan, bicameral budget agreement. In the absence of such an agreement, they said they could not proceed with a bill. Now, I didn't agree with that rationale, but I understood it. I do not understand the situation we find ourselves in today. We have a budget agreement--a bipartisan, bicameral budget agreement. I do not understand why we cannot move forward with the Defense appropriations bill and, I hope, other bills individually and then ultimately an omnibus bill for those that we simply run out of time to consider this year. Next year, due to this budget agreement, I hope we can bring each and every one of the individual appropriations bills before the Senate for debate and amendment the way we used to do, and that is our goal.

December 11 is quickly approaching, and that is the date when the current continuing resolution expires. We must act before then to ensure that the Federal Government remains open. We must act to ensure that vital Federal programs are funded and not operating under yet another continuing resolution, which is such poor policy. That is what we are trying to prevent.

Let's get the Defense appropriations bill approved. Then, I hope we can bring up at least one or two or perhaps three other appropriations bills. In the meantime, we are already working on the omnibus bill.

As chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I have already met with my ranking member, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and with our counterparts on the House side to begin the negotiations on our bill. We are operating under a very tight timeframe that will require Members to work around the clock and a good-faith effort from all sides. That is what I am asking for today: for Members on the other side of the aisle to take the majority leader, the Republican leader, at his word, to pass this bill--this vitally needed bill--and then to go on to a second individual appropriations bill, all the while we are working in a bipartisan way to craft an omnibus bill.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on the importance of advancing the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bills. Let me reiterate that it is simply wrong for any of my Democratic colleagues to assume that proceeding to the Defense appropriations bill somehow suggests that there is no interest by our leader in passing an omnibus that will include the other vital bills funding essential education, biomedical research, transportation, housing, agriculture, energy, environmental, and other important programs.

I urge my colleagues to support proceeding to this vital bill. To fail to do so once again, for the third time, despite the existence of the budget framework that we have agreed to, and to fail to do so just days before we honor our Nation's veterans would be a grave disservice to those who serve in our military today.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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