I thank my friend, Ms. Velazquez, for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, we are currently on the 18th day of President Trump's government shutdown. On a daily basis, the economic harm of the shutdown is being felt more acutely by small…

As Secretary Nielsen notes in her letter, `` . . . if the program were to lapse--as a result of the current sunsetting provision--it would increase the risk to our country and create uncertainty across the chemical industry.'' The…

yesterday the Government of Guatemala took a decisive step toward regaining sovereignty. Guatemala revoked the visas of and deported 11 U.N. personnel working for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, better known by…

I rise for a long overdue floor speech to recognize a school in my home State of Mississippi that continues to win national football championships, five, in fact, over the past 10 years. I can assure my friends from Alabama that I am not…

My friend from Nebraska, Senator Sasse, tells me he has remarks that will take approximately 2 minutes. I have remarks that will follow that will take somewhat longer than 2 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Sasse be allowed to…

I come to the floor this afternoon to recognize Rex Buffington, who is retiring next year after 30 years as the executive director of the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership. Mr. Buffington had a tall order to fill in 1988…

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Tribute to Rex Buffington

I want to thank our witnesses for their testimony today. It occurs to me that we are extraordinarily well represented by the members of the panel today, and I want to thank you.

We will soon have a Republican Senate and a Democratically controlled house, and we are going to have to join hands as Americans.

It would put us back in sequestration, an unthinkable result, and an utterly irresponsible act that I feel sure this Republican Senate and this upcoming Democrat House will avoid.

It would delay almost every single acquisition program that we have underway, ground and air, to try to not just modernize but to create future capabilities for the force that we think we need to be to defend the interests of this Nation.

I do not think we are going to go back to sequestration, but we are going to have to take affirmative votes not to.

Senator Blumenthal, I think you are going to get a response to your letter.

All right. It is hard to keep up with you guys.

What we need to do here on our side is make sure you get the authorization and appropriations bills on time.

We have to do better. We must do better, all of us, including the Congress.

They had no contingency plans for sequestration because it was so utterly irresponsible and unthinkable that it could not happen.

Are there any changes or insights that you would like to share with the committee today?