Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My apologies to the subcommittee and everyone in attendance, but we had an overlapping hearing of the senate judiciary committee upstairs which caused me to be a little bit late to arrive.

I have noticed for a long time these planes have been the top line on the unfunded priority list.

Because they have a role in the Navy.

How important is it to keep that industrial base going because you cannot just snap your fingers and build ships?

The request of the Trump Administration for the next fiscal year for the Department of Defense is $52 billion over the amount allocated by the Budget Control Act.

There has been one arrest and at least 30 active duty marines are under investigation.

To the question from Senator Durbin, are they all going to get discharged? No.

Congress must work together on a bipartisan basis to ensure that our appropriations bills fund every part of our national strength--militarily, economically, and socially.

All these ships are important, are they not?

Cutting these programs will ultimately shrink the pool of Americans who can serve in our military, making these proposals very short-sighted.

I hope that before the end of the day we can face the hard, tough, stark choices and put this Budget Control Act and sequestration behind us once and for all rather than what this budget suggests.

The budget submitted to Congress yesterday for the Department of Defense exceeds the Budget Control Act caps by $52 billion.

This is not responsible and the notion that we can take care of this problem on a periodic or annual basis with funds really is no way to run the United States of America or our national defense.

I would like to take a few moments to thank Reverend Dennis H. Holtscheider for all he has done to bring educational excellence to our State. After nearly 13 years as president of DePaul University, the largest Catholic university in the…

I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Harris) is necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The result was announced--yeas 82, nays 13, as follows…

I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Ms. Hirono) and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine) are necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The result was announced--yeas 52…

I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Ms. Hirono) and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine) are necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The yeas and nays resulted--yeas…

I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Ms. Hirono) is necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 51, nays 47, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No…

more than 3 million Illinoisans--about 20 percent of the people in my State--currently depend on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program for healthcare. That is one out of five people in my State who need these programs to…

I had a meeting last week in Illinois, and I asked hospital administrators, doctors, nurses, pediatricians, those who are in the substance abuse treatment area, what they thought of the Republican bill. It was all Republicans who passed…

I want to take a few minutes to acknowledge Ann Kalayil. Earlier this year, after 6 years, Ann stepped down as Regional Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration's--GSA--Great Lakes Region. Ann Kalayil is a trailblazer. She…

Congress often considers issues that have far reaching consequences for millions of people, but in 2010, a law was enacted that literally meant life-or-death for millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The law stems the…

last week, the American people were stunned by what we learned happened in the White House. We saw an alarming set of developments about how this President is handling the investigation into Russia's interference with our democracy. Last…

before the Senator from Missouri leaves the floor, I want to say a word about him and the topic he raised today about health and, in this particular case, children. Senator Blunt and I have adjoining States, Illinois and Missouri. We have…

I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mrs. McCaskill) is necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 81, nays 15, as follows…