Susan Collins: “I want to thank the Senator from Alaska, who is an extraordinarily talented leader on the Appropriations Committee, for…”

“I want to thank the Senator from Alaska, who is an extraordinarily talented leader on the Appropriations Committee, for her comments. Mr. President, I rise to urge passage of this funding measure to prevent an unnecessary, harmful, and costly government shutdown at midnight tonight. Government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative consequences all across government. They inevitably require certain government employees, such as Border Patrol agents, members of our military and Coast Guard, TSA screeners, and air traffic controllers, to report to work with no certainty at all on when they will receive their next paycheck. That is just unfair. Shutdowns also put critical investments in our national defense on hold. Training exercises would be limited, which could hurt our Nation's readiness. New programs would be paused, delaying new capabilities from getting to our warfighters. That is why we have always, in the past, avoided CRs for the Department of Defense. At our borders, the men and women performing vital law enforcement activities would have to do so without pay and without the assistance of support staff, putting more pressure on frontline operators.…”