On the recordMarch 14, 2025
Madam President, I have the greatest respect for the previous speaker and also for the distinguished chair of the Appropriations Committee. If she gets her way this afternoon or later tonight, the government will shut down. We would have to call the House back in. It will be a long period of uncertainty in a shutdown. That is the choice we are faced with. The Speaker of the House has been faced with a very, very slim margin in the House of Representatives. He has had to do a deal that none of us likes, but he has decided that we have a responsibility to govern, and the better choice is to keep the government open. The previous speaker has had 6 months to try to negotiate the deal which she says we can do now in 30 days. It is not going to happen. We are here to make tough choices. Today, Senator Collins and I and others will make tough choices. We don't like the choices before us, but that is the way you have to govern.
