Sherrod Brown: “Thank you, Mr. President. I am not impugning anybody's motive. I am just stating what I read in newspapers and what…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. I am not impugning anybody's motive. I am just stating what I read in newspapers and what seems to be fact, but I am not impugning motives here. I would add one other thing before making a motion, Mr. President. I appreciate the reminder from the Senator from North Carolina. Secretary Mattis, the Secretary of Defense--I don't know if Secretary Mattis is a Democrat or Republican; I don't really care; he obviously was confirmed by the Senate and nominated by this President--came to the caucus and talked to our Democratic meeting and talked to us about the importance of giving us some permanence and predictability in the budget process. For us to continue to limp along one month at a time is not the way we should be governing this country. The Air Force Under Secretary, Matt Donovan, said: What we are really concerned about is that the further along we go into the fiscal year with these short-term CRs, the more likely a full-year CR becomes. That is not a good thing for any of us. It will have damaging impacts on readiness and modernization.…”