James Lankford: “I don't know if you remember 1977. But since 1977, this body has passed the 12 appropriation bills on time 4 times since…”

“I don't know if you remember 1977. But since 1977, this body has passed the 12 appropriation bills on time 4 times since 1977. By the way, this year is not one of them. Since 1977, four times the budget process has worked correctly. We have had multiple different government shutdowns during that time period, but they are getting worse--not better, as this Congress continues to be able to find cliffs to be able to stand next to and figure out how long we can put our toes over the edge. The latest one ended today. It was 76 days long, and it shut down the Department of Homeland Security. Now, I remind everyone in this body, the first priority of the U.S. Government is defense and security--the first priority. This body decided not to fund Homeland Security for 76 days. This is an issue we have got to face. In 2019, my friend Maggie Hassan the Democratic Senator from New Hampshire, she and I sat down and said: We have got to figure out how to get out of this. This is a cycle that is continuing. And since 2019, she and I have worked across the aisle to convince our colleagues there is a way to prevent future government shutdowns that would hold Congress accountable but the American people and Federal workers would not feel the effect of it. And it is a very simple straightforward idea that we have worked on now since 2019. It is when this body has not finished their work on time, we stay until the work is finished.”