John Thune: “At the start of this week, I said that the Senate would be focusing on government funding this month. We have a January…”

“At the start of this week, I said that the Senate would be focusing on government funding this month. We have a January 30 deadline to get the job done and avoid another government shutdown. We have already passed one package of three appropriations bills that was signed into law in November. Now we need to finish our work. Later today, the House is expected to consider another package of three bills: Commerce, Justice, and Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environmental appropriations. These three bills were crafted with bipartisan input from both the House and the Senate. The Trump administration supports this package. I expect we will see robust bipartisan support for these bills in today's House vote. This three-bill package advances some important priorities. It funds programs that support law enforcement, promotes public safety in communities across America, invests in critical infrastructure projects, and it supports efforts to unleash American energy to provide affordable energy supply to the American people. There is one more thing about this package that is significant. It spends less money than a continuing resolution. That is right. This bill spends less taxpayer money than if we passed another CR or continuing resolution to fund these Agencies. That is not an accident. That is what we can accomplish when we make appropriations a priority, when we put in the work, make tough choices, and put it up for a vote.”