On the recordFebruary 8, 2018
Mr. President, I have asked unanimous consent that the Senate be allowed to vote on the pending matter, and there have been multiple objections, of course, by the Senator from Kentucky. I don't know why we are basically burning time here while the Senator from Kentucky and others are sitting in the cloakroom wasting everybody's time and inconveniencing the staff. We could easily move this matter forward and have a vote. The outcome will be exactly the same, and it is not inconsequential that the current continuing resolution, I believe, expires at midnight tonight. So the Senator from Kentucky, by objecting to the unanimous consent requests, will effectively shut down the Federal Government for no real reason. I know he wants to make a point. He has that right. I agree with many of his concerns about deficits and debt, but we are in an emergency situation. We have our military that is not ready to fight and win our Nation's wars the way it should be. We have military members who have died in accidents as a result of the lack of training and being stretched too thin because of budget cuts, and we need to fix that. General Mattis has pointed out that more American military members have died in training accidents and in regular operations than they have in combat. That is a tragedy that I would hope all of us would want to address.…
Source
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