00:00Chair Collins, we are here today to resume consideration of the CJS bill and take up
00:06the MilCon VA bill, and I do want to thank our MilCon VA subcommittee leaders, Senator
00:11Bozeman, Senator Asaf for all of your hard work.
00:16It is a good thing that by working together we were able to put together a solid bill
00:20that invests in folks back at home.
00:23This is the way this process should work.
00:27Others coming together and finding common ground on common sense investments.
00:32But I do have to acknowledge the elephant in the room here.
00:35It is no secret the path to advancing more of our bills is going to be harder because
00:41of the unprecedented partisan rescissions bill that Republicans just passed.
00:46It is extremely frustrating to see so many of the colleagues that have worked with us
00:52to pass funding bills, turn around, and vote to rip away the funding that we all agreed
00:58on.
00:59I've never seen anything like it because the Senate has never done anything like that
01:04before.
01:05We have never, until now, passed a purely partisan rescissions bill.
01:11It is a dangerous new precedent and it poses some hard questions my colleagues across the
01:17aisle need to start answering.
01:20Because Russ's vote has not been settled.
01:23Round two of these partisan cuts are on their way soon.
01:26He said that this morning.
01:28So what do my colleagues want to do?
01:30Do they want to turn this into the rescissions committee?
01:33Because that is one path we could end up going down.
01:36And as of now, we are one big alarming step down it.
01:41It is not the path I want to go down.
01:43I want to see us turn back to what has historically made this committee so powerful and so worth
01:50being on in the first place.
01:53Which is working together to advance bills that deliver for our constituents and get signed
01:58into law.
01:59And it is unfortunate that many members of this body have voted to make that a whole lot harder.
02:05That is the reality and there is no ignoring it.
02:09Now I do believe our work here is as important as ever.
02:13Writing bills that make the voice of the Senate and the voices of our constituents heard.
02:19Instead of letting Donald Trump and Russ's vote make the decisions with a forever CR.
02:25There is no doubt in my mind the bills that we negotiate together will be far preferable
02:31to the partisan house bills that cut like there's no tomorrow or another slush fund CR.
02:37We've already seen this president abuse the power from the last CR to ignore our bipartisan
02:43decisions, spend taxpayer dollars as he sees fit, and rob money from blue states exactly
02:51as I warned about.
02:52We've already learned that lesson the hard way.
02:55We cannot throw in that towel again and let OMB hold up funding for our states or zero
03:02out projects we secured for folks back home.
03:06That's part of why bipartisan bills are so important.
03:11But everyone has to understand getting to the finish line always depends on our ability
03:17to work together in a bipartisan way.
03:20And it also depends on trust.
03:24Trust.
03:25And as I warned on the floor bipartisanship does not end with any one line being crossed.
03:30It erodes over time bit by bit.
03:33And frankly I am alarmed by how quickly that erosion is happening right now over the last
03:39six months and certainly over the last 24 hours.
03:42We are racing in the wrong direction and it is really on my colleagues across the aisle to
03:48decide if they're going to hit the brakes or go over the cliff.
03:53The question of whether forging a bipartisan path is hopeless or not will depend very much
03:59on whether this committee is able to lock arms and whether our colleagues will defend bipartisan
04:05deals from a budget chief who believes quite plainly that Congress and appropriators should
04:12have as little say as possible on federal spending.
04:16I appreciate that two Republican members of this committee ultimately took a principled
04:21stand against the partisan rescissions package.
04:24I really hope that more will join us in standing up for our power of the purse.
04:32Now turning back to the bills before us today, the MilCon VA bill is one that I care deeply
04:36about.
04:37As the daughter of a World War II veteran, the programs we fund in our MilCon VA bill are very
04:43personal to me.
04:44Doing right by our vets, getting them the care they need and the support they were promised
04:49is a moral obligation.
04:51I'll have more to say as we debate the bill including areas I'd like it to have done more.
04:57But the bottom line is it delivers the funding needed to support safe and updated infrastructure
05:03for our troops and their families and to keep our word to our veterans.
05:08As the chairman noted, we will also retake up the CJS bill.
05:12I spoke last week about the serious concerns that I share with Senator Van Hollen and it
05:17is frustrating that after a bipartisan amendment was taken up instead of advancing the bill,
05:23we recessed and are now only taking it back up with consideration of a partisan amendment.
05:28My hope is that we can ensure the integrity of the process for the FBI site and it's protected
05:33along with the prerogatives of this committee.
05:35I am prepared to see what happens as this bill moves forward but I will possibly or probably
05:42vote no if this does not get addressed.
05:45WITH THAT I WILL TURN IT BACK OVER TO CHAIR COLLINS.
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