12.21.17

Defense Funding, Children’s Health, Up Next in Senate

‘The Senate stands ready to take up an agreement as soon as one originates in the House. We are ready to work together, across the aisle, to ensure there is no lapse in funding for critical services. Furthermore, my Republican colleagues in the Senate stand ready and eager to ensure full and long-term funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding government funding:

“The Senate has important business to conclude this week. The American people are counting on Congress to reach a government funding agreement. If we fail to reach an agreement, we would be failing to ensure that our all-volunteer armed forces have all the resources they need to protect our country – in the face of myriad threats from around the globe. We would be subjecting programs that American families rely on to draconian sequestration cuts that none of us want to take effect.

“The Senate stands ready to take up an agreement as soon as one originates in the House. We are ready to work together, across the aisle, to ensure there is no lapse in funding for critical services. Furthermore, my Republican colleagues in the Senate stand ready and eager to ensure full and long-term funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“Nine million children receive coverage through CHIP. They and their parents deserve to know that Congress is committed to them. Republicans agree. We support a provision that would fund CHIP not just for a few weeks, but for five years.

“Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues are unwilling to make that commitment to American families. Thus far, they have opposed all our efforts to include five years of CHIP funding in this week’s agreement. Whatever partisan politics are leading my colleagues to this mystifying conclusion, it is time to put them aside and do right by our constituents. I hope all of us can work together to give Americans the peace of mind they deserve, particularly going into the Christmas season.”

Related Issues: Health Care, Budget, America's Military