resolution providing for consideration of the bill senate 2322 to amend the food and cosmetic act to define the term natural tea. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. the chair declares the house it have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks . the speaker pro tempore:

without objection. mr. cole: mr. speaker, today, the rules committee met and reported a rule for consideration of the further additional continuing appropriations act of 2019. the rule provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the appropriations committee. mr. speaker, the appropriations package in front of us represents the fourth appropriation package to fully fund the government for fiscal year 2019. while the congress has completed its work with respect to almost 75% of total discretionary spending, including notably the department of defense, health and human services, education, labor, roughly 25% of discretionary spending remains outstanding. today's bill will provide a short-term continuing resolution to february 8, 2019, to ensure that the entirety of the federal government remains open and operating while the congress continues to work. .

i've said on numerous occasions on this floor and else where that continuing resolutions are not the best way to fund the government but allowing the government to shut down even in part is much costlier and much worse. it's our obligation to our constituents to keep all the government open and operating and to provide needed services. mr. speaker, from an appropriations perspective, this year has been remarkably successful. earlier this year we sent five of the 12 appropriations bills to the president for his signature before the beginning of the fiscal year. that's the best record in 22 years. with the hard work and from both sides of the aisle and both houses of congress, our earlier efforts represented a return to regular order. this is a normal legislative process. for us to drop the ball now at the end of the year, at the end of congress, would negate much of the good work that has already been done this year. as i've said so often on the

floor the primary obligation of congress is to fund the american government and keep it open and operating. the american people deserve no less. with this package under consideration today, congress will do just that with respect to seven of the 12 remaining bills. agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration and the related agencies, commerce, justice, science and related agency, financial services and the general government, homeland security, interior, environment and related agencies, state, foreign operations, and related program, and finally the transportation, housing, and urban development and related agencies. as my colleagues can see from this list the group of bills covers a wide array of government programs the american people rely upon. it includes key departments like the department of homeland security, food and drug administration, the border patrol and the state department. it covers services like funding

roads, operating security check points at airports, passport service, food inspection service, importation and exportation of goods and service, banking services, and thousands of other important government functions. an perhaps just as importantly, it covers approximately 800,000 employees, about half of whom would need to be furloughed and about half of whom would likely be deemed essential and be required to work without a guarantee of pay. while continuing resolutions are in no way, shape, or form the best way to do business, the measure before us today will at least ensure that the government remains open and operating and will continue to provide the needed services for our nation and our constituents. i look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming weeks to complete our work on the funding of government for fiscal year 2019. importantly this bill also includes funding for disaster relief and to secure the border. the american people have made

their voices heard. and they've told us time and time again they want additional border security. to that end, this bill appropriates $5 billion for the purpose of securing the border. finally, mr. speaker, this bill also appropriates $7. billion for disaster relief. as we've seen time and again in places like new orleans, after the hurricane -- after hurricane karina, east coast after hurricane sandy, my own hometown of moore, oklahoma, after devastating tornadoes, disasters require a helping hand by appropriating these funds -- a helping hand. by appropriating these funds we offer our fellow american who was been afflicted by disasters the help they need and require. mr. speaker, i urge support for the rule and the underlying legislation and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts

is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker, i want to thank the gentleman from oklahoma for the customary 3 minutes and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: let me begin by thanking my colleague from oklahoma for the work he and other appropriators did to try to keep the government running. and we are here right now not because of the appropriators, we are here right now because donald trump has made a mess of things. mr. speaker, it is surreal that we are here today. days before the end of a congress. hours before a quarter of the federal government runs out of money. scrambling to keep the lights on at the brink of the third republican government shutdown this year. because we're not dealing with divided government. republicans today control not only this chamber but also the senate and the white house. they have been fighting among themselves for weeks over

whether and how to keep the government of the united states open for business. it would be comical fit wasn't so serious. this proposal that we are being given right now is not a solution. it is a political temper tantrum. all to please one man. the person sitting at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. it doesn't solve disagreements of the chamber or the senate and doesn't prevent the shutdown america is facing. this president and this majority ran on fear during the last election. fear of immigrants. fear of those seeking asylum. fear of anyone that doesn't look exactly like them. and what happened, mr. speaker? they were resoundingly rejected. the american people chose a different course. they don't want a government that reacts only to the wants of the president's ever-shrinking base. the small segment of society who

actually supports his offensive border wall. now let me remind my colleagues according to polling, americans by a 2-1 margin want the president to compromise on the wall to avoid a shutdown. this proposal is exactly what the president may want but precisely what the american people reject the senate passed a bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the lights on. this house was prepared to pass it nell president's latest outburst. governing by tweet isn't governing at all. if the president's most senior advisors are fox and friends and rush limbaugh, maybe we shouldn't be surprised when we find ourselves here today. but this morning, this house came together to pass same-day authority so that the majority could move quickly on a bipartisan shoverple continuing resolution. democrats joined our republican colleagues in this effort to provide the tools needed to keep

the lights on. and this is how you're using them? this isn't a serious plan. to even vote for disaster relief, this bill requires you to support the president's offensive wall. democrats and the american people have already rejected this false choice. this wall is a medieval solution to a 21st century problem. what's next, mr. speaker? money for a mote around mar-a-lago? this will not become law, what we're ding right now. this is a waste of time. it even -- if it even passes here which is a big if, it's dead on arrival in the senate. i would say to my friends, the clock is ticking. let's get to work on a clean bill that can make it to the president. this isn't that. this is just offensive. and again let me remind those in this chamber, the senate in a bipartisan way, came together,

by a voice vote, and supported a continuing resolution a clean c.r., to keep the government running for seven weeks. that's it. that's all we're proposing here today. and this chamber can't even do that. this is a disgrace and i urge my colleagues to reject it. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i want to make a couple of comments before i recognize my friend from alabama and fellow rules committee member for three minutes, let me just quickly point out that we're really talking about border security here. this clearly isn't simply a wall. frankly there's not enough money involved here. s that matter of providing additional security. important to note, the border patrol union itself fully supports what the president is trying to do. these are the types of things they've asked us to provide them so they can provide us with the security we task them to give to the american people. the disaster relief is something

i think probably both sides should be able to agree on. we know there's a genuine disaster. we've had fires, we've got hurricane relief. i have a detailed summary here of all the various items that would be taken care of, be more than happy to provide that to my friend. that's something we should do before we go home. that's something frankly americans have a right to count on. i remember and i was with my friends in this endeavor, during the sandy debate. and how desperately we needed aid at that point in time. and how severely the action was when congress went home and then -- without getting that done and came back in january. and i think the reaction was appropriate. so this disaster relief is extraordinarily important and i hope that we focus on that in our debate as well. with that, mr. speaker, i would like to yield, if i may, three minutes to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from alabama, a fellow member of the rule committees, mr. byrne.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. byrne: i want to add my support to this rule. mr. speaker, when did protecting the american people, knowing who is entering our country, and having a secure border become so kind of radical or partisan idea? i'm stunned to see the length to which some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will go simply to oppose enhanced border security including a border wall. in fact it seems they're willing to shut down the federal government instead of supporting president trump's urgent request for $5 billion to fund the border wall. what is especially strange is that some of mir colleagues on this other side have already supported a wall in the past. some have even voted in support of a border wall. what has changed? i think the answer is very simple. i think some of my colleagues are so committed to appeasing the so-called resistance that they find themselves opposing a very basic and commonsense idea

like border security just because they want to earn points the most extreme part of their political base. this is not a complicated issue. this is about the safety and security of the american people. this is about keeping terrorists out of our country. this is about keeping illegal drugs out of our country. this is about keeping criminals out of our country. this shouldn't be hard. why am i so passionate about this? because this is a critical issue. when i talked to the people i represent back in alabama, they are passionate about it. this is one of the top issues i hear about at events and town halls throughout alabama. in fact the phones in my office have been ringing all day with people urging us to stand strong, secure our borders, and build the wall. mr. speaker, i think this is a fight worth fighting. i think pushing to ensure the safety of the american people is worthy and is absolutely a critical fight. so i urge my colleagues to stop playing to the resistance, come

back toward the commonsense idea like securing our border, pass this amendment, pass the funding bill and ensure the safety of the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: if i thought for one second that building a stupid wall would somehow secure our borders i'd be for it. but every expert i've talked to, including people on the border, say they need more personnel. say we ought to invest more in electronic equipment to surveil our borders. i don't know if a -- of a wall that's ever been built that people haven't climbed over or dug under. this is ridiculous. by the way, when the president campaigned, he said he wanted to build a wall and mexico was going to pay for it now he wants to build a wall that by all accounts is going to be useless in terms of protecting our borders and he wants the american tax payers to pay for it. $5 billion, how about rebuilding our reds an bridges that are crumbling in this country? if you get $5 billion you don't care what you do with, how about

investing it in affordable housing? or how about dealing with the issue of climate change or how about making sure that some of the 40 million-plus americans in if this country who don't have enough to eat have food. wasting money on something so ridiculous is offensive. so we want border security, we're happy to work with you on enhanced border security, but this isn't it. this is a campaign slogan. this is a waste of taxpayer money. it is ridiculous. it is embarrassing. and for the president to want to shut down the government over this, is disgraceful. by the way on the disaster package, just so my colleagues understand this, this disaster package, the disaster package in this bill does not include $600 million in nutrition assistance for puerto rico. so unless this congress takes immediate action, 1.4 million of our fellow citizens in puerto rico stand to suffer deep cuts in food assistance. causing many of them to go hungry.

that is shameful. where is the help for them? of course we should pass a clean c.r. to ensure that our government remains open. but my friend talked about disaster assistance and i just wanted to point out that one thing that is missing in their disaster package is this nutrition money for our fellow citizens of puerto rico. i'm sure there are others. we're rushing this thing through, you know, there's no transparency here. we thought we had a deal to keep the government open for seven weeks and then all of a sudden i guess the president tuned in to fox and friends and changed his mind. you can't -- you don't know where this president is going to be day-to-day or hour to hour or minute to minute but he's the guy who said that he'd be proud to own a shutdown. well, i think it would be a disaster for this country to have another shutdown. i think it would be expensive. and i think we ought to do everything we can to avoid it.

that's why we ought to send a clean c.r. back to the senate with. that, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i want to make a couple of comments in regard to some of the statements my good friend made. . we are talking about $3.3 billion. the senate bill that frankly was passed actually added $1.7 the admission that physical barriers do make -- it would not build an entire wall. quite the opposite. it would just provide some physical barriers at points along the border that are weak and need additional security. my friend says nobody is interested in this. frankly, the border security unions are. the border patrol has endorsed the president's proposal. they tell -- the men and women we tambing to defend our -- task to defend our borders tell

us this is something they need. they said they would support a government shutdown. i've never been for government shutdown. but this is not an extraordinary amount of money in a bill, frankly, that totals well over $250 billion when you add up all the spending. and being able to put additional security there is important. so my friend's point about puerto rico. i think that's a good point. i think that's a fair point to make, and probably we should go back and take a look at that. i do know that americans, you know, desperately need assistance in a variety of various, puerto rico included, that help is necessary, agriculture help, help for rebuilding military installations that's been destroyed, help for rebuilding schools that have been destroyed. why can't we get that done? it's a very substantial package. there's actually more money in this bill for disaster relief

for american citizens than there is for additional border security. so i think this is an imineptly sensible proposal -- imminently sensible proposal and with that, mr. speaker, i would urge its adoption and the adoption of the rule and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i really don't want to prolong this debate much longer here, but, you know, every day with this administration is another self-made crisis, another demonstration of bad faith. no one can trust what comes out of the white house, what the president says. i mean, his word is worthless. and here we are as evidence of that fact. mr. speaker, the government is set to run out of money tomorrow. we are running out of time to act. but apparently this is exactly what president trump wants. last week he said he would be, and i quote -- and i'm quoting

here -- proud to shut the government down, end quote. and today he confirmed he wouldn't even sign a clean c.r. to keep our government open for just a few more weeks. it is irresponsible and abhorrent to attach funding for his offensive border wall to a bill to keep the lights on. that is why if we defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up the senate amendment to h.r. 695, which is the clean c.r. that has already passed the senate by a voice vote. every democrat and every republican, you know, stood together and passed this c.r. it wasn't controversial over there. somehow it is controversial over here. mr. speaker, i want to ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the record along with extraneous material prior to the vote on the previous question. and i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma is

recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes to my very good friend from the great state of michigan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker. you know, we all took an oath. i know we remember that oath. it's my first oath of office. to keep our citizens safe, to protect them, protect our borders, protect in the case of disasters and, in fact, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the past have upported a border wall, border protection. mr. mitchell: now since the name president trump is on it, it's evil, it's bad. how politically convenient. i remind you of the oath we took to protect the citizens in this nation that apparently we are so readily to toss aside when it's politically expedient. you talk about a deal that was

made. there was no deal. the senate may have made whatever deal they wish to make. i am not aware we work for the united states senate, mr. speaker. i represent people from the 10th congressional district. i tell you what they say. they want our borders secure. they want us to take people from disasters. their heartaches for the people in florida, georgia, california. they were devastated by disasters. they say, why can't we fund the disaster relief for those people? please, let's not talk about a deal that was made in the other house, because we're not responsible to them. we are responsible to the people who elected us. one last point, we are at this point of struggling over keeping the government open -- and let's be honest about it -- it's part of the government. the other side talks about shutting down the government. it's about 20%, 25% of the government. we're at this point because the senate won't make a deal that

doesn't protect the fairly ten with us position that the future speaker has on the other side of the aisle and she doesn't want to make a deal. i spent 35 years in private business. compromise is the way it works. compromise was offered and summarily rejected in minutes in the senate by mr. schumer and by ms. pelosi. i ask my colleagues to support the rule to pass the resolution, send it back the senate and tell them to do their job. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i just respond to the gentleman, we're all for compromise. this seven-week c.r. is a compromise. the clean c.r. is a compromise. and in a bipartisan way, unanimously in the united states senate, they accepted it. the president said he was for it. then, he changed his mind after

watching "fox and friends" or listening to some right-wing radio host. you know, the gentleman talks about protecting the border. we want to protect the border. we want to invest in things that protect the border. not in a press release, not in a sound bite, not in something that's a total waste of money like a wall. and, you know -- but what about the fact that the president is going to shut the government down over a stupid wall and that means that the men and women who work for the department of homeland security, the people who protect our borders will not get paid? we're not going to support them. one of my republican colleagues today said when we were faced with that question and said, quote, it's actually part of what you do when you sign up for any public service position. really? that's how we treat and respect the men and women who are charged with protecting our borders, we turn our backs on

them during the holiday season? merry christmas. we're not going to pay you. you know, what they need -- and if you go to the border and talk to them, what they need are more personnel. they want us to invest in more electronic equipment to help them survail the border. and they will tell you that this idea of a wall is dumb. it doesn't work. it's not going to protect this country. it is a waste of money. and we had a deal to move this c.r. forward, and the president changed his mind. he reneged on his word. he didn't keep his promise. and here we are. so as republicans fight with republicans here in the house, thankfully the senate in a bipartisan way came up with a solution that was a compromise. democrats are willing to support that compromise. but somehow it's not enough. mr. speaker, i want to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman

from texas, ms. ms. jackson lee:. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: the gentleman from massachusetts, thank you. ranking member, soon-to-be-chair. i know what it's like to wait on disaster aid and not getting it. and among other things, this potential or so-called disaster aid is missing. it's missing dollars needed by the people of puerto rico which i walked the streets and saw how desperate the need was. it doesn't even include the $600 million in assistance for puerto rico dealing with food nutrition. i remember in the time of hurricane harvey, we begged for an extension for the food nutrition program called the supplemental disaster food nutrition and in three days we served 30,000 people. you have to feel the pain to understand. but really, mr. speaker, this is a sham and a shame, because republicans are in the united states senate.

let the american people understand that. and they fostered this compromise. they came together. they sent it to the president. they spoke to the president. the president agreed that we would do it in this manner, and that we would look at this issue on the other side of 2019. and what happened here? a callus disregard of border patrol agents, disregard of border -- customs and border protection, disregard of the national guard, the military, that's down at the border who are out there every day and a disregard of jacqueline, the 7-year-old who died because we don't have the adequate health facilities, medical care, medevac and the kinet of decent living conditions -- yes, decent that is warranted. we're shutting down commerce, justice. we don't have enough judges at the border. we don't have enough judges to

render justice ordeal with the asylum cases. so if these folk want border security it is not just the wall. it is the technology. it's the agent. it's understanding human beings are coming across the border. it's medical care. and it is as well the security that we need. so i'm here to say, mr. speaker, as i close, what is sham and a shame, let's get the senate bill and put it on the floor and i introduced yesterday h.r. 7330 that says no american tax dollars will be paid for the wall. mexico will pay for it. border security will be based upon technology and personnel and barriers. let's pass that bill and pass the c.r. in the senate. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, sometimes in heated debate it's easy to miss what the real essence of the dispute

is. when i vote for the rule -- and i don't expect my friends to vote for the rule. that's always a partisan exercise. but when i vote for the underlying legislation, i will actually be voting to fund the government. my friends vote no, they'll be voting not to fund the government. if they're worried about funding the government, all they have to do is vote for this bill, because it funds the government. the second thing i'll be voting for is disaster relief. now, my friends have said that there are other areas that are worthy of relief. that's probably true. and i don't have any quarrel with that. but i wouldn't vote against this disaster relief because it wasn't enough. i would vote for this and then try to get additional in the time that we have remaining. and finally, i'll be voting for enhanced border security. now, we all know we have a problem. we all know that our border is not as secure as we would like. there is a debate over wall versus no wall. this really isn't a wall.

the wall would be $25 billion. our friends have offered $1.7 billion. the president has been the one who's compromised, who's come back with $5. and so we're talking about $3.3 billion for various physical barriers at spots that we all agree they would almost certainly work. done with the cooperation of our other people at homeland security. finally, we're talking about not paying border agents. border agents have told us this is what they need. that's what their union has said. that's what their elected representatives have said. we want to do what the president has proposed. the president isn't shutting down the government. the president is willing to sign legislation that funds all the government. he's asked for disaster relief, something that should not be controversial in this chamber, in my view, but sometimes is. d finally, he's asked for an offly modest amount of money to provide additional security along the border that the border patrol itself has asked for. that's really what's at issue.

when you vote against this legislation, you'll be the ones voting to shut down the government. not the president. not my colleagues in this chamber. not the senate. whatever they decide to do in their infinite wisdom. but a no vote on the underlying legislation is a vote to shut down the government. a yes vote for the rule -- my friends would differ with and that's fair enough -- but a yes vote for the underlying legs is to keep the government open -- legislation is to keep the government open, take care of the disasters we're faced with and provide modest additional support to our border agents and border patrol and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i need to correct the record on a few things here. it was the president who said he would be proud to shut the government down. my colleague may recall not too long ago, the president has a

meeting with speaker-designate speaker and senator schumer. bragged about it. the president invited the cameras in and said i would be proud to own the shutdown. we know where the president stands on this. he doesn't care about shutting the government down. we should. the gentleman said that votes on rules are always partisan, well, for the most part, they are. but not this morning. not this morning. my republican friends brought a marshal lau rule to the law which we don't like because it condenses the process and they don't have a lot of time to look at things, but nonetheless, we said we would vote for it. and every democrat voted with republicans to move this rule forward so we can bring up the senate-passed continuing resolution today and keep the government running and pay the

men and women who protect our borders. we came in good faith and we did that. we want border security. we just think that wasting billions of dollars on a stupid wall that doesn't do anything to protect our country is the wrong way to go. so if you want to vote to keep the government open, then you should vote with us to defeat the previous question. because if we defeat the previous question, then i will bring up the senate-passed continuing resolution and all vote for it. we could all keep the government running and all good home have a merry christmas and happy new year. that's how simple it is. my republican friends are bringing a rule to the floor that says if you vote for this rule, there is no separate vote on the border wall. it's all together. and they know what's going to happen if it passes the house, it will go over to the senate

and they are not going to accept this. they had a compromised and if you want to keep the government open, then vote with the democrats on defeating the previous question and we will bring up a clean c.r. and do the right thing and do what we thought we were going to be doing this morning until the republicans got in a fight with each other and here we are. mr. cole: i'm prepared to close. mr. mcgovern: let me say, mr. speaker, i'm looking at a headline here today that says s. stocks clobbered with dow losing 500 points over government shutdown. creating in a stock market is how a drama queen might act but not how a president should behave. this is totally manufactured by the white house crisis.

this is ridiculous we are at this point after all the agreements that have been reached in the senate and we thought, here in the house. the president turned the tv set and started watching fox news and got carried away and now is renigging on his agreement. that's unfortunate. but i would again say to my colleagues, let us defeat the previous question and we which will bring up a clean c.r. and keep the government open and do the right thing for the american people and make sure that the men and women who are protecting our border, get paid this christmas holiday. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities with the president. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized to close debate on this legislation.

mr. cole: i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: i want to thank my friend. as always, it's a spirited debate and want to be the first to say he is exactly on a point that he made. occasionally he did earlier today actually help me on this side of the aisle. i was much more persuasive this morning than i was this afternoon. my friend is exactly right and we have worked together and i thank him for that. i want to review what i see at least, mr. speaker, as the main issues here. number one, we all say we agree we want to keep the government funded and i believe we all do. we don't believe this government shutdowns and we all believe the government ought to be funded. the underlying legislation does exactly that. i think all of us on both sides of the aisle care about americans who have been hurt in disasters.

and we have shown that time and time again and we have struggled on occasion, but we germly get aid to where it's needed and if we overlook somebody, we try to come back and do it again. this bill makes a good faith effort to provide billions of dollars in assistance to millions of americans who have been ravaged by fire, damaged by hurricanes, who face a variety of disasters, not just in the united states but in the territories as well. again, if we have overlooked something, we should go back to take care of that as well. finally, it provides a very modest amount of money. remember, this package together is over $250 billion, the difference between the two sides unless my friends object to disaster relief, is $3.3 billion that's what the president he thinks in additional expenditure along the border or $5 billion,

but the difference between the two sides is $3.3 billion. that doesn't build the wall. the president is not uncompromising. he has been talking about an elaborate border security of $25 billion this is five, not 25. this will provide additional security. there are points along the way where physical barriers matter and make a difference. i think that's what the president is asking tore. my friends worry and rightly so about people not getting paid during a government shutdown, which i hope we avoid, quite frankly. but the men and women on the board have asked the president to do this. they support what he is trying to do. when we send troops into combat, i listen to what they have to say and so does this congress. we put people in difficult

situations along the border and tells us these are the tools they need and the president is trying to support them and we should support him in that effort. i encourage all members to support the rule. today's bill represents the next step towards fulfilling our primary obligation as members of congress to fund the government while continuing resolutions are never the best way to fund the government, today's measure will allow us to keep the entire government open and operating and providing needed services for our country and our constituents until february 8 of 2019. this measure will give congress the time it needs to complete the rest of our work and fully fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2019. i want to applaud my colleagues for their work, and with that, i yield

> the house is in recess to work on a government funding bill. voted note senate to proceed with a bill that boatdes $5.7 billion for a wall. after the vote, mitch mcconnell and charles schumer outlined a way head for the senate. the vice president: on this vote the yeas are 47. the nays are 47. the senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative. the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. the clerk: resolved, that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the amendment of the house to the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 695 entitled afternoon act to amend the national child protection act and so forth and for other purposes with an amendment. the vice president: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: colleagues, here is where we are. it's now clear there are enough votes to proceed to the pending legislation