Senator Collins Delivers Remarks Urging Quick Passage of Stopgap Funding Measure

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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today to urge the passage of the Continuing Resolution (CR) she crafted with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to prevent a government shutdown.

The bipartisan stopgap funding measure continues government funding levels until December 11, with targeted adjustments to avoid disruptions in crucial government activities and programs. It also prevents the Office of Management and Budget from implementing a new rule that could politicize grants and harm small, rural communities, and biomedical research.

Sen. Collins’ full remarks:

Mr. President, later tonight, my colleagues will be asked to pass the continuing resolution before us to prevent a government shutdown. As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft this stopgap funding measure. The continuing resolution that we produced is bipartisan and is supported by the administration.

Mr. President, after three unnecessary lapses in funding during the fiscal year 2026 cycle, putting the possibility of yet another harmful shutdown off the table should be a priority for each and every one of us. This continuing resolution is straightforward. It continues current government funding levels until December 11th, with limited anomalies aimed at avoiding disruptions in crucial government activities and programs.

For example, our legislation includes necessary adjustments for programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as the WIC program, to address program costs and participation levels. It allows the USDA loan programs to operate uninterrupted for our nation's farmers. It gives the Department of Housing and Urban Development the resources it needs to maintain housing assistance for thousands of families, and we all know how absolutely critical that is.

This continuing resolution also includes anomalies to prevent construction delays for several classes of U.S. Navy vessels, including the DDG-51. It includes language to counter emergent cybersecurity threats, and it would help federal law enforcement handle and plan for national security events. The resolution allows the administration immediate access to the full funding amounts for FEMA’s disaster relief fund and for the Forest Service and Department of Interior’s wildfire suppression efforts, we've only to look at the news to know just how critical those efforts and programs are. 

Mr. President, this bipartisan agreement also prevents the Office of Management and Budget from implementing a proposed rule regarding federal financial assistance from taking effect for the coming months. I advocated for significant changes in the proposed rule in a July 6 letter to the agency, citing its potential to politicize the grant-making process and harm small rural communities, our university colleges, and nonprofit laboratories, our hospitals, our families, and biomedical research in general. There have been nearly 500,000 comments on this proposed rule. The vast majority of them against the changes that are proposed. Mr. President, I don't think, in my time that I've been privileged to serve in the Senate, that I have ever seen a rule, a proposed rule, generate that many negative comments.

This CR also gives Congress the time that it needs to continue our work on bipartisan appropriation bills. Mr. President, last cycle we were successful in getting our appropriations bills passed and signed into law. I hope we can do that this time as well, and the additional time that the continuing resolution will give us should help bring that about. It is so important that Congress not abrogate its power of the purse, our constitutional responsibility. Senate passage of this continuing resolution would be a major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that could harm vital programs and throw the lives of federal workers into disarray. We saw what happened in the shutdowns that occurred during the last cycle, that were both unwarranted and unfair to so many of our federal employees, particularly those who were forced to work without knowing when they would be paid. We cannot allow that to happen again.

I very much appreciate the overwhelming bipartisan vote earlier today of 91 to six, with one person voting present, to move forward with this legislation. I urge another I vote tonight, so that we can keep our government open and working for the American people. Thank you, Mr. President.

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