durbin has said, and there is one other person i just want to mention, and that's congressman louie gomert. he started on the house side with the same bill that i have introduced on the senate side and he has gained large support on the house side for this. i want to commend congressman gomert for assuring as we were watching this week and the very spirited debate that has gone on on the possibility of having a government shutdown, louie gomert stepped up first, and i want to give him credit for saying there's one group that we can't leave behind no matter what happens, and our bills are virtually the same, and whichever house can pass it first is fine with me because whatever we do, we have to do it together and we have to do it before midnight. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president, i just wandered onto the floor here hoping that we were coming to some type of an agreement. i very much regret that we have to careen from week to week, period to period funding our government on a temporary basis. i thin