January 3, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 1 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S9-S11]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to talk about what is happening in 
Congress. We are in the 13th day of the Trump shutdown--13 days that 9 
of 15 Federal Departments and dozens of Agencies have shut their doors; 
13 days in which hundreds of thousands of Americans have been 
furloughed or are working without pay; 13 days that Americans have been 
denied government services on which they rely and for which they pay 
taxes.
  The President is holding Federal Government funding hostage in an 
attempt to force American taxpayers to pay for an ineffective and 
expensive wall on the southern border that he promised over and over 
again Mexico would pay for. Everybody knows that is not true. Mexico 
will not pay for President Trump's wall. Unfortunately, the American 
people are paying the price of the Trump shutdown, and, frankly, he 
does not seem to care. Let me give some examples.
  Since the shutdown began, our national parks--the treasure of this 
country--have been left largely unsupervised. The welcome centers are 
closed. Park Rangers have been furloughed. There are few emergency or 
law enforcement personnel left to police the parks or rescue injured 
guests. That affects visitor safety, it reduces public access, and it 
threatens national and cultural resources in national parks in every 
part of our country. We are already receiving reports of damage to 
sensitive lands and national treasures--campgrounds littered with 
trash, overflowing toilets, locked restrooms. Even where parks remain 
open, campgrounds and other sites are beginning to close because of the 
obvious health and safety reasons.
  Aside from government, businesses and gateway communities surrounding

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our parks--taxpaying businesses--are also paying the price of lost 
sales, rentals, and empty storefronts, as families cancel their plans 
to visit because the shutdown drags on and on and on.
  Because of the Trump shutdown, the U.S. Forest Service has curtailed 
forest thinning and fire-prevention projects. Just think of that. 
Within months of when the Nation was reeling from and dealing with a 
record-setting fire season, we cannot do the things that might prevent 
these devastating fires--we cannot get in there and work on them.
  Just a few days ago, the Farm Service Agency shut their doors. That 
is the Agency that supports farmers and rural communities across the 
country. We came together--Republicans and Democrats--and passed a 5-
year farm bill. I was proud to be one of the conferees of that farm 
bill. I saw both parties work together. We passed it. It is a complex 
and important bill, but farmers and ranchers need information from that 
bill right now.
  Every farmer and rancher will tell you they are planning for the 
growing season: What can they plant? What should they buy? What should 
they do? They don't know how the laws will affect their operations 
heading into the planting season. Why? Because no one is in the office 
or staffing the phones, answering these questions or signing up 
producers for new programs. There is nobody there. Farmers will also 
not be able to apply for much needed loans that they count on to get 
started in the year and pay back as a result of their labor during the 
season.
  Many farmers, like those in my home State of Vermont, face financial 
hardship due to the dramatic drop in commodity prices brought on by 
President Trump's tariffs. They need these loans to help pay their 
bills, stay afloat through the winter and prepare for the spring 
planting. With banks not willing to lend to them and not knowing what 
is going to happen, many rely on the U.S. Department of Agriculture as 
their lender of last resort. But the doors are closed, and there is 
nobody home.
  While the President loudly proclaimed he would provide assistance 
through the Market Facilitation Program to help farmers mitigate the 
financial losses caused by his tariffs, as of December 28, there is no 
one there to process any new applications for these payments. The 
bottom line? The President put the tariffs in, but now they are told to 
fend for themselves because the President is holding the Department of 
Agriculture and its safety nets hostage to secure funding for his 
border wall. The Department of Agriculture has nothing to do with 
President Trump's border wall. It could not fund it if they wanted to. 
Yet virtually every farmer of every kind in this country is going to be 
affected by it.
  In addition to government services that have ground to a halt, an 
estimated 450,000 employees are working, but they are working without 
pay. That includes 41,000 Federal law enforcement and correctional 
officers at the Department of Justice--ATF agents, FBI, U.S. marshals, 
and DEA agents. They are not getting paid, but their mortgages still 
come due. The tuition payments for their children's education comes 
due. If they have healthcare costs, that comes due. They are told: You 
show up for work. Maybe we will get around to paying you and maybe we 
will not.
  Then, you have 380,000 Federal employees who also have children, 
families and bills who have been furloughed. They have no guarantee 
that they will receive back payment when they return to work. Let me 
give you an idea of who some of these people are. They are 96 percent 
of our employees at NASA. I suppose they can sit at home and watch 
China land their satellite on the back side of the Moon.
  Who else does it include? It includes 80 percent of the National Park 
Service, 60 percent of the Department of Commerce, and 33 percent of 
the Forest Service. In addition, many Federal contractors have 
discontinued their services, which leaves thousands of employees 
without work and without a paycheck.
  This doesn't affect the President, but many of our dedicated Federal 
employees work every day to serve our country, and they live paycheck 
to paycheck: custodial workers, cafeteria workers, telephone operators, 
contract specialists, customer service representatives. These are the 
people the taxpayers can call when they have a question, and now they 
get no answer. They are people who have mortgages to pay. They have 
families to take care of. This financial disruption comes on the heels 
of the holiday season, when so many families' budgets are tight, it is 
even harder to fathom. It is even harder to justify. In fact, I will 
say it cannot be justified.
  Most of these Federal employees who are without a paycheck have 
absolutely nothing to do with border security. That is the worst part 
about it. They are not the ones involved with border security, but they 
are casualties of President Trump's single-minded obsession of walling 
off our southern border. The President has repeatedly said: This is all 
about are border security.
  Really? Really? Come on. Give me a break. His actions caused the very 
Department in charge of securing our borders to be cut off from all the 
funding. Eighty-eight percent of the Department of Homeland Security 
employees are working without pay. They have to think about how they 
are going to pay their mortgage, their bills. They are working without 
pay. That includes 54,000 Customs and Border Patrol agents who protect 
our southern border and our northern borders. Many of them are 
veterans.
  As of January 1, roughly 42,000 hard-working, dedicated members of 
our Nation's Coast Guard will be protecting our country without pay. 
TSA officers screened over 2 million passengers and their bags per day 
through the holidays, but they are not being paid. I talked to some 
when I flew back from Vermont. It is hurting. One has healthcare bills. 
Another has a mortgage. They don't know how they are going to pay it.
  Last week, House Democrats put forward a commonsense path to end the 
Trump shutdown. They introduced a minibus comprised of six bipartisan 
appropriations bills and a continuing resolution for the Department of 
Homeland Security to keep it up and running through February 8.
  The House is going to vote on both these bills this evening. I expect 
they will pass. After all, just a few weeks ago, the same bills passed 
this Republican-controlled Senate unanimously. We know the votes are 
there to pass.
  I urge my friend, the majority leader, Senator McConnell, and Senate 
Republicans to take up these bills expeditiously. The six-bill minibus 
is not controversial. Senator Shelby is chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee, I am vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and we 
both voted for them, as have virtually all members of the 
Appropriations Committee. There is wide bipartisan support in this 
Chamber. In fact, four of the six bills passed the Senate 96 to 6. The 
other two reported out of the Appropriations Committee were nearly 
unanimous votes. Why? Because they are a product of bipartisan 
compromise. They provide billions of dollars in new resources to 
address critical needs of the American people and to protect the U.S. 
national security.
  It is irresponsible for the President to hold these six bills hostage 
in order to compel taxpayers to pay for his wall, a wall he falsely 
promised Mexico would pay for. If he would stop holding them hostage, 
we could pass these bills and send them to the President for signature. 
That would get the vast majority of the Federal Government back open 
for the good of the American people. We ought to do that.
  It also makes sense to pass a continuing resolution for the 
Department of Homeland Security through February 8. We should not shut 
down the very Agency responsible for securing our borders over a fight 
for what is the best way to secure our border.
  I will tell you what is not the best way, to furlough everybody, stop 
paying them, close down the government. Does that make us secure? Of 
course, it does not. Everyone agrees--Republicans and Democrats alike--
we need to keep our borders safe and secure. Let's have smart border 
security, border security that works--new technologies proven to work 
on the border and our ports of entry, new air and marine assets, and 
additional personnel where needed. We do not need a 30-foot medieval 
wall. I visited that border. I know from the professionals who are 
there

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what they need. They need a lot of resources, the very last of which 
would be a wall.
  Let's recall, before the holidays, the President said he would sign a 
continuing resolution through February 8. We had a path forward. We all 
relied on the President's word. After 24 hours of FOX News and 
rightwing pundits criticizing him, the President's ego was so bruised 
he reversed course and broke his word. Here we are, 13 days into a 
Trump shutdown.
  It has to end. We have a clear, sensible, responsible path forward. I 
strongly urge the Senate Republicans to support and pass this 
bipartisan compromise. After all, almost every Republican and every 
Democrat has voted for these bills. Let's vote for them again and tell 
the President we will work on what is needed for border security. We 
all agree on the need for border security. Let's work on what is the 
best way forward, but let's not close down the Department of 
Agriculture. Let's not close down all these other Departments that 
American taxpayers rely on.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The Senator from Texas is 
recognized.

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