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[Pages H547-H548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRUMP SHUTDOWN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this weekend, the Republican leader, Mr.
McCarthy, went on ``Face the Nation'' and said the following: ``It is
unacceptable that 800,000 U.S. employees are not being paid.'' He
didn't add, but he should have, that 440,000 of them are being made to
work while they are not paid.
But I agree that it is unacceptable that 800,000 U.S. folks are shut
out. It is unacceptable that Republicans and Donald Trump would shut
down the government and deny paychecks to 800,000 Americans because
they couldn't get congressional approval for an expensive and
ineffective border wall, even when they controlled all levers of
government.
Let me repeat that. They didn't get it done when they controlled all
levers of government.
The Republican leader went on to say: ``You know what we're arguing
over? One-tenth of 1 percent of the Federal budget.''
He is dead wrong on that. This isn't about a wall, or healthcare, or
the debt limit, or spending levels. It is about whether it is
appropriate policy for a President to threaten shutdowns and take the
country hostage to get what he wants.
It is malfeasant and malevolent to hold 800,000 Americans and,
indeed, the millions they serve hostage to the demands of a President
who, days before he shut down the government, told us that is exactly
what he intended to do.
That is why House Democrats, joined by several Republicans, passed
six of the seven remaining appropriations bills for fiscal year 2019,
all of which had bipartisan support in the Senate, and a continuing
resolution to reopen the Department of Homeland Security on the first
day of the new Congress.
It is also why, last week, House Democrats passed, on an individual
basis, four of those same appropriations bills to reopen portions of
government that the Senate approved by a vote of 92-6, over 90 percent,
almost 95 percent of the Senators.
Our colleague from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) was concerned that these were
not products of the House. He is right. So vote to open up a government
with a CR, which you will have an opportunity to do three times, my
Republican colleagues. Let's conclude the appropriations process by
passing bills agreed upon by the House and the Senate.
What we have been saying all along is: Reopen the people's
government. Shutting it down is an illegitimate, immoral act.
I disagree with the Republican leader's characterization of
Democrats' position as taking a stand for a certain level of funding.
Just give us X amount of money for a wall, Republicans and the
President say, and the shutdown will end.
This is not about a wall. It is about trying to gain an end by
threat, rather than by democratic debate. One side cannot, must not,
continue to threaten shutdowns to get its way in a democracy.
Our research does not show us another democracy in the world that
shuts itself down. That is not how the system should work.
If Donald Trump is permitted to bully the American people and their
representatives into giving him whatever he wants, does anyone think,
for a second, we won't be right back here in a few weeks, or a few
months, with yet another shutdown over the next item on the President's
wish list?
Give me more tax cuts for the wealthy, or I will shut down the
government, he will say. Cut Medicare and Social Security, or I will
default on the debt.
This is about more than money to build a wall on our border. It is
about whether to firm up the wall around our democracy.
We need to end this shutdown now, reopen the government first, and
discuss, rationally, how best to secure our borders, an objective many
of us have voted to do over the years, with substantial increases in
our investment in security at all of our borders.
The only beneficiaries, very frankly, of this shutdown are Russia,
China, Iran, and our other enemies and those who would like to see us
fail. If this
[[Page H548]]
shutdown continues, it will further weaken us on trade, on national
security, on protecting our interests around the world, and in serving
our people here at home. And it will continue harming our economy,
which has already lost nearly as much in GDP as the President wants for
his wall.
Mr. Speaker, if Leader McCarthy truly finds it unacceptable for this
shutdown to continue, I ask him and all my Republican colleagues to
join us in urging Senator McConnell, who has called shutdowns ``failed
policy,'' and President Trump to end it by taking up the bills the
House has already passed to do so.
Mr. President, open our government for the people.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
____________________
