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[Pages H1219-H1220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXASPERATION/FRUSTRATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning about 800,000 Federal
employees from the 25 percent of the government that had been shut down
for the last 35 days finally were allowed to go back to work and
perform the amazing service that they do for the American people in a
whole host of different agencies.
All of us heard from such great Americans coming from our districts,
and certainly in the Second District of Connecticut, in eastern
Connecticut, was no exception.
So, for example, Clark Chapin, who is the head of the Farm Service
Agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who, again, for 35 days
was unable to work on the different farm programs that are so important
to eastern Connecticut farmers, particularly in the dairy sector with
the new dairy insurance program, his frustration in terms of not being
able to get that program up and running, again, was palpable when I
talked to him about a week or so ago.
We also have the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut,
where, again, that was the one branch of the military that was shut
down because they don't reside in the Department of Defense. They are
in the Department of Homeland Security.
Even though, as Admiral Carl Schultz, who is the Commandant of the
Coast Guard, pointed out on national television, there are Coast Guard
cutters serving in Bahrain in the fifth fleet side by side with the
U.S. Navy patrolling the territorial waters of the Persian Gulf in the
Straits of Hormuz in about the most hazardous waters in the world.
Their Navy counterparts were certainly being paid, but the Coast Guard
sailors and officers were not.
In addition, we have got Coast Guard cutters over in the Indo-Pacific
region doing work in the Straits of Taiwan, again, highly contested
waters. The unique skills that coastguardsmen and -women bring to that
particular type of patrol is essential to our country's national
defense and national security policy.
They, again, are just a couple of examples.
Constituents in the State Department serving overseas in hazardous
duty areas--the FAA, the TSA, the IRS, Commerce--this morning, I heard
from one of the Commerce employees. She went to work this morning. The
payroll system was flooded with folks trying to submit their timecards,
and the system crashed. They are still trying to sort that out so that
people will get not only their paycheck on Friday, but also retroactive
payments.
Last Thursday, again, hours before the settlement finally was reached
and the announcement was made from the White House, I held a telephone
townhall meeting. We had 8,000 listeners from all across the district
and, again, a very vigorous debate, and there was definitely
disagreement about whether there should be a wall on the southern
border or no wall.
But what there was universal agreement about was that shutdowns are
wrong, that shutdowns should never be used as a tool or leverage to
force a policy provision and cripple, again, the working lives of
people who, again, are patriots for this country, but also the
taxpayers who rely on the programs and services that they provide. That
is why, again, it was astonishing to see in The Wall Street Journal,
over the weekend, that President Trump gave an interview where he said
another shutdown is ``certainly an option.''
Mr. Speaker, if we have learned anything as a nation over the last 35
days, it is what those 8,000 folks who participated in my telephone
townhall articulated over and over again: This should not be used as
leverage to force an issue through the Congress. It should go through
normal and regular order.
We have a conference committee from the House and the Senate, from
both parties, that will begin their work over the next couple of weeks
or so to resolve the dispute. There is overlap. There is agreement in
terms of boosting border security.
But no one should be putting down as markers that we are going to
again disrupt the lives of these Americans once again just as they are
starting to finally get back into the office and get
[[Page H1220]]
the work done for the American people. Instead, what we should be doing
is voting, as we are tomorrow, on H.R. 790, which is to overturn
President Trump's executive order of December 28 canceling the pay
increase for non-DOD employees.
Again, some of the very same people whose lives were turned upside
down over the last 35 days are also going to lose their pay increase
based on the President's executive order. The bill we are going to vote
on tomorrow, H.R. 790, is going to overturn that executive order and
give those folks the same pay raise as folks in the Department of
Defense: 2.6 percent. These are people who, again, provide essential
public services for the people of this country.
If nothing else, it was a learning experience over the last month
about how vital that work is in terms of air travel, national defense
and military policy, as well as agriculture and processing of tax
returns at the height of the tax season.
Let's vote on measures that are going to restore and heal this
country over the damage that was done over the last 35 days and take
shutdowns off the table. It is time for shutdown politics to come to an
end.
____________________