[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12320-H12321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 AMERICANS HURT BY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I want to rise to speak tonight about the 
shutdown of the Government and what it means in human terms to 
thousands and thousands of people around the country and to say to 
Members that this is a very serious action that we 

[[Page H 12321]]
really do have to remedy in the very near future because lots and lots 
of people are being hurt, and, as each hour and day passes, more, and 
more, and more people will be hurt and damaged by the failure of this 
Congress to come forward with a continuing resolution.
  Just on day 1, 28,000 of America's seniors and workers have been 
unable to apply for Social Security or disability benefits. The Social 
Security offices are not open because of the furlough that happened 
today, and that simply means that people who have reached the age of 62 
or 65 and wanted to apply today for these benefits were not able to do 
that.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. 
Thurman].
  Mrs. THURMAN. I just thought of a little story that happened just 
recently in Ocala, FL. This is a very interesting story. It was their 
30th anniversary of being there and they asked us to come in and we 
did, and we talked about all the kinds of things that were going on, 
and we looked at their new computer systems and how quickly they were 
able to answer questions. But what they had was an office full of folks 
out in the front area.

                              {time}  1945

  I said, ``What are all those folks doing there?'' They said, ``Well, 
they have come here because they have a problem with their Social 
Security, they did not get their check. We are trying to track it down. 
The are trying to get on the service themselves,'' all these different 
things that these folks come to these Social Security offices for.
  Let me tell you what the mayor of the city of Ocala said in the 
resolution, in recognizing their 30-year anniversary. They bring into 
that city $45 million a month, a month, to help. That helps that 
economy within that city. Those folks are not there today, and they are 
very, very concerned about what is going to happen to those people and 
their benefits.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentlewoman for that story and 
contribution. I am sure that as the days roll on here, we are going to 
have hundreds and hundreds of stories of individuals who have had real 
problems in their life because of our inability to continue these 
needed government services.
  Two hundred thousand of America's seniors today have tried to get the 
1-800 help line for Social Security and have gotten no answer; 7,649 of 
America's veterans have been unable to file compensation pension and 
education benefit claims or adjustments.
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, 
the first thing that happened to me this morning, it was a very sad 
case. A woman in my district's son who was a police officer in New 
Orleans, non-related, was killed. She just brought his body home and he 
has been buried.
  The first thing that happened this morning was she was very concerned 
about her other son, who lives in New Orleans, who is in the Marines. 
She is concerned about his life. Had we not been there to answer the 
phones this morning, us, to help this young man get through the system, 
which we have done, we have told him how to do it, who he has to go 
talk to, and potentially how to get a hardship case to be brought back 
or taken and transferred to someplace else, his mother for the first 
time will probably have some comfort that somebody is working on that.
  These are not veterans, but they are military, and they are part of 
the system of defense of this country that we are ignoring. They have 
problems that they come to us and to our staffs with all the time.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentlewoman again.
  What I want to say to the Members tonight, Mr. Speaker, and I do not 
have enough time left to go through more stories, but what I hope that 
we can do in the days ahead is two things: One, tomorrow I will be 
circulating among Members two pieces of legislation and asking for 
their cosponsorship. One will be a 24-hour continuing resolution, and 
the other will be a 48-hour continuing resolution. I hope to get as 
many Members as cosponsors as we can possibly get.
  Second, Mr. Speaker, I hope to bring to the floor continuing facts 
and information on what is happening out in the country as a result of 
our failure to move forward with this continuing resolution. This is a 
manufactured crisis. This does not need to happen. I understand we have 
a dispute about the budget, I understand that both sides feel strongly 
about their views. I will not take the time tonight to go through the 
views that are on this side. But I must report that we do not need to 
manufacture a crisis in order to bring about a solution to that 
problem. No one needs leverage in this discussion.
  The Republican side has all the leverage they need. They have a 
majority in the Congress. They can pass the legislation that they want 
to pass. The President has a veto. The President can veto bills or sign 
bills. Then we have to bring bills back and send them downtown to try 
to get them signed.
  But to make innocent Americans the victims of our inability to solve 
this disagreement is simply morally wrong. We should not be doing it, 
there is no excuse for it, there is no reason that in the days ahead we 
should not be passing at least a 24-hour continuing resolution. If 
people are then unhappy about the pace of the talks and the 
negotiations, they can then vote against the next 24-hour continuing 
resolution, but we ought to give the American people what they have 
paid for, which is the services that these kinds of veteran's offices 
and Social Security offices are there to bring.
  We will be trying, through the endorsement of these two pieces of 
legislation, we will try to get on the floor and ask unanimous consent 
three or four times a day to bring up these pieces of legislation for 
24 hours or 48 hours of continuing resolution. We must continue to say 
to people what is happening, and we must continue to try to bring the 
situation, which is unexplainable and intolerable and totally morally 
wrong, to the attention of the American people, so that if people feel 
strongly about this, they will contact their representatives, we will 
get the votes to pass one of these bills, and we will get these offices 
reopened which are so important to the American people.

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