[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 182 (Thursday, November 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17194-S17195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            NO BUDGET-NO PAY

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I wish to add a few comments to the issue 
that the Senator from California raised with respect to legislation 
that would require that Members of Congress and the President be 
treated in the same manner as those Federal employees whose pay will be 
suspended during this period of a shutdown.
  I think we all recognize the hardships this poses to the hundreds of 
thousands of Federal employees across the country. I think at the same 
time we are experiencing this shutdown, Members of Congress and the 
President should have their pay suspended.
  That is why I have introduced this legislation that complements the 
legislation introduced by the Senator from California and that is now 
part of the DC appropriations bill. But until such time as that becomes 
law, we still have to address this issue with respect to this present 
shutdown and making it retroactive. I just do not happen to believe 
that we as Members of Congress and the President should be treated any 
differently.
  I regret that we have not been able to bring this legislation up 
tonight so that we have a chance to put ourselves in the same position 
as every other Federal employee. That is what this legislation would 
do. Interestingly enough, it has the support of 21 Members of this 
Senate, including the Senate majority leader. I worked with the Senator 
from California [Mrs. Boxer] on this issue as well.
  We should be able to bring up this legislation, and we should be able 
to vote on it so that we move in the direction of being in the same 
position, sharing the same difficulties, the same economic hardships as 
those individuals who see their pay suspended during this period of 
time.

  Unfortunately, we do not know how long this shutdown will continue. 
Nevertheless, I do not think that we as Members of Congress want to be 
viewed differently, putting ourselves into another group as we are 
going through this shutdown. We should not be immune or isolated from 
those difficulties that Federal employees are now experiencing.
  That is true for those employees who work in our offices, and I have 
15 such employees who are not working at this moment in time. Why 
should I not have my pay suspended if their pay is being suspended? I 
think most of us would agree. So I hope that we will be able to have 
this opportunity tomorrow to address this issue and to pass this 
legislation. It is a matter of fairness, and it is a matter of equity.
  I hope the President signs the continuing resolution that just passed 
in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. But if that does not 
happen, we still would go on into a prolonged shutdown, and I do not 
think that we should be getting our pay, not experiencing any 
discomfort, while Federal employees who are not able to work and even 
those who are still not going to be paid at this moment in time.
  So I urge my colleagues to insist that this legislation be considered 
tomorrow. I appreciate the support that is being given to this issue by 
the Senate majority leader. In fact, there were 21 of us who sent a 
letter to the Senate majority leader asking for this legislation to be 
considered, and he supports that effort. I hope everybody will do so 
because this is absolutely essential.
  I think we are facing enormous difficulties as it is with public 
confidence in the political process, but I do not think that that 
confidence should be undermined further by the fact that we are somehow 
in this separate category, somewhat isolated from the problems that 
Federal employees are currently facing. 

[[Page S 17195]]

  At the beginning of this year, the first piece of legislation that 
this Congress considered and, indeed, enacted and signed into law by 
the President was the Congressional Compliance Act that required 
Congress to abide by the same laws that apply to the rest of this 
country. I think that this legislation certainly reaffirms that policy 
and moves us in that direction. It is a matter of fairness. It is a 
matter of equity. It is right.
  So with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. HARKIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to join with my colleagues, the 
Senator from Maine and the Senator from California, in supporting this 
legislation to have Senators and Congressmen treated the same as all 
other Federal employees.
  I agree with the Senator from Maine on everything she said but for 
one thing. If the majority leader of the Senate wanted this bill up, he 
could have brought it up tonight. That is the power of the majority 
leader. If the majority leader wanted this up tomorrow, he could have 
included it in the unanimous-consent request to bring it up tomorrow, 
and we would vote on it tomorrow.
  So let us have no doubt about it, it is up to the majority leader 
whether or not we vote on this or not and no one else on this floor. 
With that one exception, I agree with everything else the Senator from 
Maine said.
  She was right, as was Senator Boxer, that earlier this year one of 
the first bills we passed was a bill to make sure that all the laws 
that apply to other people apply to Members of Congress. We all 
applauded that, voted for that, that we all live under the same laws. 
People cannot understand why we had gone so long without doing that, 
but we did it. But there was one glaring loophole. When it comes to our 
pocketbook, we want to be treated differently than all other people and 
all other Federal workers.
  As the Senator from California said, there are hundreds of thousands 
of Federal workers who went home today not knowing that they are not 
getting paid for the work they do. There are others who are not even 
going to work and not getting paid. But our pay is automatic. It is 
like an entitlement. We have an entitlement for our pay. No matter what 
happens, we continue to get paid.

  We just finished a day of activity here, the last vote of the day. 
There are five Senators left on the floor. Everybody has taken off. 
They have gone home secure in the knowledge that no matter what 
happens, the paychecks we get next Monday will be full. We will get 
paid for every day that we are here.
  That is kind of a nice thought, is it not, Mr. President? It is kind 
of a nice thought to go home in the evening after a long day's work and 
know that when your next paycheck comes, you are going to get paid. 
Think about it, think about all those workers, think about our staff 
people here, think about all the Federal workers, think about the air 
traffic controllers if you will, Mr. President, who are out there 
working a very high-stress job, safely guiding aircraft through crowded 
corridors. It is a high-tense job. It is a job that requires a lot of 
skill, intense concentration, good judgment and decisiveness. Air 
traffic controllers put in a hard day's work. Just think, Mr. 
President, they are going home tonight knowing that next Monday when 
they get their pay, they will not be paid for the work they did today 
or the work they did yesterday or the work they did the day before.
  How do you think that works on someone's mind? These are people like 
you and me. They have homes, mortgages, kids in school and illnesses. 
We are very smug around here, are we not? We are so smug around here 
because nobody can touch us. We get our pay; we do not care what 
happens.
  I tell you, I think it is one of the grossest things that is going on 
today in Congress and in the Federal Government that we can shut it 
down, throw all these people out or force people to come to work, so-
called essential people have to go to work but they are not getting 
paid. I thought we did away with slavery in this country. They have to 
come to work, but they are not going to get paid. It is just not 
justifiable.
  So I think at least we ought to take up the bill and pass it. It just 
says if we are not doing our jobs, we do not get paid like other 
Federal workers until this bill passes. Apply the same rule that 
applies to air traffic controllers, drug enforcement agents, Medicare 
fraud investigators, FBI agents, Defense Department personnel--everyone 
else. Make the same laws apply to us.
  You wonder sometimes why people in this country are so cynical about 
Congress. Well, you do not have to wonder too long when you see what is 
happening now. So smug around here, we can do all this. We do not care 
what happens. Send all these workers home. Make them come to work. Tell 
them they do not get paid.

  I see our distinguished majority leader is back on the floor. I think 
we ought to take up the bill tomorrow and just pass it. I cannot 
imagine any votes against it. Who would be against applying the same 
laws to us as apply to other Federal workers so we do not get our pay 
the same way as anybody else in the Federal Government until this 
situation is resolved?
  When this goes on, I can understand why people are so cynical about 
the Federal Government, cynical about Congress. All the good that we 
did earlier this year in passing that Congressional Accountability Act 
and applying laws to Congress that other people have to live by 
probably all got flushed down the toilet right now with this kind of 
action, because people know that we are getting paid. Other people 
working for the Federal Government are not getting paid. It is not 
fair, and I think we ought to take up the Snowe bill tomorrow and pass 
it.
  I ask unanimous consent, if I am not a cosponsor, to be added as a 
cosponsor of that bill. I think we ought to bring it up and pass it as 
soon as possible. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The majority leader.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I will just take a minute or two. The 
Senator from Delaware wishes to speak and then the Senator from Rhode 
Island, Senator Pell. Are there any other Members on that side who wish 
to speak? If not, I will put it on automatic pilot.

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