[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H11]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STOP SHUTTING THE GOVERNMENT DOWN

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I may have a bruised eye but it is nothing 
compared to the bruises the American people and our Federal workers are 
taking from this Republican Congress.
  I rise today on behalf of the employees and patients of the Bronx 
Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the hundreds of thousands of 
Federal employees who are stuck in the middle of this budget debate. 
Here is a copy of a check for $1.51, which is what one worker at the 
Bronx VA Hospital Center received when she opened her paycheck in my 
district last Friday, $1.51, Mr. Speaker. In New York City that can get 
you this: One transit token to get home from work, and one penny extra 
to spend in any way you see fit. And if you live in Co-op City as I do, 
it will not even get you home, because Co-op City is a two-fare zone.
  The staff of the Bronx VA Hospital has begun soliciting food 
donations to distribute to the staff because the workers cannot afford 
to buy food. It is an outrage that those who can care for our veterans 
have to go hat in hand to beg for food. I call upon you Republican 
colleagues to stop shutting the Government down. Think of people who 
live from paycheck to paycheck.

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