[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S43-S44]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE SHUTDOWN

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, all my life I have heard the saying, ``Can't 
see the forest for the trees.'' I think those words can be 
appropriately applied to the situation we now find ourselves in. For 
too many Federal workers, for too many thousands of honest, hard-
working Americans trying to make a decent living, this budget impasse 
and shutdown has demonstrated to them that some of their elected 
representatives cannot see the forest for the trees.
  While some are wrapped up in trying to score political points, to 
gain political favor in certain circles, they are missing the point of 
what is really going on outside the beltway. How disappointing it is to 
pick up the morning's Washington Post with the headlines, ``Employees 
Find They Are an Afterthought.'' How sad it is to know that people who 
need food, who need medicine and basic care will be deprived of 
services. How sad it is, Mr. President, to hear some demagog the 
situation by saying that nobody is missing those Government workers and 
we need to get rid of more of them.
  My office, as others have stated here this morning, is being overrun 
with calls and letters about how this shutdown is affecting families in 
Kentucky, far outside the beltway, far away from the political arena. A 
mother in Lexington, KY, wrote me, ``Most of us live from paycheck to 
paycheck. We cannot survive without being paid. I am a single parent 
struggling to pay rent, a car payment, and keep food in the house, so I 
haven't been able to save part of my salary. If I'm not paid on January 
16, I will be evicted.'' This is a woman that was on welfare, that was 
able to get a job and get off of welfare, and now the Government is 
forcing her back into welfare. She asks in her letter, ``Isn't this the 
United States of America? Isn't our Government supposed to be by the 
people and for the people?'' ``Federal employees,'' she says, ``are 
also people.''

  She is speaking from her heart about real people, about the thousands 
who cannot get mortgage insurance, thousands who are losing home loans, 
thousands working in service industries, the rippling effect, facing 
the daily threat of being laid off. Homeowners in eastern Kentucky 
threatened with landslides because the Office of Surface Mining is 
operating on reduced staff and reduced funding. Real people, Mr. 
President.
  Another person wrote, ``I'm excepted from furlough which means I'm 
working now with no pay. The check I received yesterday was one-quarter 
of my salary. My mortgage is due. This one-quarter does not cover the 
mortgage. What is worse is that I have two small children. I must 
continue to pay my baby sitter to keep them after school while I go to 
work for no pay.''
  I received a call from a grandmother. I do not know how many in here 
have ever been involved in trying to help a couple adopt a child. When 
I was Governor of Kentucky we worked with agencies. It is an emotional 
period. It is a real decision to adopt a child. So I got a call from 
this grandmother. She was worried about her granddaughter. The adoption 
of a baby has been halted because the agencies do not have enough money 
to process the necessary paperwork. That is hurt, Mr. President. That 
is not inconvenience, that is hurt. You have hurt that family that made 
up their mind to adopt a child. That is hurt, capital H-u-r-t. She is 
looking to her representatives for help and answers. What do we do to 
help her? How do you tell someone that is out there working hard, 
paying their taxes, that because of circumstances completely out of 
their control they cannot go forward with adopting a child?
  Mr. President, the hardest thing I have had to do in my 21 years in 
the U.S. Senate is to say to men and women in the military to go defend 
our country on some foreign shore, to lay their lives on the line. One 
thing I have told them, and one thing that helps, that whatever I can 
do to support them when they come back, or their loved ones if they do 
not come back, I will do.
  Looking now at the VA, ``VA Runs on Promises.'' ``Nursing home 
workers tend patients without pay. They are stripping the sheets off, 
the laundry, trying to take care of our veterans, for no pay.''
  So we say to our veterans, the only reason you are being taken care 
of is because they are willing to come as long as they can. These 
people cannot get another job. They are prohibited from getting another 
job to have some income, maybe, to offset the loss of their paycheck.
  Let me also tell you about ``Helen's Hotline'' from the VA hospital 
in Lexington. What are they doing? Food--God's Pantry, in Lexington, 
distributes food to the homeless and those who need food. They will 
provide up to 3 weeks of food to those people. They are even giving 
them transportation to God's Pantry in order to pick up some food. Food 
and social and spiritual support are being offered by the VA hospital 
there in Lexington, stress relief, and the canteen service will 
accept--think about this, now--accept postdated checks from the 
cafeteria or retail store through January 17.
  Creditors' letters have been sent from the Directoegins its 
centennial celebration having been admitted to the Union of States in 
1896.
  This 100-year mark is very significant considering the long struggle 
for the citizens of the Utah Territory to gain statehood in the late 
19th century. The people of the Utah Territory tried unsuccessfully for 
admission to the Union six times--1849, 1856, 1862, 1872, 1882, and 
1887--before being admitted in 1896.
  Today, Utah is one of the fastest growing States in the country. 
Business is thriving as more and more companies establish roots in the 
State. The banking and financial industry have a long history of 
success in Utah. Manufacturing industry continues to grow and succeed. 
Utah's software industry is growing so rapidly that it has now 
surpassed that of Silicon Valley. Utah provides many opportunities for 
the families that reside in the State. With six 4-year, degree-granting 
universities and colleges, including four State institutme. ``Is this 
really America? Is this what America is all about? Is this how the 
world's greatest superpower functions?"
  These people want a resolution to the crisis. They want to reopen 
Government just like the distinguished majority leader, Senate 
Republicans, and Senate Democrats want. As one said, it is time to stop 
the nonsense going on here in Washington. They agree with our majority 
leader when he says, ``Enough is enough.''
  Let us reopen Government. Let us stop this insanity and get on with 
the shaping of a fair and equitable budget agreement.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
the 

[[Page S44]]
full text of two letters I referred to in my statement earlier.
  There being no objection, the letters were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  January 3, 1996.
       Dear Elected Representative: I'm writing to speak out for 
     furloughed federal employees and working federal employees 
     who are not being paid. I happen to be one of those directed 
     to work without pay. Since I came to work for the federal 
     government in 1977 federal employees have taken the brunt of 
     budget cuts and have been reviled by Presidents and Congress. 
     Our salaries have fallen far behind the private sector. It is 
     proposed that our pensions be further cut and even those of 
     us who had careers covered under Social Security before 
     coming to the government have had our future Social Security 
     benefits cut in half. However, this budget battle is the 
     final outrage against federal employees. What private company 
     could order their employees to work, but not pay them? 
     Ironically, the federal government would be on their doorstep 
     immediately. I can't even file for unemployment benefits 
     since I have been directed to work, and am doing so without 
     pay.
       Most of us live from paycheck to paycheck. We cannot 
     survive without being paid. I am a single parent, struggling 
     to pay rent, a car payment and keep food in the house so I 
     haven't been able to save part of my salary.
       If I am not paid on January 16, 1996, I will be evicted. My 
     landlord isn't interested in the reason he doesn't receive 
     his rent. He just demands it be paid on the 1st day of each 
     month. I will also lose my car if this continues and my 
     credit will be ruined. It may be already.
       We were given a letter to send to our creditors asking for 
     forbearance. Do you really believe that the banks, insurance 
     companies and Corporate America care why our bills are not 
     being paid. NO--THEY DO NOT!
       Isn't this the United States of America? Isn't our 
     government supposed to be by the people and for the people? 
     Federal employees are also people. We pay taxes. We vote. We 
     are part of the people referred to in the Bill of Rights and 
     the Constitution. I would have never believed this could 
     happen in this country. We are being deprived of our basic 
     human rights because we happen to be federal employees. My 
     mind almost refuses to accept that this is happening to me, 
     but the realities of unpaid bills and basic needs not being 
     met jerk me back into the real world that I must live in--
     unknown to you!
       I have related my personal situation to you but please 
     remember that it is also representative of the situation of 
     about 700,000 citizens of this country who have given daily 
     of themselves to serve this country.
       I am frustrated, fearful, resentful and very angry over the 
     situation I have been placed in by you. Regardless of your 
     political allegiance or your personal position on the 
     national budget issues, you have severely and wrongfully 
     damaged my life forever. The harm done to this point is 
     irreversible and the damage irreparable. Please wake up and 
     stop this nightmare.
           Sincerely,
                                                    ------ ------.

                                 ______

                                                  January 3, 1996.
       Dear Congressman, I am an employee of Social Security. As 
     you may be aware, as a field office employee, I am excepted 
     from furlough which means I am working now with no pay. The 
     check I received yesterday was for \1/2\ salary (through 12/
     15/95). My mortgage is due and this \1/2\ does not cover the 
     mortgage. What is worse is that I have 2 small children. I 
     must continue to pay a baby sitter to keep them after school 
     while I go to work with no pay.
       The end result is that we do not have money for anything 
     except utilities. My children wanted to know this morning why 
     they had left over Christmas turkey and dressing in their 
     lunch boxes instead of their usual chips and sandwiches. It 
     is because these, the chips and sandwich are now ``non-
     essential'' items in our household and because you all can 
     not see fit to work the budget out--they must suffer. If you 
     have a better explanation that I can give a 5 yr. old and 8 
     year old--please let me know. This is beginning to HURT! My 
     children do not understand and neither do I. Please work this 
     out--Soon!! Before I have to explain to them why we have no 
     heat--
           Sincerely,
                                                    ------ ------.

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, we hear a lot about ``all the President has 
to do is sign the bills.'' If you put things in the bills that are not 
acceptable, then you ought not to expect it to be signed. That is 
trying to put the President in a position where he cannot sign it. All 
we have to do is pass a clean CR and put Government back to work.
  The Senate has done that. The Democrats in the House are ready. There 
is only one group, one element that is saying to my people down there: 
``We do not care whether you pay the mortgage, whether you pay your 
utilities, whether you buy food''--things of that nature. We think we 
ought to get with those people and say to them, let us get on with the 
running of the Government. We can balance the budget.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gregg). The Senator from Oklahoma.

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