[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 5 (Thursday, January 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H370-H371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                END SHUTDOWN AND PAY COAST GUARD MEMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WILD. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to reintroduce my first bill, 
which was introduced at the end of the 115th Congress, the Continuing 
Appropriations for the Coast Guard Act. I am doing this on behalf of 
Janeen and her family, constituents from Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
  Janeen is the mother of two children, ages 10 and 12. Her husband of 
15 years is a Coast Guard member. Until recently, they were focused on 
what most families across our country focus on: family time, work, 
balancing their checkbook to pay their mortgage and bills, enjoying the 
holidays together, and hoping to celebrate a new year.
  All of that changed this past December when a partisan fight in 
Washington, over which they had no control, suddenly threw their 
family's entire existence into question.
  Because the Coast Guard falls within the Department of Homeland 
Security, one of the agencies that has not been funded, Janeen's family 
and 42,000 others, including 320 Pennsylvanians, have been left to fend 
for themselves.
  They received a one-time payment from the Coast Guard's emergency 
fund, equivalent to half a paycheck. But the Coast Guard doesn't have 
any additional funds on hand, so they have been advised to hold garage 
sales and take up dog walking for extra income.
  My bill would fund the Coast Guard until an agreement is reached to 
fully fund the government, ensuring that Coast Guard members receive 
their paychecks during the entire shutdown.
  I am proud to have the support of some of my Republican colleagues, 
including Mr. Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania, and I hope that a 
bipartisan coalition of Members in both Chambers can urgently pass this 
bill.
  It is important to take a step back and remind ourselves of what is 
at stake for Janeen's family and thousands like them. As long as the 
government is shut down, and until this bill is passed by the House and 
Senate and signed into law, Janeen's husband won't get a paycheck on 
the 15th of this month.
  Already, their family has been forced to dip into their savings and 
emergency funds just to buy groceries and keep the lights on. It is 
about a 70-mile drive from home to the base each way, so Janeen's 
husband is not only not getting paid, he is actually losing money to go 
to work every day.
  As the daughter of a man who spent his entire career in the Air 
Force, I must say, this is a shameful way to treat men and women who 
have devoted their lives to serving our country and the families who 
serve and sacrifice among them.
  For their sake and for the sake of the security of our country, we 
cannot let toxic hyperpartisanship keep an entire branch of the United 
States military from receiving pay.
  We should be talking about funding more effective technology and 
infrastructure to protect our country, not about a border wall that 
will do nothing to stop the incursion of illegal drugs into our 
country. The Coast Guard is our most effective method of stopping drug 
runners.
  In Janeen's words: ``If my husband doesn't show up for work, he is 
AWOL.'' That is the reality for our men and women in uniform. The very 
least they should be able to expect from their elected representatives 
is that we have their backs and that they will get the support they 
need no matter what the politics are.
  This is not about party or ideology. It is not about scoring points 
in Washington or on cable news shows. Ultimately, Janeen and her 
family, and everyone like them, just want to see their government live 
up to its most basic responsibilities, because as Janeen tells her 
kids: ``When you say you are going to do something, you make a 
promise.''
  Servicemembers like Janeen's husband made a promise to defend our 
Nation when they took their oath. They have never let us down. Every 
single day, through every challenge and hardship, they have kept their 
promise and done everything expected of them and more. But during this 
shutdown, their government has failed to keep its promise to them.
  Janeen's family and other Coast Guard families need us right now. 
Through our actions by getting this bill through the House of 
Representatives, the Senate, and to the President's desk, we can show 
them that we take care of our own and that we honor selfless service in 
this country more than partisanship.

[[Page H371]]

  

                          ____________________