[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 5 (Thursday, January 10, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S112-S113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, today is the 20th day of the Trump 
shutdown. Tomorrow, it will tie the record for the longest shutdown in 
American history, and 800,000 Federal workers will miss a paycheck--TSA 
agents and Border Patrol, air traffic controllers and food safety 
inspectors, veterans, and FEMA aides, and more. Many Federal 
employees--particularly, GS-3s and GS-4s and GS-5s--live paycheck to 
paycheck. Who is going to make the next mortgage payment for them? Who 
is going to put food on the table? And what on Earth do these employees 
and their agencies have to do with disagreements here over security 
down on our southern border?
  The President is treating these hard-working Americans as nothing 
short of leverage--pawns in his political gambit to extract $5 billion 
from American taxpayers to fund a border wall that he promised Mexico 
would pay for. This is ridiculous and cruel, and it needs to end now--
right now.
  The Democratic position is very simple. Let's separate our 
disagreements over border security from the government shutdown, reopen 
all the government agencies unrelated to border security, and let's 
continue to work to resolve our differences. Do not hold all of these 
workers as hostages, as pawns, as leverage.
  That is why Democrats have passed the House legislation to reopen 
government that was drafted and supported by Senate Republicans. We 
Democrats are not trying to push down the throats of Republicans 
something they don't support or they can't swallow. Four of the bills 
in this package passed the Senate 92 to 6. The other two came through 
committee. They didn't get to the floor. They passed 31 to 0 and 30 to 
1. There is nothing--I repeat, nothing--contained in the legislation 
that Senate Republicans oppose.
  So why aren't we voting on it? Because Leader McConnell is hiding 
behind President Trump, saying he will not bring to the floor a bill to 
reopen the government unless the President says OK.
  Now, for the past 3 weeks, we have tried to get the President to 
``yes.'' We have gone around and around and around with the White House 
and made little progress. Congressional leaders have now been to the 
White House three separate times for negotiations. Each time, the 
President has been intransigent and uncompromising. He refuses to back 
down from his position that the price to reopen the government is $5 
billion of taxpayer money for a wall that he promised Mexico would pay 
for.
  On multiple occasions, he has refused our request to reopen unrelated 
parts of the government and continue negotiations on border security, 
revealing that he is holding the American people hostage as leverage, 
and he seems to be--in his words--``proud'' of it. After only a short 
time into yesterday's meeting, the President got up, said ``bye-bye,'' 
and left. Does that sound like someone who is working to solve this 
impasse?
  Allies of the President pointed out that he passed out candy to start 
the meeting. With all due respect, President Trump, we don't need 
candy. Federal workers need their paychecks.

[[Page S113]]

  The Congress--the Senate in particular--can no longer wait for this 
President to see the light of reason. We gave it a good-faith effort. 
Staffers worked over the weekend. Speaker Pelosi and I have gone over 
to the White House whenever we have been asked, but the President is 
simply not budging.
  A few weeks back, we all thought that the President, realizing he 
doesn't control the House, would come around and support a true 
compromise before hundreds of thousands of Federal workers would miss 
their paychecks. Clearly, that was wrong.
  We need intervention, and Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans 
have a responsibility not simply to wait for the President but to 
intervene. Leader McConnell has voted for every single one of the six 
appropriation bills Democrats passed through the House. He voted for 
all six of them in committee, and he voted for four of them again on 
the floor, because two didn't get to the floor. There is nothing that 
he or his party truly opposes in this legislation.
  They are refusing to vote on it because the President has bullied 
them into his hostage-taking gambit. I know that is not where most of 
my friends on the other side want to be. I don't even believe it is 
where my friend Leader McConnell wants to be. Just listen to Leader 
McConnell from last year:

       Well I'm in favor of border security. There are some places 
     along the border where [a wall is] probably not the best way 
     to secure the border.

  Here is Leader McConnell in 2014:

       Remember me? I am the guy that gets us out of shutdowns . . 
     . it's a failed policy.

  Fast-forward to today, and Leader McConnell--``the guy that gets us 
out of shutdowns''--is aiding and abetting the blockade against 
reopening the government over a policy he doesn't fully support.
  In a moment, my friends Senators Cardin and Van Hollen will give the 
Senate a chance to do the right thing by asking this Chamber to vote on 
the six appropriations bills already supported by Senate Republicans 
and a short-term continuing resolution for Homeland Security.
  Frankly, even if President Trump doesn't support this legislation, 
his intransigence has forced our hand and hurt America. We need to move 
forward, and Leader McConnell should allow the vote to happen.
  I yield to the Senator from Maryland.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, as Leader Schumer has pointed out, 
starting today, 800,000 Federal workers are going to be missing their 
paychecks. In this region, there are 140,000. Senator Van Hollen and I, 
representing Maryland, and Senators Warner and Kaine, representing 
Virginia, have made the point of what this is going to mean for 
families in our communities.
  This shutdown is outrageous and dangerous--caused by President Trump. 
Workers are not going to be receiving their paychecks and are going to 
be at risk. Our whole country is at risk. Let me put this in 
perspective, if I might. It is like AT&T, General Motors, Apple, 
Lockheed Martin, Google, and ExxonMobil laying off their entire 
workforce at one time. That is the impact we have now with 800,000 
workers not receiving their paychecks. Kevin Hassett, who is the Chair 
of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, points out that this 
will cause a $1.2 billion-per-week hit on our economy.
  America is being held hostage by President Trump--held hostage over 
his desire to have a wall built. It is not about border security. We 
have already appropriated funds for border security, and we are 
prepared to continue to protect our borders. This is about President 
Trump and his wall. We should open government and work together for the 
American people.
  There are seven appropriations bills that have not yet been acted 
upon. With six of those appropriations bills, there is no controversy. 
They have nothing to do with the border wall. They have nothing to do 
with homeland security. These are six appropriations bills that this 
body has already acted on in one way or the other. They include 
Financial Services and General Government, Agriculture, Interior and 
Environment, and Transportation-HUD. Those four appropriations bills 
passed this body by a vote of 92 to 6. Then, there are State-Foreign 
Operations, which passed the Appropriations Committee unanimously, and 
Commerce-Justice-Science, which passed by a vote of 30 to 1.
  These six appropriations bills have already been acted on under 
Republican leadership in a bipartisan manner in this body. That is 
exactly what H.R. 21, which is pending before this body, incorporates. 
It is not a Democratic effort; it is to reaffirm what this body has 
already done and allow these six appropriations bills to pass and for 
those workers and those Agencies to be fully operable without the 
hostage-taking by the President of the United States.

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