[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                         REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT

  (Mr. JEFFRIES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, this is day 26 of the reckless Trump 
shutdown. Coast Guard officers and their families are suffering; Border 
Patrol agents and their families are suffering; TSA agents and their 
families are suffering because the President has decided to hold 
800,000 Federal employees and the American people hostage.
  We are prepared to have a conversation about infrastructure on the 
border, prepared to have a conversation about personnel, and prepared 
to have a conversation about technology. We are prepared to have a 
conversation about border security in a comprehensive way; prepared to 
have a conversation about our broken immigration system and how we fix 
it in a bipartisan fashion.
  But, Madam Speaker, we are not prepared to have a conversation about 
these issues in the midst of a reckless shutdown where the President 
has decided to hold the American people hostage and try to force us to 
pay a $5 billion-plus ransom note.
  Madam Speaker, it is time for the adults in the room to get their act 
together and reopen the government so we can continue the business of 
the American people.

                          ____________________