[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S280-S282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, the most important words of our
Constitution are the first three: ``We the People.'' Those three words,
written in big, bold, beautiful script, convey the mission of our
Constitution. We are a nation, as Abraham Lincoln opined, ``of the
people, by the people, and for the people.'' That was the mission.
Our Constitution also lays out how our Founding Fathers intended to
be a nation of, by, and for the people to be governed by coequal
branches, with the branch carrying the weight of policy development
being Congress: the House, and the Senate. The Executive is to have
quite a different role in executing the laws. Judiciary has yet another
role in weighing whether the laws are in accordance with the parameters
of the Constitution--the principles of the Constitution.
So there we are, the branch of government--the Senate and the House--
with the power of the purse, with the responsibility for laying out the
governing vision and rules for our Nation.
Yet, one-quarter of our government goes unfunded for a fourth week.
Why is this Chamber not full of Senators? Why are we not debating
funding bills? Why is there not a bill before the Senate right now? It
is because the rhythm of the floor in this Chamber is guided by the
majority leader. The majority leader refuses to put the bill on the
floor so we can go about our work, putting the government back in
business and ending this shutdown.
The majority leader has refused to have the Senate fulfill its
responsibility and, indeed, has said: `` . . . will not take up any
proposal that does not have a real chance of . . . getting a
Presidential signature.''
In the Constitution, we have the ability to set law without a
Presidential signature. It is certainly not a waste of time to be here
debating proposals for funding the government. In fact, this is a
complete abdication of our responsibility. It is an abdication at a
time when 800,000 American families have a mother or father who is not
getting paid, when many more thousands of contractors are not getting
paid. Millions of Americans are seeking government services and finding
there is no one to answer their phone call or their letter or process
their online application, whether for an FAA mortgage, whether for an
agricultural grant or loan for the next farming season, whether it is
any of a host of hundreds of roles the government plays in facilitating
the commerce and life of this Nation.
President Trump and the Senate majority are holding seven funding
bills hostage. Hostage-taking is not the wisest move. Only one of these
hostages has anything to do with the battle over the border. So why not
release six of these hostages? Why not end the Trump-McConnell shutdown
and release six of the seven hostages and on the seventh do a
continuing resolution so we can continue debating the issues at stake
while putting people back to work. That is a pretty good idea.
Here is the genius of the idea, which is, these are bills that
already have support in the Senate. If we were to look at that support,
we would find it was substantial when these bills came through in a
bipartisan fashion under a Republican-led Senate. You have the
Republican endorsement from here and you have the Democratic
endorsement from the House. That is the making of a path forward.
Yet we need to remind the Members how our Constitution is
constructed. Article I section 7 says in an abbreviated format: ``If he
approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
Objections.'' Then it goes back to the House and Senate, whichever body
first initiated it. `` . . . and if approved by two-thirds . . . it
shall become a Law.''
Let's recognize that the vision of our Constitution was not for us to
sit on some chair or bench somewhere waiting for someone far down
Pennsylvania Avenue to tell us what to do. That is not fulfilling our
job. The President is supposed to implement the laws we pass--the
vision we adopt--not for us to sit here doing nothing, waiting for the
man in the Oval Office to tell us he has some message from on high on
what we are supposed to do. No, that is not the vision of our
Constitution.
It is disturbing that a responsibility we all signed on to--we took
our oath of office--is being neglected in this Chamber at this moment,
when so many Americans are suffering as a result.
Those funding bills that I was speaking of and that partisan support,
how strong it was--the Agriculture bill, Interior, Financial Services,
General Government, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development.
Those passed this floor just a few weeks ago on a 92-to-6 vote. How
much more bipartisan does it get?
The State and Foreign Operations bill passed out of the Republican-
led Appropriations Committee 31 to 0. The Commerce, Justice, and
Science spending bill passed 30 to 1 in our spending committee.
Homeland Security passed out 26 to 5.
So these have a powerful imprint of overwhelming bipartisan support
in this Chamber, and yet we sit here afraid to take action and lay out
the vision we have a responsibility to lay out.
I hope every Member will say back home that they invite the feedback
of their constituents; that they will hold townhalls because then they
will hear what I hear, which is that is an absurdity. It is an
irresponsibility. It is a failure of leadership. It is a neglect of
duty, and that is not what this Chamber should be about. It is not a
proud moment to have such dysfunction in the heart of the Senate.
I am reminded of the historical reference: ``While Nero fiddles, Rome
burns.'' It is a reference to the year A.D. 64, when Rome burned to the
ground. The historian Suetonius records that Nero was responsible for
the fire, and he watched it from a tower while playing an instrument
and singing about the destruction of a different place--the destruction
of Troy.
Here we sit today with our leadership's fiddling while our Nation
suffers, while our leadership watches from afar from the tower, playing
some fiddle for its amusement, instead of taking action here on the
floor of the Senate.
While the Republican Senate leadership fiddles, our farmers aren't
getting the funds or assistance they need to get through the winter to
prepare for the next season because the Department of Agriculture is
closed for business.
While the Republican leadership of this Chamber fiddles, firefighters
whom we ask to risk their lives in fighting massive infernos in our
Nation's forests are missing out on critical training and preparation
time for the next fire season. In addition, the work being done to thin
the forests, to make the forests more fire resistant, is suspended. The
work getting the fuel off the forest floors to make them more fire
resistant is suspended. The prescription burns being done to make the
forests more fire resistant are canceled. Yet this is the time they
have to happen. While the leadership fiddles, it is setting the stage
for more savage forest fires to wreak havoc on the Western States in
the United States in the summer to come.
While the Republican leadership of this Chamber fiddles, 100,000 low-
income tenants are at risk because there is no staffer in place at
Housing and Urban Development to renew the 1,100 affordable housing
contracts that expired last month.
While the leadership fiddles, small, rural economies, like that of
Lakeview, OR, are stuck in limbo and are unable to move forward on
critical projects. According to the South Central Oregon Economic
Development District's director, they are working at trying to give a
loan to a small business in Lakeview, but they need EPA staff approval
to be able to use the grant funding for an environmental assessment
before they can borrow funds to buy a building. So they are up the
creek while the Republican leadership fiddles.
The real victims in this misguided standoff are the hundreds of
thousands of Federal workers who aren't being paid and the contractors
who might never be paid. Let's listen to them. What do they have to say
about this? Are they writing and saying: ``Love this dysfunction in the
Senate. Love
[[Page S281]]
the failure of leadership. Love the incompetence. Love the fact that
nobody is working here to solve the problem''?
No, that is not what they are saying.
Erin, a furloughed Forest Service employee of Sandy, OR, writes that
both she and her husband are Forest Service employees who have been
furloughed in the Mt. Hood National Forest, and they are terrified
about their personal finances.
Erin writes:
I have two boys that I will still have to continue to pay
daycare for so I do not lose their spot. That's $1,400 a
month alone.
She went on to write:
We have to be smart on how we balance our finances because
the cost of living is going up, but our salaries have not
been increased besides a minor cost-of-living adjustment last
year. So I am very worried what a long shutdown means for my
family and my coworkers.
Erin and her husband have every right to be worried about what is in
the future for her family. They are suffering the effects of this
shutdown through no fault of their own.
Steven, of southeast Portland, writes:
I am writing as a constituent, residing in southeast
Portland, and as a furloughed Federal employee. I do not in
any way support President Trump's efforts to build a wall
along our southern border. The proposed wall is unneeded. It
would be a wantonly wasteful use of taxpayer money. It would
be environmentally destructive, and it would further the
inhumane disregard of the rights of those seeking asylum.
Steven is a Federal worker who is not being paid, and he doesn't
support this shutdown.
Julie, the wife of a firefighter in Redmond, OR, wrote last week that
her husband ``isn't able to work because of the government shutdown.''
In just over a week, they are supposed to hire all of their seasonal
firefighters for the summer. If they can't work, the hiring will get
delayed or not happen, which will put communities at serious risk this
summer from wilderness fires. This risk for this coming summer is very
real in our State of Oregon.
Julie writes:
In no way is it OK to let the government shut down. . . .
Don't participate in holding our own country hostage.
Dr. Genevieve Grady, of Sheridan, OR, wrote:
I am a licensed clinical psychologist who is working at the
Federal Bureau of Prisons in Sheridan, OR. I am also a single
mom with two children under the age of 5. As an essential
Federal employee, I am required to continue to work without
being paid. As a licensed psychologist, I could cultivate
outside work with Agency permission to supplement my income.
However, I am unable to do this due to having to continue
working full time. Given that I am a single mother of two
small children, I must provide care for my children during
all other hours of the day. In order to maintain a roof over
my and my children's heads, I have had to contact my Federal
student loan company to seek relief. Unfortunately, they
cannot alter my student loan status any earlier than February
6. My daycare provider, who watched my children so that I may
continue going to work without pay, is an in-home provider
with three teenaged children of her own. I cannot ask her to
go without pay as she too needs to continue keeping her
family financially stable.
She writes:
There are very few expenses in my life that can go without
money: food, daycare, gas to get to work, car insurance to
drive legally, a phone required for my job to contact me in
an emergency, medical expenses. Both of my kids have been
sick during this furlough and have had to see the doctor to
get medication. After 26 days without pay, these bills
continue to require cash to pay, and I continue to wonder
how much longer I should keep coming to work or when I
should look for another job.
Linnea from Roseburg, OR, writes:
The unrepentant hostage holding of people's wages is cruel
and shows just how removed the Trump administration is from
the American people. I live in a single-income household in
which the only breadwinner is a government employee, my
mother. This means that we went through the holidays not
knowing when the next paycheck was going to come. We still
don't know.
Britt, a furloughed IRS worker who was proud of his government
service and called it his small way of participating in our democracy,
writes:
My savings is small and will not last through an extended
shutdown. I have already applied for unemployment insurance
compensation, but that process takes several weeks before I
actually receive any money. I have never had to file for
unemployment before, and it's quite unsettling that I am
forced to resort to government aid.
Like so many other Oregonians in a State that is 20-percent National
Forest, Brien, of Pendleton, OR, writes:
As a United States Forest Service employee, I am waiting
for relocation reimbursement on a current move. I used most
of my savings to move duty stations 2 months ago, and with
the current furlough, I cannot afford to miss a pay period
even if I will get it in the end. I am currently paying
interest on my move that was to be covered by the Forest
Service. If the furlough lasts longer than January 13, it
will be extremely difficult to avoid late payment charges on
utilities, mortgage, and other bills. Don't hold me and my
middle-class family hostage to rich men's antics.
That is exactly what is happening with a President who is so far
removed from the reality of ordinary people, with a President who
worked with the leadership of this body in the Senate to approve a
series of spending bills that we passed by a vast bipartisan majority
but who then changed his mind and withdrew his support after they were
passed. The President switched his position after the bills went
through the Senate. The President bragged about owning this shutdown.
He didn't have 1 second of worry about the plight of an ordinary
American who was struggling to pay his bills.
From his ivory tower, his skyscraper in Florida, and his club--and,
oh, he is still happy with his golf courses--he has no idea of the pain
this is inflicting on people. If someone explains it to him, he doesn't
care. That says a lot about the failure of leadership. As this writer
said, ``Don't hold me and my middle-class family hostage to rich men's
antics.''
Air traffic controllers are essential to the safety of our air
traffic across this country. I received a stack of handwritten letters
last week--old-fashioned, ink on paper, all kinds of paper, all colors
of pens. They were handwritten by Oregon air traffic controllers who
have been absolutely incensed with what is going on. Being an air
traffic controller is an unbelievably tough job. Air traffic
controllers are responsible for thousands of lives at any given moment.
They have to be on their game 100 percent of the time. It can't be 99.5
or a plane is going to crash on you that day. These folks are working
without pay. It is inflicting stress and anxiety on people who should
have their absolute, full attention solely on the job of making sure no
plane hits another.
James Ferguson, of Forest Grove, writes:
If the shutdown lasts any longer, I will lose my health
insurance and will no longer be able to pay for my 1-year-old
son's physical therapy, potentially adding additional months
to correct his spine and neck muscle problems.
This is another example of the pain. Here is a parent who feels the
medical affliction of his child is going to be accentuated by the
actions of the Republican leadership in the Senate and President Trump
in the Oval Office. James isn't complaining that he needs to go
shopping for new clothes or that he wants to check out a new car. He is
worried about getting medical care for his infant child. He is worried
about his infant child's recovery and of his improvement being stalled
or damaged by this callous, inhumane shutdown.
Trevor Stokes, of Hillsboro, OR, and his wife are veterans of the
U.S. Navy. They certainly are no strangers to sacrificing for their
country.
In fact, in his letter, Trevor writes:
Over the past few weeks, during the shutdown, I have worked
both Christmas and New Year's as well as their eves. I was
not able to spend time with my family, which is a necessary
sacrifice.
Then he writes:
Now our financial future is uncertain due to a potentially
long unpaid period. I've had to withdraw from mutual funds
just to cover monthly financial obligations. My family and
the families of my air traffic colleagues have suffered from
the sudden loss of income. Please end the shutdown.
We ask so much of these people. We ask long hours and missed holidays
in the name of protecting us as travelers. Shouldn't we also be looking
out for them in their time of need?
Why don't we reopen the Department of Transportation and make sure
our air traffic controllers start getting paid? All of these
individuals are saying: Do your job. Do your job. Do your job. Senate
leadership, do your job.
Put the bills that have passed the Senate already back on the floor
so that we can send them to the Oval Office. Let us do our job.
This Trump-McConnell shutdown, this inaction of the Senate,
abdicating
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its responsibility--isn't that exactly parallel to Nero fiddling while
Rome burned? That fire here in America is touching the lives of so
many. There are 800,000 workers without pay. Thousands more are
contractors. Millions of Americans are caught in limbo in the midst of
an important transaction--applying for an agricultural loan, trying to
get a mortgage, signing up for help from the Small Business
Administration to launch their business, getting their paperwork
processed in one of 1,000 different ways, and here, the leadership
fiddles while the American public suffers. It is wrong.
It may not be comfortable to have a debate on the spending bills. It
may not be comfortable to vote on these bills. It may not be sweet to
support or oppose a particular amendment, but do you know what is
worse? What is worse is doing nothing.
That is what this Chamber is doing right now. It is doing nothing,
despite our responsibility to millions of Americans to act. Let's
change that. Let's change it now.
I understand that the majority is going on a retreat. Instead of
going on a retreat to play the fiddle, how about you be here on the
floor and put these bills on the floor? Let's get all 100 Senators on
the floor to actually talk to each other, to actually wrestle with the
issues, to actually make our arguments, and to actually take the votes
instead of going off somewhere to party. That is just wrong.
I encourage the majority leader to read the letter that was sent to
him today from the freshmen from the House of Representatives down the
hall. The freshmen haven't been here long enough to become cynical.
They haven't become trapped in the partisan boundaries and warfare that
seem to ensnare so much of this Chamber and the Chamber across the way.
No, they are here, fresh from other occupations and other
responsibilities, still full of common sense and the passion to do what
is right for the American people. So let's listen to them.
Today they sent a letter to Majority Leader McConnell, which I read
on the floor earlier today, and they said: Put the bills on the floor,
put the spending bills on the floor--the bills that have already passed
here in the Republican-led Senate or that passed overwhelmingly by the
Republican-led Appropriations Committee, endorsed by the Democratic
House. Put them on the floor and act.
Let's listen to the freshmen down the hall. They are reminding us
that we have a responsibility to act, and let's do so immediately.
Thank you.
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