[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H1005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FIGHT FOR AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, a few days ago I walked into a Coast 
Guard base in Boston and I saw something I never thought I would 
witness on American soil. Members of our Armed Forces were lined up at 
a food pantry while they were on the clock because their employer, the 
United States Government, wasn't paying them for the work that they put 
in that day.
  Madam Speaker, look around this country, and you will see nearly a 
million civil servants and more than a million contract workers who are 
forced to deter medical care, find part-time jobs, return Christmas 
presents, take out loans, pawn valuable possessions, draw down 
retirement savings, just to afford to feed their family and to keep a 
roof over their head.
  You will find families that are terrified that their food stamps will 
run out. You will see notices threatening eviction for families who are 
upholding their end of their rent, while the government defaults on its 
own obligations.
  You will see businesses struggling to stay afloat under lost Federal 
support. Domestic violence organizations will have to turn away 
survivors because critical grant funding isn't coming through.
  Yes, this is about a misguided and demagogued immigration fight. And, 
yes, this is squarely about a President who couldn't keep his promise.
  But at its core, it is about an administration that has spent 2 years 
treating the livelihood of working families as a bargaining chip, 
quickly traded away time and again to protect power, profit, and 
political gain.
  Theirs is a system that asks American workers to make painful 
sacrifices that those in power only read about; a system where tax cuts 
for international corporations are paid for by Medicaid cuts for 
working families; where healthcare premiums skyrocket for the sick and 
the suffering; where healthcare industry executives reap the reward.
  Theirs is a system where labor protections for workers are wiped out 
as distant CEOs lay off loyal employees and gut pensions; where a 
safety net that keeps our fellow Americans afloat shrinks and tears as 
their President smiles and holds the scissors; where profits accrue to 
those who have already profited, and the loss is borne by those who can 
least afford to bear it.
  Beyond the shutdown, beyond this President, our government needs to 
prove to the American people that we are fighting for them. Because 
right now, they don't believe we are in their corner, and I don't blame 
them.

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