[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H1011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AFFECTED BY THE SHUTDOWN

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with you a letter 
from Antonio, a constituent of mine affected by this shutdown. He says:

       I am an air traffic controller at O'Hare Airport. This is 
     already a stressful job, but a job that I love. This shutdown 
     is adding an extra layer of stress to all of the controllers 
     working around the country. With the shutdown going past a 
     month, we are all stressing about bills, how to put food on 
     the table, how to pay for childcare, et cetera. We don't have 
     the luxury of escaping from the stress of this job because, 
     when we go home, the stress just continues as worrying.
       Finding out that our vision and dental benefits would be 
     billed to us with the expectation that we pay those bills out 
     of our own pockets, despite having no paycheck for over a 
     month, has only added to that stress. This shutdown is going 
     to be a massive safety risk for the flying public if it 
     doesn't end soon.

  I have more from Antonio, which I will include in the Record later.

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