[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 15 (Thursday, January 24, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1189-H1190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, to all my colleagues, I apologize. I may 
speak just a little longer than 1 minute--not much.
  Madam Speaker, I was sitting in my office just a few minutes ago and 
Representative Michael Waltz, whom I do not know, from the State of 
Florida rose and said he was here in an empty Capitol.
  Scores of my fellow Democrats are here because they are outraged that 
we have shut down the people's government, and they are here, Mr. 
Waltz, to urge the President of the United States and Mitch McConnell 
to open up the people's government. That is why they are here. They 
haven't gone home, Congressman Waltz. We are here.
  I don't see anybody over here.
  Madam Speaker, I rise to join with my colleagues in highlighting the 
absurdity of the Trump-McConnell shutdown and share some of the ways, 
just some few ways, it is affecting Americans in my district.
  Now, you can go to this website, trumpshutdownstories.us, and get 
scores more stories than I will be able to tell on this floor in this 
short time I will speak.
  Maryland's Fifth District, which I have the great honor of having 
represented for the last 38 years, has 62,000 Federal employees, tens 
of thousands of whom are not getting paid, and some who are being 
forced--no, who are voluntarily working because they love this country 
and they love their jobs, and they are working without pay.
  Is that any way to treat any employee, much less an employee working 
for their government?
  One woman from Prince George's County, Maryland, wrote to tell me 
that her husband, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight 
Center, is furloughed. She isn't working because they have an infant, 
and he, the only source of their income.
  Another constituent wrote to tell me that he serves in the Coast 
Guard. He said:

       As I was putting my 9-year-old son to bed last night, he 
     asked me, ``Dad, how come they are making you work without 
     pay?''

  He went on to say:

       I gave him an answer about having taken an oath and that it 
     is my duty to serve, but he was still confused.

  I share that young child's concern and confusion. Why would we do 
this? What would lead us to show such disrespect for those who carry 
out our policy?
  All Americans should be confused about why our hardworking public 
servants would be forced to work without pay or be told to go home and 
wait while a paycheck doesn't come.
  It is not just Federal employees and contractors who are affected.
  And, by the way, we are going to repay the Federal employees, as we 
should. But the contractors, the small business people, the small shop 
owners in my district who have thousands of their customers who aren't 
being paid and, therefore, are not customers.
  One woman from St. Mary's County, the county in which I live, said:

       We were scheduled to close on our home on January 11, and 
     we received a phone call 3 days before that we would not be 
     going to closing because our loan was on hold due to the 
     government shutdown. A time that is supposed to be the 
     happiest, and here we sit with our house in boxes and living 
     week to week with a landlord. We don't know if we will lose 
     our home.

  Madam Speaker, I would tell President Trump to listen to these 
stories, listen to the humanity that must be in you, be sympathetic, be 
empathetic, be caring about these people who are your constituents, 
whom you are pledged to protect.
  Madam Speaker, I would ask the President and Senator McConnell to 
hear the voices of men and women their shutdown policies are hurting. 
They are going to hear many more stories.
  Democrats have voted now 11 times to end this shutdown, and 
Republicans and the President have blocked these measures again and 
again.
  Let me say, Madam Speaker, to those who might be listening: We passed 
Republican bills to open up this government--not our bills, not 
partisan bills,

[[Page H1190]]

but Republican, Senate-passed bills which would have opened up the 
government.
  Madam Speaker, because we care so deeply about our constituents who 
either work for or are served by our government, we will continue to do 
everything possible to reopen government and share the stories of those 
being held hostage by the President and Senator McConnell.
  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for being on this floor to bring 
their stories of their constituents, of the President's constituents, 
to his attention, as well as Senator McConnell.

                          ____________________