[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 17 (Monday, January 28, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1219-H1220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EXASPERATION/FRUSTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning about 800,000 Federal 
employees from the 25 percent of the government that had been shut down 
for the last 35 days finally were allowed to go back to work and 
perform the amazing service that they do for the American people in a 
whole host of different agencies.
  All of us heard from such great Americans coming from our districts, 
and certainly in the Second District of Connecticut, in eastern 
Connecticut, was no exception.
  So, for example, Clark Chapin, who is the head of the Farm Service 
Agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who, again, for 35 days 
was unable to work on the different farm programs that are so important 
to eastern Connecticut farmers, particularly in the dairy sector with 
the new dairy insurance program, his frustration in terms of not being 
able to get that program up and running, again, was palpable when I 
talked to him about a week or so ago.
  We also have the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, 
where, again, that was the one branch of the military that was shut 
down because they don't reside in the Department of Defense. They are 
in the Department of Homeland Security.
  Even though, as Admiral Carl Schultz, who is the Commandant of the 
Coast Guard, pointed out on national television, there are Coast Guard 
cutters serving in Bahrain in the fifth fleet side by side with the 
U.S. Navy patrolling the territorial waters of the Persian Gulf in the 
Straits of Hormuz in about the most hazardous waters in the world. 
Their Navy counterparts were certainly being paid, but the Coast Guard 
sailors and officers were not.
  In addition, we have got Coast Guard cutters over in the Indo-Pacific 
region doing work in the Straits of Taiwan, again, highly contested 
waters. The unique skills that coastguardsmen and -women bring to that 
particular type of patrol is essential to our country's national 
defense and national security policy.
  They, again, are just a couple of examples.
  Constituents in the State Department serving overseas in hazardous 
duty areas--the FAA, the TSA, the IRS, Commerce--this morning, I heard 
from one of the Commerce employees. She went to work this morning. The 
payroll system was flooded with folks trying to submit their timecards, 
and the system crashed. They are still trying to sort that out so that 
people will get not only their paycheck on Friday, but also retroactive 
payments.
  Last Thursday, again, hours before the settlement finally was reached 
and the announcement was made from the White House, I held a telephone 
townhall meeting. We had 8,000 listeners from all across the district 
and, again, a very vigorous debate, and there was definitely 
disagreement about whether there should be a wall on the southern 
border or no wall.
  But what there was universal agreement about was that shutdowns are 
wrong, that shutdowns should never be used as a tool or leverage to 
force a policy provision and cripple, again, the working lives of 
people who, again, are patriots for this country, but also the 
taxpayers who rely on the programs and services that they provide. That 
is why, again, it was astonishing to see in The Wall Street Journal, 
over the weekend, that President Trump gave an interview where he said 
another shutdown is ``certainly an option.''
  Mr. Speaker, if we have learned anything as a nation over the last 35 
days, it is what those 8,000 folks who participated in my telephone 
townhall articulated over and over again: This should not be used as 
leverage to force an issue through the Congress. It should go through 
normal and regular order.
  We have a conference committee from the House and the Senate, from 
both parties, that will begin their work over the next couple of weeks 
or so to resolve the dispute. There is overlap. There is agreement in 
terms of boosting border security.
  But no one should be putting down as markers that we are going to 
again disrupt the lives of these Americans once again just as they are 
starting to finally get back into the office and get

[[Page H1220]]

the work done for the American people. Instead, what we should be doing 
is voting, as we are tomorrow, on H.R. 790, which is to overturn 
President Trump's executive order of December 28 canceling the pay 
increase for non-DOD employees.
  Again, some of the very same people whose lives were turned upside 
down over the last 35 days are also going to lose their pay increase 
based on the President's executive order. The bill we are going to vote 
on tomorrow, H.R. 790, is going to overturn that executive order and 
give those folks the same pay raise as folks in the Department of 
Defense: 2.6 percent. These are people who, again, provide essential 
public services for the people of this country.
  If nothing else, it was a learning experience over the last month 
about how vital that work is in terms of air travel, national defense 
and military policy, as well as agriculture and processing of tax 
returns at the height of the tax season.
  Let's vote on measures that are going to restore and heal this 
country over the damage that was done over the last 35 days and take 
shutdowns off the table. It is time for shutdown politics to come to an 
end.

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