[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 185 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6643-S6644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Prevent Government Shutdowns Act
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, in the last 40 years, we have had 21
government shutdowns--21. Twenty-one times, Congress and the President
have not been able to agree or the Senate and the House have not been
able to agree. As a result of that, Federal workers around the country
have faced the consequences of Members of Congress not finding
agreement.
Help me understand this. Twenty-one times in 40 years, Federal
workers who get up every single day and serve the American people and
serve their neighbors have faced the consequences of furloughs because
Members of Congress could not come to a resolution. It is not that it
has gone unnoticed. For a decade or more, there have been solutions
that have been proposed.
Ten years ago, I had a proposal in the House--actually, Rob Portman
had a great proposal in the Senate at the same time to deal with
government shutdowns. Let's say when we get to the end of the fiscal
year, we will just have a continuing resolution, but then we will cut
spending every few months to press Congress to get to their work. The
problem was, hardly anyone on the other side agreed with that. We
couldn't get any bipartisan support for it. So my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle proposed that if we get to the end of the
fiscal year, we would have a continuing resolution, and every couple of
months, the spending would go up, and it would just continue to go up
and up and up until it was resolved. Well, they didn't have anyone on
my side of the aisle saying ``We are going to put in a mechanism that
just increases spending over and over again without congressional
involvement,'' so they got no bipartisan support.
An idea was floated to just cut the pay of the Members of Congress.
But it really wasn't cutting their pay; it was taking their pay and
putting it in an escrow account and just kind of holding it for them,
and then when everything was resolved, they would get their money back.
So it really wasn't a reduction in pay; it was kind a shell game--push
those dollars off to another side and get them all back later just to
make it look like you got a cut in pay. But that hasn't had wide
support either. A lot of people have real concerns about that because,
quite frankly, some Members of Congress are very wealthy; some Members
are not. Some Members don't notice their congressional pay; some do. It
is kind of a disproportionate piece of leverage to resolve this.
What is interesting is that all those proposals acknowledged one
simple thing: This is a problem. It needs to be resolved. Federal
workers are facing the consequences; Members of Congress are not.
About 5 months ago, Maggie Hassan and I--this Chamber knows well the
Senator from New Hampshire. She and I started working together on a
nonpartisan--not just a bipartisan but a nonpartisan--way to stop
government shutdowns. We have two very simple proposals.
There are two problems here. We need to stop Federal workers from
getting hurt when there is a shutdown and
[[Page S6644]]
make sure those families are not hurt. The second thing is, we want to
actually get to appropriations, not continuing resolutions.
When do you a continuing resolution for any length of time, like what
we are in right now--we are in our eighth week of a continuing
resolution right now. When you do one that long, it hurts temporary
workers who are Federal workers. They are laid off in the process.
Other folks are not. Many of these agencies need those temporary
workers, and those temporary workers are counting on that salary. It
hurts contracting because everything can't start in a continuing
resolution. You have to wait until there are real appropriations before
new programs can start. You can't stop old programs. You can't do
purchasing. It creates a tremendous inefficiency in government.
Our simple idea was this: Let's find a way to protect Federal workers
and get to appropriations. The solution we came up with is pretty
straightforward. When we get to the end of the fiscal year, which right
now is October 1, if appropriations are not done, there will be a
continuing resolution that kicks into effect to protect Federal
workers, but Members of Congress and our staff and the White House
Office of Management and Budget--none of us can travel. Members of
Congress will be in continuous session 7 days a week until we get
appropriations done. And one more thing: We can't move to any issues
other than appropriations. We are locked into that box.
Basically, if our work is not done, we all will have to stay until
the work is done. I have had folks say that is not really a big
consequence. A lot of folks do that all over the country all the time.
If at the end of their workday their work is not done, they have to
stay until they get it done. Small business owners know that full well.
It is not like you can punch a clock. If the work is not done in a
small business, you stay until it actually gets done.
Here is the thing. Go back to last December. When the shutdown
started last December and we got to an impasse here between the House,
the Senate, and the White House, Members of Congress and our staff all
left and went home. Federal workers across the country all took a big,
deep breath as they walked into the holidays because they were on
furlough, but Members of this body walked out. That should never
happen--never.
What Senator Hassan and I are proposing is very simple. The pressure
shouldn't be on Federal workers. They can't vote to solve this. The
pressure should be on us.
For everyone in this body who says, ``I don't like that kind of
artificial pressure,'' why don't you feel what it is like to be a
Federal worker for a while and those Federal employees? They don't like
that pressure on them. So let's flip it. Let's put the pressure on us,
where it should be, and get it off the folks, where it should not be,
and let's stay until we get our work done.
This idea is overly simplistic, but what is interesting is, for the
first time in a decade, there is an idea that has bipartisan support.
We have multiple Members of this body who are looking at it,
contemplating it, and then nodding their heads, saying: I would rather
the pressure be on us than on the Federal workers and their families.
Let's solve this. We shouldn't have government shutdowns. We should
have arguments over debt and deficit. We should have arguments over the
budget. That is why people sent us here--to solve how their money is
going to be spent most efficiently and argue about issues on debt and
deficit.
In the meantime, why in the world would we want to hurt the very
people who serve their neighbors, those people being the Federal
employees around the country? Let's keep them out of it. Let's keep
them still serving their neighbors, and let's keep the fight right here
where it needs to be. Let's argue this out until we get it resolved,
and let's not quit until we resolve it. It is a simple idea that
Senator Hassan and I actually believe will work.
In the decades to come, people will look back at the time when we
used to have government shutdowns and will shake their heads and say: I
can't believe there was a period of time during which the Federal
government used to shut down when they argued. Now we stay until we get
the issue settled.
It is a pretty straightforward idea, and I hope that more of my
colleagues will join us in this absolute commitment to solving this for
future generations.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.