[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 15169-15170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PUTTING FEDERAL EMPLOYEES BACK TO WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Ms. Edwards) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 15170]]


  Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, we are in day four of the Republican 
shutdown, an irresponsible and manufactured crisis designed to promote 
ideology at the expense of the American people.
  Let's be clear about why House Republicans have so knowingly, 
carelessly, and recklessly shut down our government. We have heard it 
on this floor today, Mr. Speaker. It is because they continue to be 
obsessed with eliminating the Affordable Care Act, the law of the land 
that is being implemented right now. It has become apparent that they 
are willing to sacrifice the basic functions of the U.S. Government 
just to prove that point. Again, ideology and politics over people.
  Right now there are nearly 1 million men and women who work for the 
Federal Government, good people, my neighbors and family, who signed up 
to do a job in the service of their Nation, and today they are not at 
work. They have had to either take a furlough, now missing four days of 
work, some of whom were already furloughed earlier this summer with the 
sequester. That means they are laid off, and they are not working 
because their work isn't essential. They are not getting paid.
  Now, for those of us who are old enough to remember it, it kind of 
reminds me of the cartoon character in Popeye: I will gladly pay you 
Tuesday for a hamburger today. Now, the Capitol Police and many other 
Federal employees that are deemed essential are in fact working. We 
heard that yesterday with their courage and their valiant service to 
this Capitol. But they are not being paid. Many have worked what would 
equal overtime this week due to the various protest rallies and 
yesterday's car chase, but they are not being paid.
  Now, this shutdown is not just about faceless bureaucrats. It is 
about real people, about public servants who are directly affected by 
the shutdown, and I want to tell you about a few of them who live in my 
congressional district.
  Pat from Gambrills, he and his wife are both Federal employees so in 
that household it is about 8 days of furlough. They, like many of their 
fellow colleagues, will experience extreme difficulties if the 
government defaults in just another couple of weeks. Pat contacted my 
office and he urged the President, my fellow Democrats, and me not to 
bargain with Republicans in regard to increasing the debt limit and 
getting government operating. It is our job, he said. Though they are 
experiencing difficulty, Pat stated, I believe it is more important not 
to negotiate or bend to blackmail. Republicans must learn that they 
must follow the same rules as the rest of us or there will be 
consequences. Those are Pat's words.
  But I also want to tell you about some others who contacted my office 
like Tracy out in Laurel. She works at the Department of Health and 
Human Services. She helps her mother pay bills every month; and when 
she called my office, she was crying, she was in tears, because she 
wants this to stop so that she can pay her bills.
  Then there was Dini who lives in Oxon Hill--and I live in Oxon Hill--
who is a single parent who was already furloughed earlier this summer, 
and now she isn't sure how she is going to pay the bills or take care 
of her child. In fact, some of these workers still have to pay 
childcare to keep the spot in daycare, even though they are not being 
paid and they are not working.
  Then there was Christopher. He and his wife are both employed at the 
Department of Homeland Security in support of the security of this 
Nation. They were both furloughed earlier this summer, and they are 
furloughed now.
  So those are just some of the stories, and I could go on. I have 
sheets and sheets of calls from workers who live in my congressional 
district; and, you know, those Federal workers have already paid a 
great price. They are the folks out at NASA's Goddard Space Flight 
Center, which is located in the county I live in, in Prince George's 
County, a premier research institution; and 3,397 employees who would 
normally be at work aren't there. Only 104 of them are, and only 60 are 
working full time while the other 44 are working part-time. That means 
that also 250 of them are on call, and so 90 percent are actually 
furloughed out at Goddard Space Flight Center.
  But it doesn't just affect Goddard. It affects all those small 
businesses, restaurants, shops, gas stations where civilian employees 
normally go to do their business, but they are not going there now. So 
the impact isn't just for the Federal workforce.
  This is a really terrible situation, Mr. Speaker, and I really 
implore the leadership of Speaker Boehner. I know that he is a good 
man, and I want him to have the courage to put a clean Senate-passed CR 
on the floor of this House so that the majority of the House can work 
its will. Now, I know 40 or 50 won't, but the majority of the House 
should be allowed to work its will.

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