[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15440-15445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   EXCEPTED EMPLOYEES' PAY CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS RESOLUTION, 2014

  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 373, I call 
up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 89) making appropriations for the 
salaries and related expenses of certain Federal employees during a 
lapse in funding authority for fiscal year 2014, and for other 
purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen). Pursuant to House 
Resolution 373, the joint resolution is considered read.
  The text of the joint resolution is as follows:

                              H.J. Res. 89

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     following sums are hereby appropriated, out of any money in 
     the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of 
     applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and funds, 
     for the salaries and related expenses of certain Federal 
     employees for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes, 
     namely:
       Sec. 101.  Such amounts as may be necessary for paying 
     salaries and related expenses of Federal employees excepted 
     from the provisions of the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 1341 
     et seq.) who work during the period beginning October 1, 
     2013, and ending December 15, 2013, when there is otherwise 
     no funding authority for such salaries and related expenses: 
     Provided, That not later than December 20, 2013, the Director 
     of the Office of Management and Budget shall provide to the 
     Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
     and the Senate a report specifying the use of funds made 
     available to the Executive Branch by this joint resolution.
       Sec. 102.  Expenditures made pursuant to this joint 
     resolution shall be charged to the applicable appropriation, 
     fund, or authorization whenever a bill in which such 
     applicable appropriation, fund, or authorization is contained 
     is enacted into law.
       Sec. 103.  It is the sense of Congress that this joint 
     resolution may also be referred to as the ``Federal Worker 
     Pay Fairness Act''.
        This joint resolution may be cited as the ``Excepted 
     Employees' Pay Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The joint resolution shall be debatable for 
40 minutes, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Appropriations.
  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw) and the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Serrano) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 89, and that I may include 
tabular material on the same.

[[Page 15441]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Ladies and gentlemen of the House, the legislation that I bring 
before the House today is very simple. It's very straightforward. It's 
very clear, very understandable, and, quite frankly, I think it should 
be noncontroversial; because what this bill does is simply say that the 
Federal employees who have been working during this shutdown are going 
to be paid, and they are going to be paid on time.
  Now, a lot of people during this shutdown have been coming to work 
every day. They've worked for countless hours for the citizens of our 
Nation, and they deserve to be paid. As I said, it's very simple. If 
you work, you get paid.
  For instance, the Capitol Police, they're on the job. They're working 
every day. You might remember last week, they rushed into harm's way in 
the line of duty. Now, those Federal employees deserve to take home a 
paycheck because they're on the job.
  There are other Federal workers that are working every day during 
this shutdown. Some of them are working to make sure that our safety 
and well-being is in place. Some are working to make sure that the 
critical needs of our citizens are met. Some are working to make sure 
that businesses aren't unduly harmed during this shutdown, and some are 
working to make sure that the Federal Government extends a helping hand 
to those people that are the most vulnerable and are truly in need.
  So what this bill does is simply say, as long as this shutdown is 
going on, until it ends, the people that come to work every day deserve 
to be paid. They deserve to be paid on time. Remember, the people who 
come to work every day, they're just like everybody else. They've got 
bills to pay. They've got mortgage payments they've got to make. 
They've got to pay their rent. They've got to make car payments. 
They've got to pay their utility bills. They've got mouths to feed back 
home. There is no reason that they should be punished because the 
Democrats and the Republicans and the White House can't agree how to 
move forward on funding the Federal Government.
  Now, it's the goal of this Congress, as always, to make sure that 
Federal employees are paid and they're paid on time, and we usually do 
that by passing appropriations bills, and we do that. We fund the 
programs, and the salaries are paid on a continuing basis. We usually 
do that by the end of the fiscal year. It didn't happen this year, and 
I hope we don't find ourselves in this position ever again. But right 
now, it's time to come together. This is a logical, commonsense step to 
take--to make sure the people that go to work every day get paid on 
time.
  We came together on Saturday, this weekend, on a unanimous vote, and 
said that those Federal employees who have been furloughed would be 
paid on a retroactive basis. It's my hope that we can come together 
today on a unanimous vote and say the people that go to work are going 
to get paid on time.
  So I urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution; and with that, I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SERRANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Let me start by saying that I wish we were here on the floor today in 
order to consider a bill that would reopen the entire Federal 
Government.
  This bill would pay all excepted Federal employees across the Federal 
Government as they would normally be paid irrespective of the shutdown. 
This is the right thing to do for all of our excepted Federal employees 
who have continued to work during the shutdown.

                              {time}  1745

  While this bill will provide some certainty to those individuals, we 
all know that there is a much easier and better method of accomplishing 
this goal, and that is to consider and pass the clean Senate continuing 
resolution which would reopen our Federal Government immediately.
  I'm still unclear as to why Republicans are refusing to allow a vote 
on the most basic solution to this reckless shutdown.
  While this bill guarantees timely pay for our employees, it does not 
reopen the Federal Government. That means it does nothing to solve the 
many problems the American people are facing as a result of the 
Republican decision to shut down the government.
  Within the subcommittee that I am the ranking member of, the 
Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, the shutdown 
has required the Small Business Administration, for instance, to 
furlough almost two-thirds of its workforce. The agency has had to 
shutter almost all of its loan programs for our Nation's small 
businesses, including loan programs for veterans, women-owned small 
businesses, and small businesses located in underserved areas.
  Within the Federal judiciary, the Federal defenders currently have 
enough funding to continue operations for a couple of weeks. However, 
once that time is up, they may be unable to fulfill their 
constitutional duty to uphold the Sixth Amendment rights of criminal 
defendants.
  The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been cut from 540 
employees to 22, making it near impossible for the agency to perform 
its duty of fully reviewing thousands of different kinds of products. 
This will clearly increase the risk to the public.
  The IRS has been forced to furlough most of its workforce, preventing 
the agency from providing taxpayer assistance to those who have 
questions, to examine questionable tax returns, or even to accept paper 
tax filings.
  The IRS brings in the vast majority of our Nation's revenue, and the 
Republican shutdown is harming our ability to pay our bills.
  The American people need a full continuing resolution so that their 
government can perform the many duties that remain essential to 
American consumers, investors, taxpayers, and small businesses. A clean 
CR would do just that.
  I realize that the majority wants to do this piecemeal, one at a 
time. I think I'm doing some math, and at this rate, the full 
government would be open by 2025, so I'm hoping we can do it before 
that.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the distinguished chairman of the full 
Appropriations Committee.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I thank the chairman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. This bill 
addresses a critical issue facing the Congress right now. It ensures 
that the essential personnel who've been working throughout this 
shutdown receive their hard-earned pay on time.
  These diligent men and women are protecting our homeland; they're 
ensuring our safety and well-being; they're providing critical services 
for our people and shielding our economy. They've been by our sides as 
we have worked to find a way out of the mess that we find ourselves in. 
They've been guarding this very building, putting themselves in harm's 
way. It's our responsibility to these dedicated professionals that they 
receive due compensation for their service to this Nation.
  In addition, the House will consider a second piece of legislation 
this afternoon which will be combined with this bill and sent to the 
Senate. The second bill will provide a path forward to bring all 
parties to the table to end the government shutdown.
  For a week, this House has been toiling, working, trying to find a 
way to end the impasse or at least mitigate its effects as we work 
toward a solution to this very serious problem.
  We've provided bills that would fund the entire government and 
avenues to reopening certain critical government functions. We even 
proposed a conference committee, hoping the Senate would finally agree 
to talk to the House. We heard nothing.

[[Page 15442]]

  But a week later, we're still no closer to a resolution. The Senate 
has turned down nearly every bill we've sent them and rejected every 
compromise we've offered. They've flatly refused a conference committee 
to attempt to find some sort of solution. After 8 days of a shutdown, 
it's high time that we all start having real, adult conversations about 
how to get out of this mess.
  This second bill will establish a working group, Madam Speaker, that 
will provide a framework to get the House and Senate together to hash 
out our differences on the myriad fiscal crises that we are currently 
facing. If enacted, it will require, by law, Members from both Houses 
to meet and work our way toward a final agreement. There is far too 
much at stake now to be stuck in our ways. We must work together in a 
productive fashion if we wish to get anything accomplished.
  It's imperative that we get our fiscal house in order and put our 
budgets on an attainable and sustainable path. We must have a common, 
agreed-upon, top-line discretionary spending level with the Senate, 
which will allow our annual appropriations work to be completed this 
year.
  To do this, we must enact meaningful, commonsense entitlement program 
reforms that will slow the monstrous growth of these auto-pilot 
programs. We need to ensure that they're sustainable in the future--
stop them from devouring the entirety of our Federal budgets--including 
funding for our domestic programs and our national defense, and prevent 
them from plunging our Nation further into debt.
  I believe that the Members of this House and of the Senate are 
reasonable people, people of goodwill, people who wish to do right by 
this country. That's why I hope that this House will approve both of 
these bills today.
  This is the right thing to do, to help find an end to this government 
shutdown, to tackle our spending problems and our debt limit, and to 
show the people of the United States that we are here to legislate, not 
to pontificate. They expect and deserve no less.
  So I urge my colleagues to support this bill and this path forward.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. SERRANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Moran), my dear friend, the low-key Mr. Moran.
  Mr. MORAN. I thank my good friend from New York, and I trust that my 
very good friend from Kentucky wasn't referring to anybody on this side 
of the aisle when he used the word ``pontificate.''
  Obviously, Madam Speaker, on this side of the aisle we are going to 
vote for this bill. The Democrats never wanted to shut down any of the 
government in the first place.
  But I want to remind my colleagues that the vast majority of Federal 
employees in their districts are considered nonessential. I would like 
for my colleagues to reflect on what that means within each individual 
family when a breadwinner, who has been working hard at a job--making 
his family proud or her family proud--comes home and has to announce 
that they're furloughed because they were considered to be 
nonessential.
  Imagine if that happened in the House and, if we had to divide up 
between essential and nonessential, how we would feel. I know it brings 
smiles as it did in the caucus just a few minutes ago, but think about 
it.
  It's wrong to have this arbitrary distinction. Ninety percent of the 
IRS is considered nonessential; 90 percent of the Department of Energy, 
90 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency, 81 percent of the 
Interior Department, 70 percent of the intelligence agencies are 
considered nonessential. They're not nonessential. They're working 
hard. They ought to be able to get back to their jobs. We need them to 
be back to their jobs.
  It's very disappointing that the Senate has held up the bill that we 
voted for unanimously on Saturday--I hope they'll let that loose--but 
the reality is, when we vote to pay people, we recognize they deserve 
to be paid, and if they're being paid, all of them want to be working 
for that pay.
  So that's what we need to do. We need to open the entire government. 
Let everyone work for their pay as they want to do.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston), an outstanding member of the Appropriations 
Committee.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this bill because people do need 
a paycheck. They need to be able to plan their expenses based on their 
income, and we have disrupted that income flow, so it makes sense to 
say, let's get the pay schedule back on track.
  But I want to say something in a broader context that, after offering 
the Senate three different compromises on keeping the government open--
three different compromises that were rejected--and then a fourth offer 
to let's immediately, last Sunday, go to a conference and start 
negotiating our differences, all of those were rejected; but even in 
that context, we have found a few things that we can agree on: the 
military pay bill, which not only included the men and women in uniform 
but the civilian support staff that they had.
  As Mr. Moran has pointed out, recently we came together again for the 
furloughed employees to be able to get back pay for the time in which 
they're out of work. Then we tried the other day to pass--and did from 
the House--the NIH, the National Institutes of Health, which passed the 
House floor on an overwhelming bipartisan basis; and we're looking at 
other programs that have passed, again, on a bipartisan basis, such as 
WIC--the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program--Head Start, 
Impact Aid, and we have a number of others.
  Why, Madam Speaker, are those important?
  Because many of us have actually chaired and participated in 
conference committees where House and Senate Members come together to 
iron out their differences. Frequently, the gap is huge, and 
frequently, the differences are numerous.
  We know from experience that if you can start chopping those big 
differences into small steps, eventually you close the gap, and that is 
what the House Appropriations Committee, under Chairman Rogers, is 
doing, and much of it with the support of Democrat House Members.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. I yield the gentleman another minute.
  Mr. KINGSTON. But if we can get some of these things off the table--
if we can agree on military pay, if we can agree on the civilian 
support staff for military, if we can agree on furloughed employees, 
and if we can agree with NIH, that science and public health should be 
off the table--then, Madam Speaker, that big gap that stands between us 
and the Senate right now, it begins to narrow, and we create a little 
bit of momentum for a solution.
  There are still going to be great differences that aren't going to be 
easy, but I think it is very important for us to come together and find 
the things on which we do agree, and at least move in a positive 
direction on them.
  Mr. SERRANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Cummings), one of the great gentlemen, and I mean that.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, as ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform, I rise in strong support of paying our Federal 
workers, but I oppose the parliamentary gimmicks being used by the 
majority to consider H.J. Res. 89, which is why I voted ``no'' on the 
rule.
  This resolution would ensure that the more than 1.2 million dedicated 
Federal employees who have been required by their agencies to work 
during the government shutdown will receive their paychecks on time.
  So far, these committed men and women have been at their duty 
stations without pay for 8 days since Republican extremists took our 
government hostage as part of their crusade to take health care from 
tens of millions of our fellow citizens.

[[Page 15443]]

  It is only fair and right that we pay them in a timely manner for the 
services they have rendered. These employees have mortgages, student 
loans, and children in college. They have to provide for their 
families, and they need their paychecks.
  Three days ago, the House unanimously passed H.R. 3223, the Federal 
Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, which would give back pay to 
800,000 Federal employees furloughed as a result of this government 
shutdown. I understand, however, that a Republican Senator is blocking 
the consideration of that bill in the Senate.
  Our Federal workers have endured relentless assaults over the past 3 
years and have sacrificed much already. They have suffered through a 3-
year pay freeze, reductions in their retirement benefits, and 
sequester-imposed furloughs.
  It is time to stop the assault on our Federal workers. I urge the 
Senate to pass H.R. 3223 by unanimous consent immediately.
  I support our Federal workers, and I support H.J. Res. 89, but I 
oppose the measure to which it will be attached upon passage, and note 
that by simply bringing to the floor a clean measure to fund the entire 
government, this bill would not be necessary.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time both 
sides have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida has 9\1/4\ 
minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 13 minutes 
remaining.

                              {time}  1800

  Mr. CRENSHAW. At this time, Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the 
distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf).
  Mr. WOLF. I want to thank Chairman Crenshaw for yielding. I want to 
also thank him and Chairman Rogers for their help today and on 
Saturday. I also want to thank their staffs. The staffs and leadership 
have been incredibly helpful in bringing this legislation to this 
floor.
  Madam Speaker, I think if you look at the vote on Saturday, I and all 
Members believe that Federal employees should be paid, period. Too many 
Federal employees and their families don't know when their next 
paychecks will arrive and are worried about paying their next mortgage 
payments, paying utilities bills, filling up their cars with gas, or 
paying for their children's tuitions, which are coming up very soon. We 
need to fix this.
  That is why I joined last week with Mr. Moran and others in our 
delegation--colleagues on both sides of the aisle--to bring bipartisan 
legislation to the floor last Saturday to ensure that all Federal 
employees, whether exempt or furloughed by no fault of their own, are 
paid once this shutdown ends. I'm pleased that this bill passed the 
House 407-0.
  I heard that both a Republican and a Democrat Senator had this bill 
on hold. I don't understand, Madam Speaker, the Senate's ways of going 
about this, but I think, if any Senators have a hold, they ought to 
feel strongly enough that they ought to do it publicly so we know who 
they are, but I understand it's both a Republican and a Democrat. On 
behalf of the people who are having a very difficult time, I would ask 
them to lift that hold.
  Additionally, this House acted to ensure that members of the military 
and Defense Department civilians exempt from furloughs would be paid on 
time. I am pleased that the Pay Our Military Act, which the House 
passed by 423-0, was quickly approved by the Senate and signed into law 
by the President.
  Today's legislation builds on these efforts by ensuring that other 
exempt Federal employees like the FBI team in Nairobi investigating the 
attack by Al-Shabaab; the CIA, which is looking at things coming in 
with regard to al Qaeda; the DEA, which is stopping drugs from coming 
into this country; the Border Patrol agents; doctors and nurses at VA 
hospitals; Federal firefighters; air traffic controllers; and prison 
guards will be paid as soon as possible. I hope the House today will 
follow the bipartisan precedent we have set over and over and vote for 
this legislation.
  In closing, I know my colleagues recognize that Federal employees 
aren't just nameless faces behind desks. They are real people, out in 
the field, who work day in and day out to keep our country safe.
  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, I would like briefly to clarify that it is 
a gentleman of the minority party that has objected and is holding up 
the pay bill in the Senate.
  I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), a 
great leader and the ranking member of the Budget Committee.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I thank my friend from New York.
  Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely the right thing to do to make sure we 
pay Federal workers on time whether they're the Capitol Police or any 
other public servant doing the work of our country right now.
  It was also the right thing to do on a bipartisan basis to make sure 
that Federal employees are not punished through no fault of their own. 
We did that unanimously by the vote on Saturday to make sure that 
Federal employees do not have to bear that burden when they're not the 
ones making the bad decisions.
  What is very puzzling, Mr. Speaker, is, in having voted unanimously 
to say that we're going to make sure we pay those Federal employees who 
are being furloughed, we would at the same time block them from going 
back to work for the American people.
  I just don't understand, Mr. Speaker, how the Speaker of the House 
can explain that to the American people when we have in our possession 
here in the people's House a piece of legislation that, if we were 
allowed to vote on it, could reopen the entire government right now, 
without preconditions.
  Now, we've heard from our Republican colleagues that they want to 
open one little piece--let's open the national parks. Let's open 
another little piece--but on Saturday, what we did was vote to make 
sure that every Federal employee, whether they work for the national 
parks or any other Federal agency--everyone--would get paid for 
yesterday, for today, for tomorrow.
  So why would our colleagues want to let one more day go by when we're 
compensating Federal employees and making them stay at home? Why 
wouldn't we open the Federal Government today so that they can do the 
work that we're paying them to do on behalf of the American people? It 
is absolutely mind-boggling, Mr. Speaker, that our Republican 
colleagues would take that position.
  In the Senate right now you've got a Senator from Texas, Senator 
Cornyn, who is blocking that particular provision that we passed 
unanimously. I hope that he will let it go. But over here in the House, 
we have a bill that the President's waiting to sign right now. All we 
need to do is pass it, and the votes are here in the House to do it. If 
the Speaker doubts that fact, there's an easy way to figure it out. We 
all know that. Put it up for a vote. What's the Speaker afraid of--a 
little democracy in this House?
  So we're going to be paying all the Federal employees, as we should, 
because they absolutely should not be penalized--not for one day that 
we're forcing them to be out of work. These are men and women who are 
dedicated to providing service to our country. They want to get back to 
work, and what this House is saying is, We're going to keep paying you, 
but we're not going to let you go to work for the American people. That 
is an astounding position to take.
  Let's vote to open the entire government right now. Let's take up the 
Senate bill. Let's get it done.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I don't have any further speakers, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SERRANO. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we keep saying it, and the folks who keep watching us 
wonder why we keep saying it--or maybe they know why we keep saying it. 
Little by little, you are reopening the government, but it may take 
until 2025 to accomplish it at this level. So our hope would be that we 
just pass the resolution that was passed in the Senate and open the 
government.

[[Page 15444]]

  Now, this one is an easy one. Everyone is going to vote for this 
bill. In fact, this bill should pass on a voice vote so that we can get 
folks and pay them properly for the services they're rendering, but 
there are other people who need to come to work. There are other people 
who need to service the American people. There are Americans who need 
to be serviced, and this is not the way for us to behave.
  A little bit of history--and I know that some people in the last 
couple of days have either refused to mention it or gave up on it--and 
that is that this all started not because there were differences in 
economic reasoning or behavior. It started because a group of people on 
your side wanted to attach killing ObamaCare--the Affordable Care Act--
and they were willing to do whatever they needed to do to accomplish 
that.
  That's not going to happen. How many times do we have to say that 
bill was passed by the House, passed by the Senate, signed by the 
President, and upheld by the Supreme Court? I don't know how many laws 
you can say that about in this country that we don't go after, and yet 
some folks just won't give up.
  The time is now for us to open up the government. The time is now for 
us to pass this bill, to respect our Federal workers, but also to 
respect the American people in general by making sure that the 
government is open.
  Take up the resolution. It will pass in 2 seconds, I assure you. In 
fact, I predict that if you bring that resolution to the floor, you may 
be shocked to get a unanimous vote, because that's what we want to do--
to open up the government and then move on to deal with the issues that 
we have to deal with.
  So let's do it, and let's do it quickly.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't think anybody in this Chamber wanted to see the 
government shut down. Nobody wanted to see it down.
  As has been pointed out, we passed a continuing resolution, funded 
the government, sent it to the United States Senate, and they said 
``no.'' So we sent another resolution that kept the government open. 
The Senate said ``no.'' A third time we sent a resolution to the United 
States Senate to keep the government open. The Senate said ``no.''
  Then we said, Why don't we just sit down and talk? Why don't we have 
a conference committee--one of those committees that we have all the 
time in this body when the House and the Senate disagree. We call it a 
conference committee. We appoint a group from the House. They appoint a 
group from the Senate. We work out the differences. That's the way you 
resolve conflict. That's the way you move ahead.
  So the House appointed eight conferees. We went to a meeting, ready 
to meet with the Senate. They didn't show up. So we decided they don't 
really want to have any negotiations about how we continue to fund the 
Federal Government.
  Then we said, If they won't pass a continuing resolution to fund the 
entire Federal Government, maybe we should just take certain parts of 
the Federal Government and see if the United States Senate or our 
friends on the other side would vote in favor of doing that. Of course, 
everyone has voted to say we ought to keep the government running as it 
relates to the military--both the defense and civilian employees. So 
our friends on the other side decided that was a good idea, and they 
voted for that.
  Then we said, Since the District of Columbia is being penalized by 
our inaction, why don't we pass a bill that says we'll appropriate the 
money--it's their own money--and let them spend it the way they want to 
spend it. We had that on a suspension vote, and our friends on the 
other side didn't want to do that, so they voted ``no.''
  Then we had a bill on Saturday that talked about folks that are on 
furlough, and our friends on the other side said, That's a good idea. 
We ought to pay them retroactively.
  So they've been picking and choosing, picking and choosing, and some 
of these bills passed. In fact, if you add up all the bills we've 
passed, there have been 10 bills now that keep the government running 
in different ways shapes, and forms--that's almost one-third of all the 
discretionary spending--and we passed all that.
  Where are those bills? They're sitting down in the Senate, waiting 
for the Senate to do something.
  So we find ourselves in a situation that we didn't want to be in. 
We're all frustrated--people are angry--but we'll keep going. We're 
going to try to get the government running again. We're going to try to 
keep things open.
  But for goodness sake, this bill before us today simply says the 
folks that are coming to work are doing the things that are important 
to our Federal Government, and they ought to get paid. If you work, you 
get paid, and you get paid on time. I think everybody agrees with that.
  So let's not penalize them. A lot of people are being penalized 
because of our inaction, but let's not penalize the people who come to 
work every day to meet the critical needs of our country. Let's make 
sure that they get paid. Sooner or later, Mr. Speaker, we'll open this 
government back up. We've tried to do almost a third of it now. Still, 
people say no. We'll move ahead.
  With that, I simply urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of 
this legislation to make sure that the people who are working get paid 
on time.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.J. Res. 
89, the Federal Worker Pay Fairness Act.
  Last week the House passed support of H.R. 3223, the ``Federal 
Employees Retroactive Pay Fairness Act,'' which provided for 
retroactive pay for nearly 800,000 federal workers who have been 
furloughed as a result of the government shutdown engineered by the Tea 
Party faction of House Republicans.
  The 1.3 million ``essential'' civilian employees as well as those who 
are on Furlough share the same financial fate neither will get a 
paycheck if the shutdown extends beyond October 15, 2013.
  Federal employees whether they are working or waiting be called back 
to work are all waiting on the House to honor a promissory note for 
agreeing to give their best in serving the people of the United States.
  We promise to pay Federal employees what is owed to them. We owe them 
dignity and respect as well as a debt of gratitude for electing to 
enter into public service.
  The reason we are considering another Federal employee pay bill is 
that the earlier bill forgot something important that the majority is 
trying to fix--and I agree they should fix with passage of this bill.
  We have not started the debate on the Debt Ceiling, but it is time to 
start considering the consequences should this method of legislating 
continue.
  The world has a promissory note that is written on every dollar bill, 
``This note is Legal Tender for All Debts, Public and Private.''
  That promissory note means that people around the world highly value 
our nation's currency--not having that reputation will hurt everyone in 
this country.
  In other words our money is only as valuable as its reputation, which 
is why threatening not to honor our debts is more than just a light 
matter to be down played by PR talking points.
  But to my dear friends on the other side of the aisle this is another 
example of why this piece-mill process to attempt to fund the Federal 
government is a problem and why the American public can see that this 
process makes no sense.
  The House has members who are specialists in appropriations they 
serve on the house Committee on Appropriations.
  According to the Rules on the House of Representatives the House 
Committee on Appropriations' function is the appropriation of the 
revenue for the support of the Government.
  The Appropriations Committee would not have forgotten to include Hill 
staff, which this bill will address. Hill employees include Capitol 
Police officers, custodial staff, and the staff of the Library of 
Congress.
  This gesture is appreciated by these Federal government employees, 
but neither they nor the other federal employees promised back pay will 
see anything until this body passes a clean CR offered by the Senate.
  The United States House of Representatives has Rules that govern how 
we as the people's representatives are to conduct the business of the 
Federal government.

[[Page 15445]]

  The House of Representatives have been trying to put on a show for 
the American public by bringing bills to the floor--fast and varied 
though they may be they are half baked and ineffective means of funding 
the Federal government.
  My colleagues on the other side aisle are only human--and they are 
going to forget something, but one of the things they should not forget 
is how their decisions are impacting the lives of people.
  I urge all Members to join me in voting for H.J. Res. 89.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hultgren). All time for debate has 
expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 373, the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on engrossment and third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, and was read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the joint 
resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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