Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. Another week has gone by and we find ourselves with another exercise in futility.
As I said last week, these CRs are a waste of everyone's time and a waste of countless hours of hard work by members of staff on both sides of the aisle.
While we waste floor time and the American citizens' time, there are 800,000 families--and more--that are feeling the negative effects of the gamesmanship on the other side of the aisle. These effects are not limited to government employees. Contractors, small businesses, and the economy at large have been suffering for weeks.
Just the other day, in Jacksonville, I spoke with the father of a government subcontractor who explained to me how much this shutdown has hurt his son's livelihood.
Now, this idea that once the government is opened back up and government employees are going to receive their backpay, as I am sure most eventually will, there are many across this country who will not. His son is one of them.
And just to prove how ridiculous this entire thing is, due to the recalcitrance of Democrats, experts say that this shutdown has already cost our economy more than the President's request for the wall.
My colleagues on the other side of aisle want to score political points by denying our duly-elected President a campaign promise, a simple promise to protect the American citizen.
Rather than focusing energy on reaching a compromise with the Senate and the President to reopen the government and get Federal workers their paychecks, we are spending time on our bills, bringing bills to the floor that have absolutely no chance of becoming law.
Here is my message to the House majority: Stop using working-class Americans as leverage and come to the table to find a compromise on behalf of the American people.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: If the Speaker is serious about opening the government and getting people back to work, bring a bill to the floor that the Senate will pass and the President will sign.
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