Disapproving the President's Proposal to Take An Action Relating to the Application of Certain Sanctions with Respect to the Russian
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I appreciate the sentiment of the Senator from Georgia, and I remember earlier last year when we were both part of discussions to try to resolve an earlier shutdown issue and an earlier issue related to immigration reform. We put together a bipartisan bill involving the Dreamers, and we got some broad support on our side. Unfortunately, the White House, in the end, was not supportive of that agreement, even though the Senator from Georgia had worked so hard.
I think we can't rule out, as much as we have tried and will continue to try, to come up with bipartisan solutions like the majority and the minority leader did in December that we all supported and would have prevented this shutdown. We can't take out the element of the fact that a number of times we have been gut-punched, basically, when we have tried to do that. That doesn't mean that the discussion shouldn't continue, and I appreciate his good work on that.
I want to discuss one Minnesotan, Kathleen DeMaster, who has been affected by this and her family. She works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Minneapolis. She is currently furloughed. This is Kathleen and her daughter. She says:
My situation is becoming desperate. . . . I accepted my position with the federal government only a few months ago because it is a fantastic way for me to better myself and my career. I am passionate about public service and have enjoyed my job very much since I started. While accepting this position improved my situation, I have lived paycheck to paycheck. . . . This has not changed unfortunately. I am a single mother and a homeowner. And while I am college educated . . . I have struggled to get where I am now. It has never been easy, and unfortunately, this has only made life more difficult. My funds are exhausted. At this point in time, I don't have the money to pay for my mortgage or for childcare for my daughter. The money I will receive for unemployment insurance will not cover everything I need [it to].
Unfortunately this has put me in an untenable situation. Do I risk losing my home or do I risk having my daughter lose her daycare and being unable to work when I am recalled?
In other words, she can maybe lose the daycare because she is at home now, but she is not going to be able to have the daycare when she goes back to work, when she can.
These are the choices I (and many others, I am sure) are facing right now.
This may be a story you have heard before, but I felt it needs to be shared until it is heard by the right ears.
These are this woman's words--``the right ears.''
I am at a loss for what else to do, and I'm terrified for what it means for my daughter and myself.
Kathleen is doing everything she can do to provide for her daughter. She recently started picking up shifts with Instacart, the grocery delivery service, just to make ends meet. If this shutdown drags on--in her words--she is simply at a loss about how she and her daughter will get by.
In my State there are 6,100 other Federal workers with these stories. They are not being paid, and each of these workers has a face and a name. It is time to end the shutdown and reopen the government.
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