OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Shutdown

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 17, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Government Operations

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Madam Speaker, I rise to implore the President to stop holding Federal workers hostage and immediately end this shutdown.

I think every day of the TSA agent I recently spoke with at the airport. She is now working without pay, a young single mother raising her 15-year-old daughter. She told me she is really struggling to make ends meet without her paycheck. Her story is not unique.

A constituent from Mundelein shared that she doesn't know how she will pay her bills, including her mortgage, and has had to borrow money from her family.

Another constituent, a Federal employee in Round Lake, has been working without pay. He wrote: ``Why are we a bargaining tool for something beyond our control?''

Why indeed, Mr. President?

We may disagree on the best way to secure our border, but we can all agree that the good women and men working on our Nation's behalf should be paid for their work--the TSA and FAA workers keeping our skies safe, the FDA workers keeping our food safe, and the Coast Guard protecting our borders.

Do the responsible thing: reopen our government, and then let's have a robust, honest debate about how to secure our borders.

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