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Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, a couple of days ago I came to the floor to talk about the partial government shutdown, how it is impacting different parts of my State--the Great State of Alaska--and, in particular, how it is impacting the men and women in the U.S. Coast Guard.

I think we all recognize as we are trying to work through this partial government shutdown that a lot of Federal workers are being impacted, but let me talk about the Coast Guard because I think it is a little different than almost any other group of Federal workers.

On Tuesday, these brave men and women did not receive a paycheck. They didn't receive a paycheck, and they are the only branch of the U.S. military right now, out there around the world and around the globe, risking their lives for the American people, who are not getting paid. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines--we love them all. They are working hard. They are getting paid. The men and women of the Coast Guard are not getting paid. That is wrong. That is particularly wrong. They can't leave the Coast Guard. They would get court-martialed. They are working hard, saving lives in my State, certainly--in Alaska--all the time, and they are not getting paid when the other services are getting paid.

So what did we do? A number of us, Democrats and Republicans--almost one-quarter of the Members of the U.S. Senate--cosponsored a bill that says: Let's pay the Coast Guard. Let's pay the Coast Guard right now so they are treated fairly, like the other men and women serving in our military.

That was a good start. I was optimistic then. It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride, but, to be honest, I couldn't imagine that this bill wouldn't sail through. We are not going to be able to fix everything right now, but this is one we can start working on, on these individual issues, and there is a lot of talk of doing it.

Last week, I had the opportunity to raise this with the President and his administration and the Secretary of Homeland Security, and we continued to press this issue all week with the OMB Director, the Chief of Staff of the White House, and the President himself, and he said this week that he was going to support the bill. That is important. Now you have the executive branch, the President of the United States, and he will sign it. He said it. I was in a meeting with him yesterday, and he said he is 100 percent supportive of this bill. It is bipartisan. There are actually more Democrats than Republicans on the bill right now.

What we did, trying to move this quickly, is we said: All right, the President is going to sign it. We have a quarter of the Senate. It is a bipartisan bill. Let's move it.

We moved to hotline it. What does that mean? To try to get this bill to be moved through unanimous consent through the Senate, a hotline means you are going to try to move it real fast and everybody is going to vote on it. That started today. By noon, every Republican Member of the U.S. Senate said: Good to go--cleared, hot. Let's pay the men and women of the Coast Guard.

I had the opportunity to talk to a local public radio program in Kodiak, the largest Coast Guard station in the country. I had the opportunity to say to my fellow Alaskans that I am pretty optimistic. We have moved. We have a lot of cosponsors--25 percent of the Senate, Democrats and Republicans--and the President of the United States. Bingo, Republicans have said we are good to go on it. I have certainly started working with some of my Democratic colleagues who are also optimistic. Why would we block this? Why would we block this? Remember, they are the only men and women in the U.S. military not getting paid right now, and we have a solution.

So I come to the floor, and I hate to admit it because 2 hours ago I was pretty optimistic, but I am getting word that my colleagues--the Democrats and the minority leader--are now saying: Maybe we are just going to block this. I am not sure why. Nobody has come down here to say why. We are running the hotline on the Democratic side. So maybe that is just a rumor. I hope it is just a rumor. Why would you block it? Come on, my colleagues on the other side. Why would you block it? We are not going to fix everything tonight, but we could fix this tonight.

Let me talk a little bit about my State. Some of you have probably seen the ``Deadliest Catch'' and those kind of shows about Alaska. Look at the men and women who are out there keeping our fishermen--American fishermen--safe. On average, every month in the State of Alaska the Coast Guard saves 22 lives--in 1 month, on average, in one State--and it assists 53 people, reports and investigates 25 maritime casualties, conducts close to 20 security boardings and over 20 security patrols. If you are in trouble on the high seas in Alaska, which is a bad place to be, the seas are never too rough or the skies never too dismal for the Coast Guard to come out and rescue you. We have seen it time and again, but it is not just in Alaska. It is all over the country, and it is all over the world.

I talked to the Commandant of the Coast Guard just yesterday. I said: Mr. Commandant, Admiral, I think we are close. The President is good to go. I think most of the Senators are good to go. The bill has 25 cosponsors.

He reminded me that he has men and women in the Coast Guard deployed in the Persian Gulf doing anti-piracy operations alongside U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy personnel--right now, in the Persian Gulf, Marines, Coast Guard, and Navy--and guess who is not getting paid. Does anyone think that should be a tolerated situation? The answer is no. The answer is no.

Again, I hope this is a rumor, and that the hotline is happening right now on the Democratic side. We have cleared it--good to go. Every Republican has signed off on this. I hope that this is just a rumor-- that tonight the Democrats will clear this and we will get it to the House. The Coast Guard said they can start cutting checks again within 24 hours. The President will sign this. So there should be no reason not to do this.

The partial government shutdown is negatively impacting Federal workers. The President's request, in my view, for border security is imminently reasonable. I hope the Speaker will view it that way. A lot of her members are. We are all working for this. We are all working for a solution. Senator Johnson put out a bill that I joined as a cosponsor that would immediately pay all workers who are currently working without pay. This would expand the idea of what we are doing with the Coast Guard bill. I think it is a good idea. That is a start, but the Coast Guard bill right now has momentum. It has momentum.

We could get this done in 24 hours. It is not a complete solution, but we have the White House, and it should be the Senate and, hopefully, the House getting ready to find a solution for at least for some of the men and women in the Federal workforce.

But as I like to emphasize, they are not just any Federal workers. All of them are important--there is no doubt--but when you are the only members of the military not getting paid for risking your lives for your country and we can fix it here tonight in the Senate, that is what we should be doing.

I certainly hope this bill isn't being blocked unreasonably. As I mentioned, it is not a complete solution, but it is the start of a solution. For the life of me, I can't understand why this bill would be blocked.

More importantly, the men and women of the Coast Guard will not understand why this bill is being blocked. Communities that support and depend on the Coast Guard--like Kodiak, AK--will not understand why this bill is being blocked. These young men and women, who love their country and have chosen to serve and protect us, are not going to understand why this bill is being blocked tonight.

I don't want to use the word plead, but I am asking my colleagues on the Democratic side to do the right thing and pass this bill tonight. Every single American who is aware of this situation knows that it is inequitable when the other members of the military--who are out there risking their lives just like the men and women of the Coast Guard--are getting paid and the men and women of the Coast Guard aren't.

We are on the verge of a solution. Passing this bill will take care of at least one issue that we are all trying to resolve. Again, I urge my Democratic colleagues--because all of my Republican colleagues have already passed this bill in the hotline. I urge my colleagues to take up this bill, do the right thing, and support the men and women of the Coast Guard, who are not being treated equal to their brothers and sisters in the other branches of the military.

Until then, I am going to continue to fight for this. I am going to continue to raise the issue. We have made a lot of progress, including getting the White House and the President on board and getting all of our Members here on the Republican side of the Senate on board. I am hopeful, with more advocacy and more reasoning with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, that we will also get there, move this to the House quickly, and get the men and women of the Coast Guard the paychecks they are needing.

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