Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, If I were sitting at home or in the Gallery right now, I would be incredibly frustrated. I am frustrated, but if I were home, I would be particularly frustrated. Why?

Think about what we have agreed upon in this colloquy from both the Democratic and Republican side of the aisle. We agree that border security is important. We agree that it is one of the primary functions of the Federal Government. We agree that there needs to be more money, and although in legislation we have not agreed, we certainly have statements from Democrats and, of course, as well as Republicans, that barriers are also important.

Collin Peterson, a Democrat on the House side, put it well. On January 22, 2019, he said:

Give Trump the money. I'd give him the whole thing . . . and put strings on it so you make sure he puts the wall where it needs to be. Why are we fighting over this? We're going to build that wall anyway, at some time.

My Democratic Senate colleagues have said something along the same line, maybe not as point-blank but they certainly have said it. We agree there. We agree that the American worker who continues to show up but is not getting paid needs to get paid.

As for those TSA agents and those air traffic controllers whom we use as we go back and forth to our districts, God bless them. More than 51,000 TSA agents are working without pay. There are 10,000 air traffic controller support staff who remain furloughed.

By the way, I and others have introduced legislation to pay those while they are working. I think it is something we, the Senate, should take up. We need a solution that fulfills our national security responsibilities, ends the shutdown, and so that these workers can get paid.

I say it is time to move forward, negotiate, and come to the table, but you may ask: If Democratic and Republican Senators all agree to this, then, why is it not happening?

In fairness to President Trump, whose rhetoric sometimes inflames and sometimes pushes off and, as my colleague from Ohio said, who sometimes describes things in a way that misrepresents his actual intent, it is not a wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. It is a wall in certain places that are high flow with pedestrian traffic. But, nonetheless, clearly, we have come to a point where a personality conflict between the President and the Speaker has put them at loggerheads and, apparently, they are unable to negotiate.

It is clear from our colloquy that Senators on both sides of the aisle would like to come to a solution that secures the southern border, opens the government, and pays the workers.

In fairness to the President, he has put forward an opening offer. He has said he wants that money for the barrier, but he has put other issues on the table that are near and dear to Democrats' hearts that, hopefully, would open the way to a compromise.

The way I can imagine it would work is that the Speaker would put forward a counterproposal. I think that is where we need to be, to rise above any personal dislike or any entrenched positions that people have come to but, rather, to come to a point where we recognize that the American people are better served if the folks serving them are getting paid, that it is important to secure our southern border, and that some sort of barrier will be part of that, as Members of both parties have agreed to.

So it is time to move forward. It is time to negotiate. It is time for the two principals to come to some sort of compromise. Clearly, we in the Senate are willing to move forward.

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