Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, to all my colleagues, I apologize. I may speak just a little longer than 1 minute--not much.

Madam Speaker, I was sitting in my office just a few minutes ago and Representative Michael Waltz, whom I do not know, from the State of Florida rose and said he was here in an empty Capitol.

Scores of my fellow Democrats are here because they are outraged that we have shut down the people's government, and they are here, Mr. Waltz, to urge the President of the United States and Mitch McConnell to open up the people's government. That is why they are here. They haven't gone home, Congressman Waltz. We are here.

I don't see anybody over here.

Madam Speaker, I rise to join with my colleagues in highlighting the absurdity of the Trump-McConnell shutdown and share some of the ways, just some few ways, it is affecting Americans in my district.

Now, you can go to this website, trumpshutdownstories.us, and get scores more stories than I will be able to tell on this floor in this short time I will speak.

Maryland's Fifth District, which I have the great honor of having represented for the last 38 years, has 62,000 Federal employees, tens of thousands of whom are not getting paid, and some who are being forced--no, who are voluntarily working because they love this country and they love their jobs, and they are working without pay.

Is that any way to treat any employee, much less an employee working for their government?

One woman from Prince George's County, Maryland, wrote to tell me that her husband, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is furloughed. She isn't working because they have an infant, and he, the only source of their income.

Another constituent wrote to tell me that he serves in the Coast Guard. He said:

As I was putting my 9-year-old son to bed last night, he asked me, ``Dad, how come they are making you work without pay?''

He went on to say:

I gave him an answer about having taken an oath and that it is my duty to serve, but he was still confused.

I share that young child's concern and confusion. Why would we do this? What would lead us to show such disrespect for those who carry out our policy?

All Americans should be confused about why our hardworking public servants would be forced to work without pay or be told to go home and wait while a paycheck doesn't come.

It is not just Federal employees and contractors who are affected.

And, by the way, we are going to repay the Federal employees, as we should. But the contractors, the small business people, the small shop owners in my district who have thousands of their customers who aren't being paid and, therefore, are not customers.

One woman from St. Mary's County, the county in which I live, said:

We were scheduled to close on our home on January 11, and we received a phone call 3 days before that we would not be going to closing because our loan was on hold due to the government shutdown. A time that is supposed to be the happiest, and here we sit with our house in boxes and living week to week with a landlord. We don't know if we will lose our home.

Madam Speaker, I would tell President Trump to listen to these stories, listen to the humanity that must be in you, be sympathetic, be empathetic, be caring about these people who are your constituents, whom you are pledged to protect.

Madam Speaker, I would ask the President and Senator McConnell to hear the voices of men and women their shutdown policies are hurting. They are going to hear many more stories.

Democrats have voted now 11 times to end this shutdown, and Republicans and the President have blocked these measures again and again.

Let me say, Madam Speaker, to those who might be listening: We passed Republican bills to open up this government--not our bills, not partisan bills, but Republican, Senate-passed bills which would have opened up the government.

Madam Speaker, because we care so deeply about our constituents who either work for or are served by our government, we will continue to do everything possible to reopen government and share the stories of those being held hostage by the President and Senator McConnell.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for being on this floor to bring their stories of their constituents, of the President's constituents, to his attention, as well as Senator McConnell.

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