Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019--Motion

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, obviously, this is a happy and positive day not only for Federal employees but for the American people as we reopen the government, but we should also indicate there is something absolutely pathetic about what has happened.

Let us not forget for a second that 5 weeks ago, the U.S. Senate unanimously--every Republican, every Democrat--voted for essentially the same legislation that will likely pass today and that 5 weeks ago we voted to keep the government open. Then President Trump responded to FOX television and other rightwing outlets and announced that he would shut down the government unless he got his wall.

For 5 weeks, think of the suffering, of the uncertainty, of the pain that hundreds of thousands of Federal workers have been forced to experience--workers who have worried about whether they will be able to pay their mortgages, whether they will be able to feed their kids, whether they will be able to go to the doctor when they get sick, worried about what kind of damage will have been done to their credit ratings. That is a result of Trump's shutdown. If my ears heard correctly--and I think they did--Trump, even today, just a few minutes ago, announced that he is prepared to shut down the government again unless he gets his way.

I think the time is long overdue for the American people to tell this President that he is not a dictator, that he is not a King, that he is not the despotic ruler of Saudi Arabia, that he is not his authoritarian friend Vladimir Putin of Russia. He is the President of United States, and he cannot and must not continue to threaten to shut down this government and hold hundreds of thousands of Federal workers hostage.

While I am delighted that the government is going to be reopened and delighted that Federal employees will get their backpay, I remain concerned about the over 1 million contract employees--often folks who work for low wages--who not only have lost pay but, at this point at least, are not protected by any legislation to make sure they get their backpay. That is something I hope we can address.

The truth is that despite what the President tells us, there is nobody in the Senate or in the House who is not concerned about border security. Some of us believe that spending, as a downpayment, $5.7 billion on a wall, with many billions more to come, is not an effective use of tax dollars when we talk about border security. There are better ways to do it and more cost-effective ways to do it.

There is no debate that border security is an important issue, but one of the things that concerns me very much--and I say this to the Presiding Officer, who is chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee--is that border security and a wall are not the only issues facing the American people. There are 30 million Americans who have no health insurance, and many more who are underinsured. By far, we pay the highest cost for prescription drugs of any people on the face of the Earth.

Border security is important, and it must be dealt with, but we also have to deal with a dysfunctional healthcare system and, in my view, do what every other major country does, which is to guarantee healthcare to all people as a right.

Border security is an important issue, but so is the fact that tens of millions of workers in this country are working for starvation wages. I was just in South Carolina the other day, and I talked to a waitress. She receives $2.25 pay, plus tips. Millions of workers in this country are working for starvation wages of $8 or $9 or $10 an hour. We have to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.

I am proud that in the House--I expect they will pass a minimum wage bill of $15 an hour, and when that bill comes to the Senate, I hope we can do the same.

Border security is an important issue, but so is the fact that the scientific community tells us we have a very short window of opportunity to address the global crisis of climate change. What the scientists have told us is that if we do not boldly reduce carbon emissions over the next 12 years by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy, this country--and, in fact, countries all over the world--will suffer irreparable damage from climate change.

We have to address the crisis of climate change. Border security is important. We have to deal with it, but we also have to deal with climate change.

We have to deal with a broken criminal justice system, which, today, creates a situation where, in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth.

Obviously, if we have learned anything in recent weeks, we have to deal with an immigration system that everybody acknowledges does not work, and we have to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

My point is that I hope very much we will not continue to be held hostage by this President, who, once again, just an hour ago, has threatened another government shutdown in 3 weeks if he doesn't get his way. I hope very much that there will be serious discussions on border security--a very important issue.

President Trump, stop holding the American people hostage. Stop threatening to shut down the government. Stop telling hundreds of thousands of Federal employees that they have to come to work when they will not get paid. Stop denying or threatening to deny the American people access to the vital services that they need.

Today is a good day in the sense that I hope and expect that the government will be reopened, but how sad it is that after all of the suffering and all of the uncertainty our Federal employees have faced, we are back to exactly where we were 5 weeks ago when this body voted unanimously--every Republican and every Democrat--to keep the government open.

Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source