Negative Repercussions of the Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

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Mr. DELGADO. Mr. Speaker, today I rise, pleased that the government is reopened and determined to not repeat ourselves in 3 weeks.

A poll taken last weekend found that 6 in 10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and nearly 70 percent have negative opinions on the state of the Nation. These findings are grim, but can anyone in this Chamber blame our fellow citizens for their skepticism?

The longest shutdown in American history brought fear, confusion, and financial harm on upstate New York and our entire country--$11 billion worth of economic loss, according to the CBO. And here is what that looked like back home in upstate New York:

The Small Business Administration stopped processing new loans to potential small business owners, slowing the engine of American enterprise;

The FDA stopped routine food safety inspections, putting Americans at risk at their own dinner tables;

The Department of Agriculture stopped administering farm support programs, which include subsidized home loans and tariff relief payments, putting additional financial stress on farmers in upstate New York already suffering from our Nation's ill-conceived trade wars;

The Department of Housing and Urban Development stopped processing mortgage extensions or housing loans, leaving 100,000 rural homeowners at risk of eviction;

The EPA suspended the cleanup efforts at Superfund pollution sites, including in places like Hoosick Falls, with poisoned groundwater.

When the shutdown began, the EPA stopped returning calls from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. I held two townhalls during the shutdown and opened up our phone lines on weekends in order to remain accessible to those in my district who need an advocate in Washington.

I heard from constituent after constituent about the negative repercussions of the shutdown.

I heard from store owners who couldn't accept EBT cards because their SNAP vendor license expired with no possibility of renewal.

I heard from Federal employees, more than 4,200 of whom I am proud to represent in Congress, who worried about losing their dental and vision insurance.

I met with members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the only military personnel who went without pay during the shutdown.

And I heard from small business owners, more than 27,000 of whom live in my district, about the effect of the shutdown on their bottom lines.

All of this for what purpose?

From day one, I joined any colleagues in vote after vote to reopen the government on a bipartisan basis.

It is incumbent on Congress to ensure that the government remains open when the current spending package expires on February 15.

The border wall is a monument to division that, according to experts, is ineffective and wasteful. Holding the government hostage over it was wrong. Indeed, not a single Member of the House body--Democrat or Republican--representing a border district is for the construction of a wall.

When discussing the need for improved border security, we must move past fear-driven partisan politics which seek only to divide us and paralyze our democracy. Moreover, we cannot allow ourselves to fall short of our constitutional obligation as Members of Congress.

Let us not forget that our Founding Fathers began with the legislative body in Article I of our Constitution. This is the one body that represents the will of the people, legislatively.

Our work should not be contingent upon the whims and desires of another branch of government meant to only execute the laws our body is obliged to legislate. This is not how to preserve a democratic order anchored in the separation of powers and sustained by healthy checks and balances.

To be clear, now is not the time to run away from our responsibility as a coequal branch of government. Democrats and Republicans, alike, need to come together and have an evidence-based and transparent debate on the question of border security, have a vote, and then send legislation to the President. It shouldn't take a costly shutdown and a threat of another looming one in order to accomplish this.

As Members of both parties from both Houses begin budget negotiations in a conference committee, I ask that they remember the hardships endured in recent weeks not only by the Federal employees who went without pay in upstate New York, but also by business owners, farmers, and so many others in our region who were harmed because of ripple effects of the shutdown.

The government must not close again. My district and our country can't afford another shutdown. It is our collective responsibility to ensure we do not find ourselves on February 15 at the start of yet another shutdown.

In short, I urge this body to do as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, get to work, and do our job.

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