Government Funding

Floor Speech

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Mr. KIM. Madam President, I rise today because I literally, just about 2 minutes ago, finished a telephone townhall with over 5,000 people back home in New Jersey that joined up to try to figure out what in the world is happening to our government right now, when they see just this abdication of leadership from the White House to leadership here in Congress, and to step up right now at a time of need. Thousands of people from across New Jersey who have called in worried about how this shutdown is going to affect their lives, how the healthcare costs that they are going to be experiencing are going to reshape their ability to be able to deliver care for those that need care the most.

The simple story is they are scared. The people I talked to were nervous about what comes next. And, frankly, they are pissed off about this. They know that this is not how a government should function. They know that, yes, we need to be able to step up and have negotiations.

But how can you have negotiations when one Chamber of this Congress hasn't even shown up to work this week. That is right. When I told them about how Speaker Johnson didn't even bring the House of Representatives to work this week, even though they were supposed to, they were furious.

If we are going to ask public servants to show up to work tomorrow, if we are going to ask our military to show up to work tomorrow without getting paid, the least--the least--that our Republicans in the House of Representatives can do is show up to work here. We should be furious about this. This is an abdication of leadership. It is a dereliction of duty. It is one of the most shameful things that I have seen in terms of just giving up on something that is so important, that is going to have so much impact on so many people across this country.

What I heard is, they want us to be the adults in the room and sit together to be able to have the kind of dialogue--but, instead, what we see is just this posturing back and forth from Donald Trump, from leadership on the Republican side that hold the gavels here. And, yes, the Republicans control the White House; they control the Senate; they control the House of Representatives and the American people know that and they know who is at fault for where we stand right now; that we are about 3 hours away from a government shutdown.

This is something that I take personally as someone who worked as a career civil servant before. I told my constituents today how I worked as a civil servant. I worked through multiple shutdowns before. Of course, I don't want to see us get to this place. This should be an absolute last resort. But, again, when they are not even bothering to show up to work, we know where their priorities land; that they have been moving toward this and barreling our country toward this for a long time.

So my constituents have every bit of right to be feeling pissed off about this because after we have already gone through this in March, they see the government, once again, not working for them, and they are right. Where have the attempts been over the past few months to work together to avoid this scenario?

Again, it is not just about process. I don't want people to think this is just some tug of war; that this is just some battle for political power; that this is just some challenge between political parties for who has the momentum on their side. There is real struggle. I heard that on this townhall.

We had people like Leticia from Camden, who said that with prices so high ``every choice feels like a sacrifice, and the stress is constant.'' It is affecting how they are able to hold up and how they feel when they wake up every morning, what keeps them up at night. Still, she remains determined to advocate for families like hers who deserve stability, dignity, and hope.

Or an urgent call from Barbara, who begged us not to back down from this fight.

Laura from Brick, who called and urged Democrats not to back down from this fight and was able to say how concerned she was for just regular citizens to be able to make things easier for everyone impacted. She was asking how can she help. She was asking how can she help those who are struggling. Frankly, she wants to do more than what Speaker Johnson is doing on the other side of this building.

Or people like Mick from Toms River, who, although he was trying to be an informed citizen and learn what was going on, he was having trouble figuring out fact from fiction regarding this budget because of the sheer amount of disinformation and lies that we see out there in political rhetoric--lies that are blatantly trying to smear and make it difficult for the American people to understand what is at stake.

So, yes, when we hear the Speaker of the House talking about how this funding--that these are Democrats that are trying to cut resources from FEMA or make it harder for people to get care through WIC, the program for women, infants and children--well, look, it is just deception because what we already know is that the reconciliation bill that was passed--this was something that is estimated to potentially affect 3 million people, preventing them from getting care through the WIC Program already--3 million out of 8 million that get care now. So who is it that is actually hurting people's ability to get those services?

And FEMA, are you kidding me? I literally heard it out of the mouth of the President and the Homeland Security Secretary that they want to abolish FEMA. And here we are hearing it from the Speaker, making it seem like the blame is over here.

These are issues that people understand, like Jody from Manchester, who is concerned that with all the rising prices, she will have to choose being able to afford food or medicine because costs are simply too high for her to be able to afford both. No one in this country--the richest most powerful country in the world--should ever have to make that kind of tradeoff.

Yet we see right now--we are on the cusp of it, not just 3 hours away from a shutdown. But over the course of tomorrow and the coming days, Americans all over this country will be getting their new bills when it comes to healthcare. We see that tens of billions of them will have to pay more--possibly double--what they are already paying. Over 4.5 million Americans will lose their care, including many in New Jersey. That is a catastrophe that we see coming. We knew it was coming, and we tried to take action to be able to address that. What happened? Kicking the can down the road. When does open enrollment start when it comes to healthcare? It starts in November. What good is it if we punt toward Thanksgiving, which is what this body tried to do.

They need solutions now. They need answers now and they are not getting it and they are certainly not seeing anything that resembles leadership in this country right now.

So, yes, what I am hearing from Loreno in Forked River, who says that she, literally, could lose her current health insurance if ACA premiums go away. That is what we are fighting for. That is what I hope people see over the coming period as this continues on because I know it is so easy to make it feel like, again, it is just completely detached. Often, it really seems that way. It feels like people here in the Senate, here in Congress, at the White House, we are playing with other people's chips, that we don't feel it ourselves.

I have to say, I found it disgusting when I learned in 2018, when I came into Congress, that the President and Members of Congress get paid during the shutdown; that they continue to get their salary while servicemembers in our military and other public servants do not, even though they are showing up to do their work. We should not be held to a different standard. We should not be in a place where it seems like we are above the rest because that is exactly what the rest of the American people believe. They believe that we think we are above the law; that we don't have to obey it; that we don't have to follow the rules that other people do. And that is why they are losing trust in this government.

I can tell you, come midnight today, they have every bit of reason to believe that because we have failed in our ability to be able to deliver for so many people.

We have Lucinda from Whiting write in begging us to ``hold the line'' when it comes to fighting for healthcare because, in her words, ``I definitely cannot afford my ACA insurance without the Advanced Premium Tax Credits. If costs go up and healthcare gets more expensive, I will have to go without insurance and not go to the doctor.''

These are just a fraction of the thousands of calls and emails and outreach we received. We asked people to share their stories. We got over 3,500 stories back just this week about people's concerns about what is happening with this shutdown and losing healthcare.

We need to recognize that we have a President who can't even be bothered to learn about the hurt that is being put forward by his own party when it comes to our healthcare; that our bill is not one that is looking out for them. We need leaders who understand what is going on. We need leaders who care about the people they are supposed to be leading. We need leaders who will actually be the adults in the room.

So, yes, I rise today to make that promise to New Jersey and to the American people that I will keep fighting for you and fight with you as we go through this. We are going through uncertain times. We are entering unprecedented times. I know that it is a lot for everyone.

But, again, we remember why we fight here; that while I am giving this speech, I am worried about the care my father is getting. My father's health is declining rapidly. Every single one of us knows what it is like to have a loved one struggling when it comes to their care. I know everyone knows that experience of saying we would try to move Heaven and Earth to be able to make sure that they get the care that they need in their time of greatest need. How can I--when I stand by thinking about 4.5 million Americans, including many in my State, losing healthcare, making it harder for them to be able to deliver for their family--how can I say that this is a time to roll over, that this is a time to stand down? No, we draw the line here. We fight for your healthcare; we fight for your lives; your ability to deliver for your loved ones; to be able to stand up together and say this is not how our government should work. This is not how our democracy should function.

We deserve better. The American people deserve better. That is what we are going to fight for. We are going to fight for better.

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