Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut for all her work and for yielding.

Madam Speaker, the Republican TSA shutdown has dragged on now for over a month. Officers haven't been paid in weeks. Hundreds have walked off the job because they simply can't afford to work for no pay. Travelers are stuck waiting in lines that have soared up to 9 hours because Republicans have decided to use airport security as a political weapon.

If they cared about what we are seeing in airports across the country, if they really cared about the chaos they have caused, they would end this today. House Democrats have a bill to get TSA funded, to get these officers paid, and to get passengers where they need to go safely.

We have tried repeatedly to bring it to the floor, and every time Republicans have stood in the way. If any one of them are feeling a bit of regret, they could help us force a vote. We have a discharge petition right there on the dais. Not one Republican has signed it.

Why the obstruction? Why refuse to solve an agonizingly solvable problem? Well, Donald Trump said it himself. He will not support a single dollar for the TSA. He will not allow airports to get back to normal unless we make it harder to vote and harder to register to vote, unless we drown voters in red tape and ban mail-in voting, except for the President.

That is what this has come down to. Our national security is being compromised. Airports are in chaos. Officers and travelers are the ones paying the price because Donald Trump views them as nothing more than collateral damage in his attempt to rig the midterm elections.

If there is any Republican across the aisle who is ready to choose their constituents and the working people of this country over Trump, if anyone in the GOP is starting to realize this is spinning out of control, join us. Let's end this insanity. Let's pay TSA workers, and we can have an ICE operation that works like every other police department across the country.

Madam Speaker, let's do it today. Put the safety and security of the American people first.

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