Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss a portion of our community in Nevada's Fourth Congressional District that is being negatively affected under the sequestration and would be under a government shutdown.

I am proud to speak on behalf of the Nellis Air Force Base in my district. Nellis Air Force Base employs over 3,000 civilian employees. They work as engineers, physicians, nurses, and administrators.

I recently spoke with the Commander about the negative effects that sequestration has already had on Nellis Air Force Base. For the past 3 years, the salaries of these civilian employees has been frozen. Positions are being eliminated, leaving remaining employees to pick up the slack.

The civilian employees of Nellis Air Force Base are undergoing increasingly heavy responsibilities at work, without any increase in pay, and for Nellis Air Force Base, sequestration has already meant a decrease of over 40,000 flights, which affects their readiness at a time of combat.

It is time for this Congress to reach a deal on the budget. A clean continuing resolution does not jeopardize personnel, a deal that I hope we will work together to accomplish on behalf of Nellis Air Force Base and all of our civilians.

I urge Members of Congress to end the legacy of deadlock in Congress and begin the legacy of doing what we must to help the dedicated and hardworking men and women of the United States.

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