National Park Service Operations, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Continuing Appropriations Resolution

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this irresponsible and purely political proposal by the House majority.

The Government of the United States is shut down. Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees are furloughed. Our country is bleeding from 1,000 self-inflicted cuts, and this majority is trying to play political games rather than work to resolve the crisis.

Because the majority has decided to shut the government down, all three of the priorities that we are voting on today--the Veterans Affairs Department, the National Park Service, the D.C. government--are in immediate need of funding, but so are countless other priorities that are not part of these proposals.

Right now, nearly 9 million mothers and children are losing out on infant formula and nutrition support; food banks are being forced to curtail their activity. Food safety efforts at the Food and Drug Administration are being compromised. Families cannot get home loans. Small businesses cannot get SBA loans. Seventy-three percent of the National Institutes of Health have been furloughed, and biomedical research that saves lives is on hold. The Centers for Disease Control has been forced to halt its tracking of influenza cases right at the start of the flu season. Scientific research at NASA and the National Science Foundation is stalled. Federal economic reports used by businesses and investors are not being released. Environment reviews are not happening. Tax returns are not being processed.

The government is shut down, and families all across America are being affected in countless different ways.

On my way over here, I took the subway that takes us from our offices to the Capitol. The driver of that subway said to me: Do you see what they're doing, Ms. DeLauro? He said: I believe in opening up the park service and the D.C. government and the Veterans Affairs, but who cares about me? I don't know if I'm going to get paid. Do you know what kind of stress that has put me and my family under? All I could do was reach out my hand to him and tell him the Republican majority just doesn't care.

It's time to get real. Reopen the entire government. Stop this irresponsible charade. I urge all of my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

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