Congressional Black Caucus
Floor Speech
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Mr. HORSFORD. Let me thank my good friend. I am proud to co-anchor this Special Order hour each week with you, my good friend from the great State of New York (Mr. Jeffries), and to all of my colleagues who came out tonight to put a real face to the real issues that are affecting America this day. To our leader, the chairlady of the American Black Caucus, thank you for your steadfast leadership in making sure that all issues are addressed on this floor.
I listened to the other side of the aisle for more than an hour before coming to our Special Order. I tried to make sense of the arguments that they were making tonight. But do you know what? Their piecemeal approach to funding the government makes no sense.
This chart signifies just what a piecemeal approach to government looks like. This chart makes it look like the GOP has approached funding our government like a game of Pac-Man. Well, this isn't a game. There are real lives at stake. It is time for Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans to realize it is game over and to work with those of us on the Democratic side in the House and our leadership in the Senate and the President to reopen government.
Americans across the country are already hurting from this Republican-led government shutdown. In my district alone, 11,000 Nevadans have been furloughed, leaving families struggling to pay their bills on time while putting food on the table.
I recently returned from my district and had a town hall with constituents to hear the effects that this government shutdown and the impending debt ceiling would have on the constituents of my district.
One constituent, Fred Waggar, shared his story with me. He is a veteran who now works for the VA. He is worried that on October 25 he will not get his paycheck as a medical services coordinator for the VA. Then on November 1, he may not get his check and the benefits that he is entitled to as a veteran.
Fred said he is living paycheck to paycheck, so what is he going to do come November 1 when the rent is due, when the utility bills come due, when it is time to put food on his table, because Republicans are now determined to hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage because Speaker Boehner is too busy catering to a fringe of radicals in his caucus?
I also have received tweets from our #cbctalks from constituents in my district. Kevin Hooks, who is the president of the Las Vegas Urban League, says that with the impending debt ceiling not being lifted, if the Women, Infants, and Children program that the Urban League administers closes, 200 families per day will lose health services and 15 employees will be furloughed. He goes on to say that the child care subsidy would affect upwards of 225 children per day, and some 60 employees will be furloughed.
Shaundell Newsome with the Urban Chamber says that Nevada businesses are being impacted by the government shutdown. It is killing small businesses. Open it.
The fear is real.
And then I got a question from the Clark County Black Caucus asking--or saying that their members are nervous that they won't receive Social Security or unemployment checks on the first of the month; what should I tell them?
Well, I stand here, my colleagues and I, along with 196 House Democrats, in support of a clean debt ceiling increase that insures that the full faith and credit of the United States of America is protected and avoids a Republican default. Our constituents have already suffered enough from this shutdown. We need to be representing the people's interest, not punishing them. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling carries serious implications, as all of my colleagues have discussed tonight.
For an already fragile economy, if we allow the Republicans to default on our debt, middle class American families and the poor would be forced to pay higher interest rates for mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards. Veterans will be affected; disability benefits will not come on time. Is this any way to send a message to our veterans?
So we call on our colleagues tonight, you have left the building, but we are here and we will stay and work as long as it takes to ensure that our obligations are met, that the government is reopened, and that we meet our obligations to pay our bills.
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