Volume 165, No. 6 covering the 1st Session of the 116th Congress (2019 - 2020) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ORDERS FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2019” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S159-S162 on Jan. 11, 2019.
More than half of the Agency's employees are engineers, scientists and protection specialists. The Climate Reality Project, a global climate activist organization, accused Agency leadership in the last five years of undermining its main mission.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ORDERS FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2019
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, January 14; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to S. 1 ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I asked that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of our Democratic colleagues.
Mr. KING. Would the Senator yield for just a short comment?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine is recognized.
Mr. KING. I can't leave the floor without complimenting the Senator from Alaska for her usual thoughtful analysis and constructive approach to dealing with this issue. I am proud to serve with the Senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She has brought the same wisdom to the floor today that she does to the work of our committee. I simply wanted to acknowledge that and thank her for her comments.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. I thank my friend from Maine. I enjoy working with the Senator as well.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. (Ms. Murkowski). The Senator from Wisconsin.
Ms. BALDWIN. Madam President, I rise to speak about President Trump's shutdown and the real pain that it is causing in my home State of Wisconsin and in communities across this country. The Trump shutdown is now in its 21st day, tying the longest Federal Government shutdown on record. Today is also the day that approximately 800,000 Federal workers will not get their regularly scheduled paychecks, including approximately 3,000 Wisconsinites. Many of these workers are doing their jobs without pay: Coast Guard workers, Transportation Security Administration agents, air traffic controllers, along with Federal law enforcement, including FBI and DEA agents.
These hard-working Americans are suffering because President Trump and Republicans in Congress refuse to support bipartisan legislation to end this shutdown and reopen the government.
We should be working today to pass bipartisan legislation to end this senseless and useless shutdown and reopen the government. Sadly, no votes are scheduled today by the Senate majority leader, meaning that the Trump shutdown will continue.
The House did their job and passed bipartisan legislation to end the Trump shutdown, but Senator Majority Leader McConnell has thus far objected to bringing up this legislation in the Senate. In fact, yesterday, I joined many of my colleagues on this Senate floor in an effort to pass, once again, bipartisan legislation to reopen the government, but Majority Leader McConnell blocked our efforts, and the pain will continue for so many across this country.
Why is the government shut down? Over the past 3 years, President Trump has publicly promised well over 200 times that Mexico would pay for his wall. Now he has shut down our government over his failure to keep his promise. He even said that he takes pride in this Trump shutdown.
The American people shouldn't pay for this deception, and Congress should not make taxpayers pay billions of dollars for his wasteful and ineffective wall. What we should do instead is reopen the government and pass bipartisan Homeland Security legislation--supported by both Democrats and Republicans--that provides smart and cost-effective border security.
President Trump's shutdown has many consequences, and he has created many victims. I want to speak about some of the pain Wisconsinites are feeling.
In Wisconsin, the Trump shutdown is hurting farmers and rural communities. It really could not come at a worse time. Wisconsin lost over 600 dairy farms last year and over 500 the year before. In response, Congress worked together on a bipartisan basis to pass a farm bill that would support our farmers and our rural economy.
Unfortunately, with this shutdown, President Trump has threatened all of that progress. His shutdown is stalling the implementation of the bipartisan farm bill and delaying things like subsidy payments and loans that farmers need to get ready for the spring planting season and plan how they will endure in these very uncertain market conditions.
We have heard from farmers about the pain the Trump shutdown is causing them. Here is one story. Michael Slattery is a grain farmer from Manitowoc County, WI. He is waiting on $9,000 that the Department of Agriculture agreed to pay him to compensate him for the losses from the President's trade war and for conservation efforts that he participates in on his farm.
Mr. Slattery planned to use this money to get ready for the upcoming planting season, but now that is all on hold. To quote Mr. Slattery:
``We are being played the stooge.''
He is right. Farmers like him have suffered enough under this administration, and the Trump shutdown is another blow for Mr. Slattery and farmers like him across Wisconsin and the entire Nation.
I have also heard from Kelly. Kelly lives in Black River Falls, WI. Kelly has a disability, and she also takes care of a grandchild with a disability. Kelly received funding from the Department of Agriculture, including a program that specifically helps low-income and underserved people in rural communities. The USDA had agreed to help her close on a home and to help her make some immediate home repairs. Now the funding is on hold. She can't pay the contractor who made the repairs, and she is also having trouble paying the mortgage on her new home.
What is the Department of Agriculture doing to help or assist Kelly? Right now, nothing. She can't even get information from the USDA because of the Trump shutdown.
People like Kelly and Michael should not have to suffer because President Trump broke a promise to make Mexico pay for an ineffective border wall. Democrats and Republicans agree that President Trump should end his shutdown and accept bipartisan legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture and reopen other Agencies in the government.
In fact, the House passed bipartisan legislation just yesterday to fund the USDA and reopen it for business. Unfortunately, the Senate majority leader is blocking that legislation too.
I am calling for a vote in the U.S. Senate on the House-passed legislation to fund the government, which Senate Republicans previously have supported and would reopen the Federal Government and finally end the Trump shutdown. We should pass this legislation, and the President should sign this legislation so that this shutdown ends for people like Kelly, people like Mike, people in rural communities, and all communities across Wisconsin.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Government Funding
Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I would just like to take the floor to sort of continue comments that I began at 10 o'clock this morning. I left at 10:30 to accompany my Virginia colleague, Senator Warner, to a roundtable with Federal employees at a community center in Alexandria, and I just want to share some of their stories.
What Agencies did these employees work for? There was quite a variety--Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, FAA, air traffic control, various groups within the Agriculture Department, Chemical Safety Board, Department of Labor, and immigration officials. So they were from many different parts of the government affected by the shutdown.
How did they describe the effect of the shutdown on them? These were almost all employees who were furloughed and their spouses and children, in some instances. A couple of them were not furloughed, but they were deemed essential and were working without pay.
How did they describe the choices they are having to make?
``I paid this month's mortgage payment, but I am not sure I can pay the next.''
``I am a diabetic, and I have to decide which of the medications I can afford this month.''
``My kid is in college. I am not sure I can make the entire tuition payment for the spring semester.''
``I have had to take money out of my IRA to cover my bills and pay a penalty for doing that. I am being penalized because the shutdown of government leaves me no other choice than to dip into retirement savings that are part of my IRA.''
``I have had to borrow money from family and friends.''
``I have had to reduce the money that I pay to help my mother rent her apartment.''
``I tried to put my 7-week-old daughter on the Federal health insurance plan that I get because I work at the Department of Justice, but because I am furloughed and the HR department is furloughed, when I tried to put her on the Federal health plan, I wasn't able to do that, and when she needed medication--thankfully, for nothing life-
threatening--I was not able to get that covered by insurance. I finally worked for a while and was able to find a workaround for it.''
So families described all kinds of ways that they are trying to cope and all kinds of effects that this is having on them.
I was struck by a common theme: I work for the government because I love serving people. I love serving the American people. That is why I chose to do what I did. That is why I moved from somewhere else to come here. That is how I met my wife or my husband, and we are jointly committed to public service.
Many of them described: This was sitting on my desk the day that I left, and I am so anxious that it is still there and undone.
For one of the individuals who works with the FAA, his job includes certifying helicopter pilots who fly to support the American military mission in Iraq. He said: I had a big sheaf of those sitting on my desk when I left the office. These are people who support our military mission, and they are not getting certified, and they are not getting authorized to do the work as long as I am furloughed.
Another man talked about his passion for the food stamp program. He worked with the Ag Department, and he is involved in one portion of the SNAP program that is certifying new grocery stores to take SNAP benefits. He indicated that in his unit, which is all furloughed--
because 95 percent of workers supporting the SNAP program are furloughed--there have now been 2,500 grocery stores that have been applying just in this short window around the country to be able to accept SNAP benefits. Often there are food deserts where it is hard for people who have SNAP benefits to find stores in their neighborhood that will accept SNAP. There are 2,500 applications stacked up just in the 3 weeks of the shutdown.
He talked about his anxiety: I have got to get back to work to process these so more places are more accessible to those people who have food needs.
That passion for serving the public is what is driving them.
One woman indicated she had a great job in Colorado but was able to get an internship with DHS. So she moved her family from Colorado to Woodbridge, VA, for an internship, and that internship then turned into full-time work at DHS, and she said how proud she is to be working at Homeland Security and how challenging it is to have no pay.
The employees talked about the psychological damage of being deemed inessential. Who is essential and who is inessential? Why is it that 95 percent of the people who work on the SNAP program are inessential? Is it that we don't think hungry families matter? Those who are applying for SNAP benefits when they fall into a situation where they need food--that is not essential? Why is that not essential?
A lot of the discussion around the table was that, as painful as it is to be deemed essential and have to work with no pay, being told that you are nonessential is kind of even more of a ``dis'' to you. So this was a powerful group for testimony.
I just want to conclude. I know Senator Warner is a slower driver than me. So I got here before he did. He will be the last to close this out.
Just the last thing, I got handed pay statements. I brought back--I don't know--maybe 100 of these, and I am sure not going to read them all, but it is interesting.
Robert, for the pay period January 5, 2019, which is the pay period when the check comes in today: net pay, zero.
Jadyne, same pay period: net pay, zero.
Jared, same pay period: net pay, zero.
I saw this one. I really liked this one. Bryan, same period: net pay, 1 cent--1 cent.
These are mostly from air traffic controllers. In my speech earlier this morning on the floor I said: Is there any group of Federal employees that you would less want to be angry at work than air traffic controllers?
If you think about it--and somebody shared this with me--if you are there in the tower working on air traffic control, you want 100 percent of your mind to be on keeping everybody safe. What if 5 percent of your mind is on ``I just got this pay stub, and it is giving me 1 cent, and I have been working and working overtime''--if that is on 5 percent of your mind and another 15 to 20 percent of your mind is, ``How am I going to pay the mortgage payment? How am I going to pay the babysitter?''
One mother told me: Because I am furloughed, I am not paying the babysitter, and now I am not paying the babysitter for 2 weeks and that is affecting her. But I am saying: Please don't take another client. You have been my regular babysitter for a long time. I am not paying you this week, I am not paying you next week, and I am not paying you as long as there is a shutdown because I am at home, but please don't go find other work because I want to go back to work and I want to hire you again.
But what babysitter can take that gig--week after week after week not being paid on the hope that this person might come back to work?
But for some reason, of all of the indignities, these things really, really stick in folks craws, because it is not as if, when there is a shutdown, they don't get a paycheck or stub. In some ways, that might be better than working full time and finding this paper on your desk or in your email or at your house--$41.75 or one penny.
So Madam President, I know I am preaching to the choir in this group here, but I just hope as people are back home this weekend and they hear similar stories, they will realize that immigration reform and border security are really important, and we have work to do to find some accommodation that both Congress and the President can accept, but there is no reason to keep government shut down and sending out paychecks for 1 cent and inflicting all these various harms on folks while we figure that out. I would just pray that we stop this shutdown and reopen government.
With that, I would like to yield the floor to my colleague from Virginia.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, first of all, I want to thank my good friend and colleague from Virginia, Senator Kaine, for appropriately saying to the balance of the Senate yesterday that this is not business as usual and for objecting to our going into recess as 800,000 Americans--many of them who are working as we heard earlier this morning, many of them working overtime--are getting paychecks that have zero on them.
Senator Kaine has probably already outlined where he just came from. I want to give the same comments, and I want to also thank the Chair because I know she has come to the floor as well and raised concerns.
We have a lot of debates in the Senate. There are legitimate policy differences we have, and part of our job is to resolve those. Part of our job should never be to shut down the enterprise of the greatest government in the world, the United States of America.
I think about Mr. Trump, who has spent a bunch of time going on TV and running to the border. My goodness, I just wish that Donald Trump or someone from his White House could have sat in the room that Senator Kaine and I just sat in with 16 Federal employees and just heard their stories.
What we heard, virtually from all of them--and I am sure Senator Kaine has already acknowledged this--is the fact that they viewed public service and serving the government as a noble calling. I heard many of them who had been in the Air Force, Army, or Navy and who had served in our Nation's defense but felt they were continuing to serve when they joined public service.
We heard another person who works in one part of the government that I am a little familiar with--frankly, not that much--that does investigations into chemical spills. It is a small, tiny agency of 40 professionals. There was a chemical spill in Houston 1 week ago, and no one has done any investigation about what the effects of that spill might be on that community. She was there saying that somehow she doesn't feel like her job is nonessential.
We heard from a young man who had moved to Virginia just a few years ago and bought a House. He thought he could get through one more mortgage payment. He helps to approve food stamps and the grocery stores that apply to take in food stamps. I think he said there are 2,700 grocery stores in this period that are in the process of trying to get approval to take food stamps and haven't gotten approval. To say to him that, somehow, making sure folks in this country get food is a nonessential job was both insulting and, frankly, a little bit demoralizing.
To hear, as well, from--I can't recall which organization he works for--someone who was saying he understood that as a Federal employee, when he came and joined the Federal workforce, he gave up his right in many ways to organize and to strike, but he felt like he gave up those rights but the deal was that the government was going to pay him for his job. In many ways, what is happening right now, kind of in labor terms, is that, effectively, the government is locking out our workforce.
I don't want to steal Senator Kaine's thunder. He may have mentioned this comment, but I thought it was telling. We had a number of air traffic controllers there, and these folks are not only working without pay, but many of them are working overtime without pay. With our air traffic controllers, about 35, 40 percent of them are at the eligible age of retirement today. They could throw it in, cash it in, and say: We are done.
One of the things about the shutdown, as well, is that we have been working for some time with Paul Rinaldi, the head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. I would advise any Members who would to talk with him because he can scare the dickens out of you about the safety of our air system. We have had a challenge for the last decade of making sure we replace those air traffic controllers. Well, the next class of air traffic controllers is shut down.
Senator Kaine made mention, and I think Mr. Rinaldi made the point: Do you really want an air traffic controller who is working an 80-hour week with overtime to not be spending 100 percent of his or her focus on keeping the skies safe but probably spending 20 percent of his time thinking about paying the mortgage and another 15 percent of the time thinking about whether he can pay his kid's tuition? Is that really what we want from folks who are tasked with such an important job?
Now, due to the good work of Senator Kaine and others and the Presiding Officer, we passed--I think, 2 days ago--an act so that all of our Federal employees are going to get reimbursed. I think the House has passed it now, as well, and the President has signed it. Let's not presume, by any chance, that this is going to make everybody whole.
We heard from a lady this morning who had not saved very much but had done what we all urge and had put some money in an IRA. She is taking her money out of the IRA and paying the tax penalty of getting that money out so she can get by. She gets a back paycheck but that doesn't replace the tax penalties she pays on her statements.
We have another person who took an advance on his credit card. We know credit cards have value, but those rates are not cheap. If you take an advance against future pay from your credit card, and if you get your back pay, that is not going to make up for those penalties.
Again, Senator Kaine may have mentioned this already, we in Virginia--and I know Alaska has the same issue--have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of workers who are contractors who, even when we reopen the government, have absolutely no guarantee that they will be reimbursed. As a matter of fact--again, Senator Kaine may have mentioned this already--there was a veteran-owned small business contractor that had about nine employees that this week is probably going to shut down because he can't pay his workers. He maintained as long as he could, but he couldn't continue to pay his workers.
What about the folks who are never going to get the hours back who work providing food services or cleaning up our buildings and who are the lowest paid employees--oftentimes contractors who are never going to get those hours back--who are going to be stuck with Christmas presents but never get the income from that time?
The list goes on and on, and it is not just Federal employees and contractors. Alaska and Virginia are both blessed with great heritage sites, great national parks. There is the Shenandoah Valley, and around where Senator Kaine lives, there are a lot of battlefields around Richmond. I am sure it is the same in Alaska. There are a lot of private businesses that are the restaurants, campsites, and other facilities that may not be on national park grounds, but they get all their business from tourists who come, oftentimes, during the holiday period. Those folks get, even when we reopen the government, goose eggs.
So I thank the Presiding Officer. I thank my friend from Virginia as well.
I believe we will find a way to get this government reopened. My hope is that our colleagues, when they are home this weekend, will be refreshed by hearing from workers who are doing their jobs without pay, and we will find a way to get this government reopened. But we should be very clear about the damage that has been done--the damage that has been done in terms of how Americans view all of us, regardless of where we are on this policy--and how Americans view our Federal Government and how the rest of the world views us now that we have this shutdown that I believe by tomorrow becomes the longest Federal Government shutdown in American history. I hope and pray that we all--maybe in the aftermath--step back and find a way to make sure that people who pay undue financial penalties because, through no fault of their own, the government shut down are compensated; and that we can sort through the complicated issues around contractors and those private businesses that are around Federal facilities; that we try to come to some kind of joint agreement, that never again will we use an unconnected policy issue to hold hostage 800,000 folks who work for us and hundreds of thousands of others--and, frankly, millions--who depend upon these services going forward.
I may be being overly optimistic that somehow or other we will get this resolved. If we do, we ought to find--those of us who are part of the groups that find common accord--to put some marker down to never ever do this again.
I have stories from a variety of Virginians here. I know the Presiding Officer wants to get out of the Chair at 1 p.m. I ask unanimous consent that these statements be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Rebecca in Chesapeake writes: ``. . . I just want my husband to be able to go back to the work he loves and to have stability for my family returned . . . The stress of not knowing how long this will last is eating at both my husband and me.''
Here's what Chad, furloughed NASA engineer from Suffolk, told me: ``I'm disappointed to once again find myself barred from doing the job that I love. I find the recent executive order to freeze civil servant pay at 2018 levels, while on furlough no less, to be shockingly disrespectful and wrong.''
Rosemarie in Falls Church shared this: ``My husband was diagnosed last week with advanced lung cancer and now on top of that stress, I have to worry about not getting a paycheck
. . .''
Lisa in Arlington writes: ``I am forced to look for multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet and my savings will soon run out. Creditors and landlords have only so much patience with us.''
Here's how Joanna from Woodbridge put it: ``I love my job, but being a pawn for those who have no compassion for me or those I work beside is going to drive me and many, many others out of public service.''
Mr. WARNER. As somebody who has been in the private sector longer than the public sector, like my friend the Senator from Virginia, we both had the honor of being Governors of Virginia. We have both been in executive positions. We have both been in positions where we had workforces. As a business guy, you could tell how well the business would do by how you treated your workforce. That is the most important asset you have, your human capital.
If we think back on the past decade, we found ways, appropriately so, for our military to get funded. We found ways, I think irresponsibly, to dramatically cut our taxes, particularly for folks at the top. Every time we had to try to make cutbacks. Where we made cutbacks has been in what we call domestic discretionary, which in English are things like the TSA, like air traffic controllers, like the Agriculture Department, like the Coast Guard, and each year, whenever we find short cuts, we cut those programs.
As a matter of fact, domestic discretionary spending is at the lowest percentage it has been since the 1960s. So we asked all these folks who were furloughed or being asked to work without pay, we asked them to do more with less, which isn't great for the workforce morale.
Now we have a White House--and, my gosh, I wish somebody from the White House could have sat there today. I would have loved for them to try to explain how they ought to go back and negotiate with their landlords about the rent due, or how they ought to make do with a side job, or how they ought to do, as some folks were doing, as I was going to report--some Virginians are selling their personal possessions on eBay to pay the bills. The fact that this White House is willing to go to the border for a political photo op--the President's words, not mine--or get on television and blast his political opponents but not be willing to send anyone from this administration to sit down and listen to the concerns of our Federal workforce is disgraceful.
I again thank my colleague from Virginia for his great work on this. I think it is appropriate that we are in session today raising these issues. Think of the level of angst that is going to take place over the next 48 hours as more and more people get those paychecks with zero on it. We haven't seen anything yet. The kind of angst we felt in Virginia, in Maryland, and the District, people will feel all over the country.
We need to bring this government shutdown to an end. We need to put our workforce back to work, and we need to make sure the services they provide are being applied in a way to make our country safer and find a way to make sure that never ever again will we use these folks' lives as what they are being used right now--their words, not ours--political pawns. They are more important, their jobs are more important, their lives are more important than the way they have been treated over these last 21 days.
I yield the floor.
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