Mike Thompson: “I thank my friend for yielding. One of the previous speakers asked a rhetorical question: How stupid is all this. I…”

“I thank my friend for yielding. One of the previous speakers asked a rhetorical question: How stupid is all this. I would like to kind of quantify that because you can actually put numbers on it. In my home State of California, I'll tell you how stupid it is. Hunters, who aren't going to be able to hunt this week, they're responsible for about $400,000 in revenue. Retail sales from hunting is $1 billion. Salaries and wages, $760 million. Jobs, $21,000. State and local taxes, about $155 million. Federal taxes, about $175 million. That's how stupid this is. And if you want more proof, look at the impact on the private sector. For those of you who don't like the government, for those of you who believe that we need to close down the government because everything can be done and should be done by the private sector, you're killing private sector businesses right now. We talked about the impact on folks who are going to have to take out a loan to keep their sporting goods store open during the busiest time of the year. We talked about folks who have motels and lodges who can't rent a room at a time that would otherwise be the most productive time in their business cycle. Those are private sector business owners, and they employ private sector employees who are going to be sent home. Unlike the bill that you just brought to the floor that was passed, those private sector employees who were sent home will not be sent home with full pay and benefits; they get paid when they work.…”