Joe Neguse: “Madam Speaker, it has been more than 20 days since the United States Senate reached a unanimous agreement to all but end…”

“Madam Speaker, it has been more than 20 days since the United States Senate reached a unanimous agreement to all but end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Yet, Republican House leadership refuses to bring the measure up for a vote on the House floor. It would pass overwhelmingly here, without question. Without question. The White House has only recently decided to start paying workers throughout TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard, and our cybersecurity agencies after refusing to do so for weeks. They claim they have the authority to do this. Madam Speaker, if the administration believes that they have the authority to use this money, then every paycheck that a TSA worker was forced to miss was because the White House made an active choice not to pay them. Imagine. Imagine the turmoil in people's lives due to no paycheck at the end of the week or at the end of 2 weeks. How do you pay your rent? How do you buy groceries? We know the stories of people being evicted, sleeping in their cars, and donating their plasma for money. This is reality. The White House had the authority to pay them so that they didn't have to go through this. A number of people left their jobs because they were not getting paid.”