Karen Thurman: “real people are being hurt and hurt badly by this Government shutdown. I want to tell you about a lady who called this…”

“real people are being hurt and hurt badly by this Government shutdown. I want to tell you about a lady who called this morning extremely upset and concerned about what was going to happen to her family. Her name is Rita Arrington. She is a nurse at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Lake City, FL. She is the only breadwinner in her family because her husband is disabled. She had a child to feed and clothe. She has bills to pay just like you and me. But for the last 20 days she has worked without pay because she is an essential Federal employee, and, get this, because of title 38, she is barred from working in a nursing home or some other facility in her off hours so that she could receive some compensation. I have gotten many, many calls from Federal employees in my district. Many work in the area of VA medical centers. They are working without pay, without any sort of financial security. Like all of us, they do have those bills to pay, children to feed and mortgages to pay, and we sit here continuing with our partisan bickering for the 20th day in a row. This is not what we were sent here to do. Our job is to ensure the responsible functioning of Government, and I cannot think of anything more irresponsible than to let these workers continue to work without pay for 1 more day. Mr. Speaker, veterans in my district depend on these health care workers, and they in turn depend on us. They elected us to represent them.…”