Janice Schakowsky: “A week ago, we had a roundtable in my district, and we invited, including Madam Speaker today, to come and listen to the…”

“A week ago, we had a roundtable in my district, and we invited, including Madam Speaker today, to come and listen to the workers. Tamara, who works for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said that she is trying to figure out how to tell her son that he is not going to be able to have his birthday party. She is a young widow, single mother. Veronica said that she has to take care of her parents and has to pay for their medicines and their copays, and it is really hard. Lori said that workers at the IRS are trying to figure out how to pay for gas to get to work, parking, and childcare. And the taxpayer assistance office is closed, even though we have a new tax bill. Kevin said the morale at the Bureau of Prisons is really tough. He lives 50 miles from work and is just about out of gas money. Crystal said: We are public servants. We are not public slaves. And Florence, who helps people get food stamps, is applying for them herself and waited 3 hours at a food pantry. Madam Speaker, we need to get rid of the shutdown and pay the workers now. ____________________”