let me tell you how pleased I am for the people in Maryland that we are now in the process of ending this government shutdown. A government shutdown does not benefit anyone. It certainly doesn't benefit the Federal workers who live in Maryland and the Federal workers around the Nation. There is the uncertainty that a shutdown brings. Those who are exempted are asked to work without knowing when they will get a paycheck. Those who are on furlough don't know whether they will ever get a paycheck or not. It is not in the interest of our Federal workforce. It is certainly not in the interest of Federal contractors, who depend upon contracts that have been put on suspension. It is not in the interest of the public, who depends upon governmental services. It ends up costing taxpayers more money. I am pleased to see that we are on a path to end this shutdown and to get the government back up and with a path forward. I also am pleased that we have at least accelerated the deadline for getting a budget done by 2 weeks. Many of us have expressed major concern about continuing to operate under a continuing resolution. That makes no sense. We heard from the Department of Defense that they cannot keep our country safe on continuing resolutions. We know that agencies, when they are trying to plan their mission, cannot operate on continuing resolutions. For the public, continuing resolutions state that we are going to operate on last year's budget.…
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