Chris Van Hollen: “on December 11 of last year, at a meeting at the White House, President Trump said he would be ``proud''--``proud''--to…”

“on December 11 of last year, at a meeting at the White House, President Trump said he would be ``proud''--``proud''--to shut down the government of the United States if he didn't get things 100 percent his way. Then, 11 days later, on December 22, President Trump shut down the government. We are now 32 days into the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, and I say to President Trump: That is nothing to be proud of. The damage is growing by the day in every part of our country and across different sectors of our economy. It is estimated that the partial government shutdown is now costing the economy $6 billion every week. Eight hundred thousand Federal employees are going without pay, and this coming Friday will mark the second full pay period in which they get pay stubs with a big fat goose egg on them. Hundreds of thousands of those Federal employees are working every day without pay, and hundreds of thousands of them have been locked out of work and want to get back to doing the business of the American people but are prohibited from doing so because of the government shutdown. So as a result of their inability to go to work, there are tens of millions of our fellow Americans who are losing access to vital government services. There is nothing to be proud of in shutting out a whole sector of service contract employees and small businesses that provide support services to the Federal Government.…”