Chris Van Hollen: “Thank you, Mr. President. First, I want to thank my colleague from Virginia, Mr. Kaine, for bringing us together this…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. First, I want to thank my colleague from Virginia, Mr. Kaine, for bringing us together this evening on the floor of the Senate to talk about the urgent need to end the government shutdown because of the mounting toll it is taking on the American public and on Federal employees who are going without paychecks at this very moment. This is a shutdown that President Trump said he would be ``proud'' to put in place, but I think, if he begins to look around and see the consequences, he has to ask himself what he means by being proud. Just yesterday, I had a roundtable discussion with many Federal workers in my State of Maryland. I wish President Trump had been there at the roundtable to hear what these public servants had to say. Maybe if he had listened, he would know that a government shutdown is nothing anybody should be proud of. I want to share some of the stories my constituents shared with me yesterday, and I hope President Trump is listening to all of us here this evening. Tyra was one of the people who came yesterday. She works for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. She has to keep reporting to work every day, but she is not getting a paycheck. Tyra talked about the challenges of juggling the cost of medicine, food, and gas for her daily commute to a job where she is not getting paid right now. She told me yesterday: ``I am trying to figure out how to get my child lunch.'' That is what the shutdown means for Tyra.…”