On the recordJanuary 8, 2019
I come to the floor today to join my colleagues in voicing my sincere hope that the President will end this senseless shutdown. The American people are tired of our country being held hostage and our economy threatened. There are real consequences. I see it all the time. Of course my State, unlike Mr. Van Hollen's State of Maryland and the State of Virginia, may not have as high a percentage of Federal workers, but for every worker who has been hit by this, it is the same story. At our airport just this weekend, I talked to countless TSA officers. They said: We will continue to do our job, but now we are not going to get paid. You think about these people on the frontline who are doing the work for our country, who are keeping us safe, and who are not getting paid because of this senseless shutdown. You hear about the garbage piling up in our national parks. You hear about people having trouble paying their rent or mortgage. You hear about the fears about airport security lines. Everyday Americans are affected by this as well. Other consequences of this shutdown are less visible but deeply painful for those affected. There are entrepreneurs who want to take their companies public but can't get approval by the SEC. You have rural home buyers who can't get their mortgages backed by the Agriculture Department. Farmers can't access critical loans or information about how the Department will implement the new farm bill.…
