Bruce F. Vento: “the shutdown of the Government has affected Americans all across the country. The Federal government should be…”

“the shutdown of the Government has affected Americans all across the country. The Federal government should be predictable and certain, but due to the inaction of this House under GOP leadership, the extreme accusations by some Republicans of an incompetent Federal Government are being made a self-fulfilling prophecy by these same Republicans. As just one good example, I have received dozens of calls from railroad retirees in Minnesota who live on fixed incomes and have had their retirement benefits cut because of the shutdown! In fact, the Railroad Retirement Board has had to cut January vested dual benefit payments by 64% for 160,000 railroad retirees across the Nation. This means that retirees who earned their pensions through many years of hard work and who live on fixed incomes are having trouble meeting their rent payments. And of course there are no assurances that they will receive any of their benefits in the future if this shutdown continues. The sad reality here is that these retirees are being denied the benefits they earned as the Republicans play political games and shutdown the Government and shut out Federal workers. This Congress ought to do its job and act today on a real continuing resolution to keep the full Government running--and provide the 160,000 railroad retirees with their earned benefits. This isn't about who is for a balanced budget, rather it's how to balance the budget.”