Jeff Fortenberry: “I thank the ranking member, Ms. Granger, for her indulgence in letting me speak today. Let me thank our chair, Mrs.…”

“I thank the ranking member, Ms. Granger, for her indulgence in letting me speak today. Let me thank our chair, Mrs. Lowey, as well for at least the ability today to have a discussion. Mr. Speaker, no one wins in a government shutdown. No one wins if the border is not secure. That is where we are. On my way here yesterday, as I was scrambling to get to the airport-- and I live in Nebraska, a relatively small State, so we all kind of know one another or at least kind of recognize one another. As I checked in with my boarding pass and showed the TSA agent my ID, he looked at me and he said: Can you vote for the bill? Now, given it is the Senate bill that is dominating the headlines, because it is a reasoned attempt to reach some type of consensus here, I looked at the TSA agent and I said: Yes, I can. I know this has been tough. How long can you hold out? He said: It is tough. I don't want to miss another paycheck, but I can hold out about 30 days. He said please. I thanked him for his service. Right now, I would like to thank all of the people who have come back to work without pay, who have done their duty, many under some hardship, because they know it is the right thing to do. Yet, what is also the right thing to do is to get past this logjam, this impasse, and to leverage this moment and to actually get an outcome, a bipartisan outcome, that secures our border.…”