Antonio Delgado: “Today I rise, pleased that the government is reopened and determined to not repeat ourselves in 3 weeks. A poll taken…”

“Today I rise, pleased that the government is reopened and determined to not repeat ourselves in 3 weeks. A poll taken last weekend found that 6 in 10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and nearly 70 percent have negative opinions on the state of the Nation. These findings are grim, but can anyone in this Chamber blame our fellow citizens for their skepticism? The longest shutdown in American history brought fear, confusion, and financial harm on upstate New York and our entire country--$11 billion worth of economic loss, according to the CBO. And here is what that looked like back home in upstate New York: The Small Business Administration stopped processing new loans to potential small business owners, slowing the engine of American enterprise; The FDA stopped routine food safety inspections, putting Americans at risk at their own dinner tables; The Department of Agriculture stopped administering farm support programs, which include subsidized home loans and tariff relief payments, putting additional financial stress on farmers in upstate New York already suffering from our Nation's ill-conceived trade wars; The Department of Housing and Urban Development stopped processing mortgage extensions or housing loans, leaving 100,000 rural homeowners at risk of eviction; The EPA suspended the cleanup efforts at Superfund pollution sites, including in places like Hoosick Falls, with poisoned groundwater.…”