On the recordJanuary 4, 2019
as we near the third week of the Trump shutdown, the impacts on the American people are getting worse with each passing day. Nearly 400,000 Federal workers have now been furloughed. Food safety inspectors, vital to our health and safety, are working without pay and with limited resources. American farmers can't get loans from the USDA. Working families trying to buy a home are finding out their FHA loans are on hold. I just heard from a constituent of mine in the capital region, near Albany--a fire police dispatcher, whose wife is pregnant. They closed on their first house, joyously, last week. But now their loan is delayed until the government reopens. That story can be repeated over and over again. Our Federal courts are running out of money. Our national parks are suffering; we have seen the piles of debris and garbage in these beautiful places. Maybe most ironically of all, as the President is talking about making the border more secure, his shutdown is making it less secure. Border Patrol agents are going without pay. E-Verify is offline. Immigration cases are on hold. New immigration judges are not being hired. So with all the talk that the President has about making the border more secure, the Trump shutdown is making it less secure. We have provided a way for him to continue to debate this wall issue but keep the government open. All of this means that we should be doing everything we can to bring this Trump shutdown to a swift end.…
