Sheila Jackson Lee: “It is a pleasure to be able to speak on the floor, and I thank you for your leadership. I thank the gentleman from…”

“It is a pleasure to be able to speak on the floor, and I thank you for your leadership. I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee, for his leadership. I thank my colleague from Texas as well. I would say only that we can't say it enough. Thank you, Chairman Cummings, for saying that they are payless today; they are no check today; they are no money today; they are no more money today; they are broke today. 800,000 hardworking Federal employees, but they are families, small businesses, all of those who work every day to contribute. As I go home today, I will be meeting with, today and tomorrow, Federal employees. I want them to know that my office is open to be able to help them, 35,000-plus employees in Texas, Federal employees-- 9,000 in the Treasury, 5,700 in Homeland Security, now some 51,000 screeners--who are not getting their dollars. I have to pause for this one. The Coast Guard is not being paid. The very people that the President went to the border to celebrate that they are trying to stop the multitudes of criminals, most of them under 10 years old, the Coast Guard on the waters of this Nation, the Coast Guard that rescued 1,000-plus in Katrina and that rescued desperate Houstonians in Harvey, are not being paid. They are military that is not being paid because they are under Homeland Security.…”