Patty Murray: “I come to the Senate to talk about my strong support of the House Joint Resolution 20 that is the joint funding…”

“I come to the Senate to talk about my strong support of the House Joint Resolution 20 that is the joint funding resolution for the current fiscal year we are considering this week. I am very concerned because we are fast approaching the wire on getting this important resolution passed. If we don't pass this bipartisan bill, the safety of American citizens could be put in danger. If this bill is not passed this week, our air traffic controllers will be furloughed. Our air safety inspectors will be furloughed. It we don't pass this bipartisan bill in the next several days, we are going to see a decline in our ability to provide railroad inspections, pipeline safety inspections, and truck safety inspections. As chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing on Appropriations, I am very concerned. I am here to talk about some of the consequences if we don't get our work done on the CR this week. We are going to be feeling the consequences in the area of housing. If we don't pass this bill, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to face a housing crisis. Mr. President, 157,000 low-income people could lose their housing if we don't get this bill passed in the next several days; 70,000 could lose their housing vouchers; 11,500 units that are housing the homeless could be lost.”