news network, covers federal agencies we have a special line for federal employees. 202-748-8000 federal workers or 202-748-8001 all others we want to hear your shutdown stories, and your questions how it's impacting youto others can call the 8001 line. >> caller: yes, i have a concern. everybody's worried about the federal employees not getting a paycheck at this time. pretty much guaranteed they're going to get it when they come back. what is with all the -- when all our manufacturing jobs left detroit and alabama, and all those other places those people didn't have a chance to get ttheir money back. they were out of a job. they lost their homes, and k.everything. and if you don't havee a couple -- 2-3 months saved up in a savings account to pay your mortgage you're not doing something right. even i making less than $20,000 have a savings account that would help me if somethings happened. >> john: how many federal employees have the savings to last missing a paycheck. >> nicole: the national burrow of economic research published a study and updated it recently over the summer and they

reopen parts of the federal government. later, congressional leaders talk about negotiations with the president after a closed-door meeting yesterday at the white house. and house minority leader and other democratic lawmakers held a news conference wednesday to talk about the government shutdowns impact on federal spirit they also called on president drumm -- trump to support legislation reopening the federal government. from outside the u.s. capitol, this is 40 minutes. >> we are going to go ahead and get started. the government, as all of you know, is shutdown. 800,000 people are directly affected. over 400,000 of them are not working. -- are working, but not getting paid. the shutdown is a negative, stupid, uncalled for, on the necessary people affecting process. ago, senator mcconnell was asked what do you think about shutdowns? are you supportive of shutting down the government? his response was of course not. i am the guy that gets this out of shutdowns. shutdowns, it's a failed policy. mcconnell, august 28, 2014 jus

federal contractors. heard from one federal contractor whose she set shutdown has rocked the financial stability of my family. i see in the galley, probably a few more tourists than we might normally have on a saturday because the smithsonian shut down. i heard from someone who is in he leadership of the smithsonian, who was begging me, saying, those folks who work at the smithsonian, they may get reimbursed but all of the folks who pick up the trash, clean the bathrooms, serve the cafeteria food, are all contractors. they're not direct employees of the federal work force. so even when we re-open, even when the federal work force gets reimbursed, they are out. one of the thing is would hope -- senator kaine and i have been working on this and hope that the chair will look at this and i hope some of the other colleagues who want to work towards a solution will work this in all the previous shutdowns we have never -- it's complicate, but we have never found a way to reimburse contractors. we have a piece of

of federal employees. thank you all for being here, for standing up for the people who are working for us. people who are working for the federal government. people who are relied upon every day by millions and millions and millions of americans. because of this shutdown, s.e.c. regulatory -- regulators can't protect retirees and investors. f.d.a. food inspectors can't keep our products safe. our national parks remain without visitor services, emergency rescues. security lines at airports are longer, causing delays of travelers. the possibility is that people won't get their refound check -- refund checks. approximately $140 billion average refund $2,500 that people are relying on that spur our economy. people can't -- are worried about whether they can settle on a purchase of a home or the sale of their home. flood insurance is at risk. this as senator mcconnell said is a failed policy. i call on senator mcconnell to pass these bills that his senate already passed 92-6. that will open up a substantial par

large percentage of the federal work force are veterans. they have taken their commitment to public service and the military to public service on the civilian side. we don't do any favor for our friends, our veterans and military families, if we affect their credit rating. so today the press reported that workers are desperately taking their -- taking to the internet to sell some of their household items and other things. sometimes their very reduced price. for just a couple can of dollars just to pay their bills. -- just --couple of dollars just to pay their bills. this is just not right. people who work, we say two things come to work and don't get paid, or shut them out so they can't come to work. while they are not getting paid, again, thousands of these men and women are expected to show up for work. sending these workers their paycheck late is wrong. we keep saying that. it's wrong. but since there is a guarantee that they will be getting paid, i would hope that the commercial banks, the banks in our country would follow the lead of s

with the federal government. so, mr. president, this is mushrooming. the negative impacts of this are mushrooming by the day, harming families, harming communities, and harming all the others who also require the economic activity from either federal employees or small business contractors to help with their restaurants. and that is on top of what i talked about earlier, which is the negative impact on the denial of important services and health protections for the entire american public. and a lot of the concerns expressed this morning by federal employees also included the long-term impact. so, for example, if you don't make a mortgage payment on time, that's going to hurt your credit rating. in some cases, federal employees who work for national security agencies, their ability to keep their security clearance is tied to their credit rating. so when you start having your credit rating downgraded, it's going to mean, number one, you don't get credit, can't pay your bills; and it also means, in some cases, that

it is not only the federal employees, but the contractors, the employees who are federal contractors, parking attendants, security guards, they are affected, too. they might never be made whole. the effect on the local community, people's families. continues, the effects are exponential. missing one paycheck, some people will definitely have reserves that can last them through one paycheck were to paychecks. the longer it goes, the more people you have that are really distressed. as we get into february, we start to see more effects to government programs that would really take a bite out of the economy. now applying for unemployment insurance. they are eligible for unemployment while they are not being paid. in the history of government shutdowns, federal employees have always been paid back. some credit unions and family members are offering assistance to those affected to tide them over because there is the high likelihood they will ultimately get paid. it is important to know that if you get the unemployment, most states require you to pay it back. if you want to include your voic

that he has federal -- federal unions workers, he tried to freeze your pay, made it hard for unions to stay organized and now he is shutting you out from your job so he can get his vanity wall. [booing] sen. hirono: there are two people who can end the shutdown. one is the president, but he is person.l and he is a hostage taker because he has taken 800,000 federal employees and thousands and thousands of contractors hostage. and we do not negotiate with amoral hostage takers. that does not get us anywhere. theny person could end shutdown right now it is mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell has no problem to force oneer point 5 trillion in tax cuts for the richest people in our country, not helping the middle class. he has no problem using his power to force us to within one vote of illuminating affordable care act for millions of people, and yet he will not use his the shutdown to help 800,000 of you to get paychecks. most of us live in a world where we need our paychecks. hello, president trump. we do not all have daddies who can give us $20 million to tide us over. so mitch mcconnell --

, so sometimes the federal employee works next to a federal contract employee in the work lace. those federal contract employees are not only not being paid for their work, they don't necessarily get guaranteed retroactive pay when this is over. host: and you are trying to guarantee this for some federal contractors. rep. connolly: yes. host: which ones? rep. conolly: i don't understand what you mean. host: you said federal contractors. rep. connolly: my view is, if you do the same work in the work lace as a federal employee, you ought to be treated with the same kind of consideration retroactively when this is over. you recommend to a young person to go into the federal service this of days? would.nnolly: i the federal service is a calling this days and serving your fellow citizens, making america a better place, is a very noble thing to do. host: laterally take a few calls. barbara from florida, good morning. caller: hello. yes. i am calling to support donald trump, our president. i have always been a democrat that i am leaving that party because of their stubbornness. i just

federal workers, (202) 748-8002.orning, phone this you can weigh in on social media, facebook.com/c-span. here is how politico puts it -- shutdown longest in history as congress hits town. it began the longest in u.s. history, an ominous milestone in the impasse between president trump in congress has left hundreds and thousands without a check and no end insight. in thes left town seemingly endless immigration battle that has fiercely divided trunk and democrats since his inauguration, with scores of lawmakers complaining. for weeks, the president and lawmakers failed to find a way to reopen the government, with democrats unwilling to give trump more money for a border wall. there is no solution on the weighs, even as trump whether to declare a national emergency to build his wall. entre -- on friday, trump said he would not take unilateral action a day after he said he amid pushback, from his gop allies on capitol hill. here is what he had to say yesterday. >> it is the easy way out. congress should do this. basic.

republicans who represent large numbers of federal employees and contractors, they stand for the federal footprint is really important to the economy, they beginning to get reactions, back home about the consequences and the ripple effect federal negative from the shutdown. so, they are under increasing pressure to find a way out of this . >> will you name names? >> we already have several republicans in the senate, lisa murkowski of alaska, shelley from west virginia, susan collins of maine, cory gardner of colorado and i ink they will be joined by more . >> focus on what the house will be doing when it comes to individual funding bills coming to the floors to open parts of the government, how that will work and what the strategy is behind that . >> well, we've already passed the full funding bill for the rest of the government in the short term funding bill for the department of homeland security. these are bills we are sending back to the senate that passed unanimously. mitch mcconnell, whose face to appear on a milk carton in the shutdown, previously shepherded the bills he's going t

the federal c.i.o. and lead o.m.b. cyber security efforts. empowering c.i.o.'s at the federal agencies is consistent with the principles of one of the signature pieces of legislation on i.t. perform, the federal i.t. acquisition and reform act a. the federal c.i.o. should be treated no differently. the federal c.i.o. must have the statutory and organizational authority to succeed, and this bill achieves just that. the bill does more than just rename the office. it makes a clear statement the federal c.i.o. is in charge of coordinating i.t. policy across the government. this bill passed the house last congress by a vote of 391-0. and i want to thank my friends, representatives robin kelly, mark meadows, jerry connolly for their continued support for this important initiative. i'd like to thank chairman couple cannings and ranking member jordan for making sure this important piece of legislation comes to the floor. and i urge my colleagues to support this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the spe

federal employee can have secondary employment in order to ensure there's a conflict with a federal job if you're in the middle of a shutdown if it's your department that shut down pretty go for permission to get that secondary .-dot where to go for permission to say i want to drive over for the next however many weeks until the government is now open. nobody to give the approval. it stings -- things like this where we can say back herehe in the hall of the congresss just hang tough and just be strong and just talk to your landlord's and will get through this together. we want border security. i want border security and i think the president's request for a comprehensive view of how we address this is not something so unreasonable and that's the year that out and walk through it. i was part of a group this week that was suggesting let's take that proposal and the acting director sent to the illustrate that the the hearing and in order to do this we got to get our colleagues and sit through the process with it. ab we can get and allow us to process it but let not keep the government shut

the federal government is blessed with amazing federal employees. as a former united states attorney, i led an office of those amazing federal employees. i worked with countless other dedicated federal employees. our dedicated civil servants work day in and day out to protect and serve the american public. we are most grateful for their service. and the vast majority are hardworking. they do not engage in conduct un-- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman will suspend. the shouse not in order. will the members please take conversations outside. the gentlewoman may proceed. mrs. brooks: the vast majority of federal employees are hardworking they don't engage in conduct unbefitting their civil service. however, those who have been disciplined for sexual misconduct should not be rewarded with a 2.6% pay increase. the bill before the house today treats every federal employee the same. good, bad, competent or not. they all get a pay raise on top of automatic step increases and promotions. earlier today my colleagues asked, doesn't everyone deserve a p

they impact mensa, but federal motor carriers, and federal highway. if i am confirmed, is federal high was administered, i will work closely with my colleagues to make sure we are providing the best data and information to our partners. >> thank you and congratulations again. senator carpenter? >> i would like to follow up on the chairman's question with respect to the environmental streamlining. i talk a little bit about the federal state partnership as a recovering governor. i would like to dwell a little bit on the safety. i want to start off with climate change. my neighbor here to my left, senator carden, and we have another maryland senator here, who will join us later i suspect. i live in an area where the land is sinking, and the seas are rising. in fact, that was the lowest lying state in america. it is a great concern to us. i have a son out in california. where he lives, there is incredible wildfires, actually bigger than delaware if you believe that. ellicott city, where senator carden represent, i recall to 500 year floods, 2000 year floo

do not make federal workers ponds. and th and -- pawn ns this shutdown now. >> brothers and sisters please welcome me in recognizing the federal members of congress that have joined us today. representative madeline dean, pennsylvania, fourth district. representative jan, illinois, 9th district, congressman mark -- i'm so sorry -- mark de-sal knee, california 11th district. representative abbie from iowa. representative steven horseford, nevada, fourth district. and mary kay seaner, stanner, from pennsylvania, fifth district. thank you so much for joining us. now, please welcome afc president lee saunders. >> good afternoon everybody. now i've got one question for you. are you willing to make your voices heard every single day to fight? to fight like never before? are you fired up? >> yeah. >> are you fired up? >> yeah! >> all right. down here saw the report last week where the president of the united states called the shutdown a strike. he called the shutdown a strike. come on, man. come on. you know, it's obvious tha

as a federal judge i never get once in 16 years. we never get issues, so you might say why would a federal judge care about this, as you can as he cares about it a lot. and one reason i have come work here more and more about my ten years of a federal judge is because i'm quite anxious and arguably terrified of the path the federal courts are on and most conspicuously the path the u.s. supreme court is on. i want m my first year of law school's 1987, from 1987 forward, you have really seen my view rights escalation at the u.s. supreme court. the majority of the u.s. supreme court, identified the blue right, and before long in the red rights and human rights escalation over time. with his u.s. supreme court identifying more constitutional rights in the constitution and what that comes down to, as an institution over time that is exercising more and more power over our lives. there's some good to that, because these have been very good decisions. but over time with the rights escalation, it is more resentment when we are not on the wi

the federal government is the largest employer of veterans.we continue supporting our country throughout our federal service. madam president, no family or individual in the united states of america should have their life abundant like this. we ask that the federal government reopen and that the majority leader bring the bill to the floor so we can reopen the government on behalf of federal workers not only here but across the country. >> i join my colleagues today and calling for a simple common sense solution to one of the most unnecessary and avoidable crises in recent history. the paralysis of agency, of essential governmental function is intolerable and unacceptable. it is shameful and embarrassing to every member of this body. but, it should be most shameful and piercing to the chief executive of the united states who is singularly responsible for it. by insisting on a wall and agreement to it as a condition reopening the government. president trump is single-handedly blocking progress towards providing the american people with the servi

she serves as policy director of the american federation of government employees, the largest federal employee unioned in the country and did you think this would go 24 days? >> guest: it was my worst fear, but yes, , yes, i am surpd it's goneis this long trip for w long did you think it will go? had a cyst in? >> guest: i have not: idea how long it will go.. you know, obviously there does seem to be some good possibilities for for a succesl resolution to all of this if senator mcconnell allows the boat in the senate of the house passed bills. whether that will happen when that will happen i don't know. >> host: do think that is the most likely pathu at this poin? what are doing for members of congress that your group talks has been talking to? >> guest: our members are calling their senators and urging them to urge senator mcconnell to allow a vote. i more or less the exact same bill that passed the senate unanimously on december 19. >> host: by the way, until the end of our program this morning especially for federal employees. jacqueline simon is with afge, the nation's largest fed

i think that is absolutely right, the businesses that are relying on the federal government or federal government facilities. there are plenty of businesses around national parks and plenty of restaurants or shops that are right near federal facilities. 80% of federal workers actually work outside of the d.c. metro area. so we're talking about fda offices, farm service centers, irs and tax processing facilities, the department of justice and courts, are all spread out across the country. those people, their families and the communities and local economies that they rely on are going to be affected. and i agree with your political comment about this situation. this is one 100% due to president trump's stubborn anduc struck third assistance on a border wall that is nothing more than a symbol that he campaigned on. but has nothing to do with actual security. and of course we remember from the campaign he promised over and over again that mexico is going to pay for the wall. but he has now shut down the government because he is insisting on congress appropriating congress funding ctathe wa

with the federal government. so, mr. president, this is mushrooming. the negative impacts of this are mushrooming by the day, harming families, harming communities, and harming all the others who also require the economic activity from either federal employees or small business contractors to help with their restaurants. and that is on top of what i talked about earlier, which is the negative impact on the denial of important services and health protections for the entire american public. and a lot of the concerns expressed this morning by federal employees also included the long-term impact. so, for example, if you don't make a mortgage payment on time, that's going to hurt your credit rating. in some cases, federal employees who work for national security agencies, their ability to keep their security clearance is tied to their credit rating. so when you start having your credit rating downgraded, it's going to mean, number one, you don't get credit, can't pay your bills; and it also means, in some cases, that

federal correction workers are the lowest paid, federal law enforcement officers, in government. many live paycheck to paycheck. our law enforcement officers start at a low pay scale. gs 5, 6, 7. as j. david stated averaging between $500 and $700 a week. many of our professionals are single mothers who are being forced to work without pay and still have the responsibility to pay for child care, and other expenses. like gas, to get to work. there are moms and dads who are in the most cases single sole source of income in their household. workers taking care of their family, their children, elderly parents. veterans make up 30 to 40% of our federal work force. our veterans took off from their uniforms in the military, to put on their uniforms in our american prisons. supervising some of the most heinous criminals in this society. then most law enforcement officers would see pretty much an entire career. yet, our pay is held for ransom. so this shutdown must end. allowing this shut down to go on any longer is completely unconscionable. this under funded, this lack of staffing is so

one out of every five federal workers and district are veterans. the shutdown is having a disproportionate impact on the nation veterans and federal workforce. ... and our veterans. but what's more it's time to open the government back up. thank you. >> thank you for coming. we are available for questions. i want to know what you think about the fact it seems like the administration is already calling for federal workers and it seems they are expanding the definition of who can work during the shutdown and if this is something you are concerned about the legality. >> it is a illegal and tha illes what we are saying today you can't have people work and not pay them. if david did that he would be in jail. you can't force people to work and this is a violation of what the administration is doing. violation of the fair labor standards act. it is a violation but this is an administration that continuously fights the law. >> branching off of that, do you have any specific concerns not talking about the people the whole time is being recalled to certain p

today we cannot continue using federal employees and federal funds as pawns in a political game. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from oklahoma seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. horn: madam speaker, i rise today to address the devastating impacts this shutdown is having on families throughout oklahoma's fifth district. over the martin luther king holiday weekend, i went back to my district and visited with impacted federal workers. the stories of the impacts were heartbreaking. one of the things that stuck with me was speaking with a woman named tammy who reminded me that it is not just the government that is shuttered right now, but families' lives who are being shattered. and that is too often the forgotten part of this conversation. we should never use federal employees, contractors or their families as pawns in a political disagreement. so while we are analyzing the current negative effects of this shutdown, we also need to look at the long-lasting effects on families, on our comm

they impact nitsa but also federal motor carriers and federal highway. if i'm confirmed, as federal highway administrator, i will work closely with my colleagues to make sure that we are providing the best data and information to all of our partners. mr. barrasso: thank you and congratulations again. senator carper. mr. carper: i'd like to in a minute follow up on the chairman's question with respect to environmental streamlining. i talk about the federal-state partnership as a recovering governor. i'd like to dwell a little bit on safety. i want to start off with climate change. my neighbor here to my left, senator cardin, and we have another maryland senator here, chris van hollen will join us later, i suspect, but we live in an area where like the land is sinking and the seas are rising. in fact, delaware is the lowest lying state in america. it's of great concern to us. we have a son out in california, just north of where he lives, there were these incredible wildfires, up in oregon, washington, montana. even bigger than delaware, if you can believe

these families of federal workers have bills to pay. a worker at the environmental protection agency from illinois is going without a paycheck after serving for 26 years as a federal employee. how hard is it? she is a single mom and she says quite honestly i get by paycheck to paycheck. she has never missed a mortgage payment. she n is very serious about thoe things but now she is worried the shutdown will unpack her credit rating if she doesn't have a paycheck to pay her bills on time. shutdowns not only heard her federal workers they impact small businesses around the country who rely on the business of workers and the government. the shutdown is hurting our economy only adding to economic uncertainty. remember what happened in december? if you happen to have a retirement account with investments in stocks you've noticed december was a pretty horrible month. there was an 8.7% drop in the stock arcade in december, the worst december for the stock or get in 1930 once great depression. the ceo of jpmorgan chase is now warning that the sh

nicole ogrysko is a reporter at the federal news network which covers federal agencies.nd us about the numbers when it comes to federal employees. how many are currently furloughed, how many are working and not getting paid, and how many contractors that are being impacted? >> the total for federal employees is about 800,000 impacted by this particular federal shutdown. ,,f the bat, -- off that there are about 20,000 who are still working, and 380,000 our homeland furloughed. the contractors, that is interesting, we don't know. the numbers have been pretty difficult to come by. the professional services ,ouncil deals with contractors and the have a really big number, like hundreds of thousands of federal contractors for supporting agencies. so that number is hard to want to fly. these shutdown discussions come up, there is talk about backpay. is that guaranteed? nicole: it is not guaranteed, but it is virtually likely, based on the past. in 2013, congress passed legislation guaranteeing back pay for federal employees. same with the shutdown in 2018. so while it is not gu

her husband is a federal employee.far from family and friends with limited employment options for me o as a spouse in a foreign country and now, we find ourselves without a paycheck and still liable for paying our mortgage and liable for paying all medical expenses out of pocket sons surgery two weeks before christmas this is not a game.ee gracie from woodbridge, i'm writing you asking for help. i've been a federal government employee forgo 16 years and receive a third to a quarter what i can make in the private sector with little or no thanks from anyone for doing the job i do. my husband, a veteran, was diagnosed with stage four: cancer june, 2015 at the age of 35 and has been receiving treatment sense which adds to our debt. we have two young children who require the basics and are involved in sports, something we want to encourage. we have a mortgage payment, car payment, other debt, student loan debt which we will likely still pay when our children go to college and have not been able to say for their college beca

people leave federal service? >> guest: that depends on how long this class. there are misconceptions about the salaries and wages that federal employees earn. numbers of our union are modestly paid and particularly there's been attention on transportation security officers. the people who do screenings at airports. at bwi airport on the road they started at $20000 a year. they take a lesson $500 a week. when that is your economic resources you can't go very long without a paycheck. and so these are people who are very committed to the mission of their agencies and proud of the work they do. they take it fiercely and do a great job. but i can't do it for free. >> host: talk about the callouts and is that something that can be used as a tactic to put pressure on ending the shutdown? >> guest: callouts? >> host: callouts, people who call in sick. >> guest: that story has been exaggerated somewhat. certainly it's not condoned by our union and not coordinated by our union but there is no sick leave during a furlough so they can't even take sick leave. but you also

the federal contractor jobs for federal construction projects. the g.s.a., the general services administration, put their projects on hold. and a 50-person company had to lay off eight car -- eight carpenters and a superintendent because of the shutdown. they will need to lay off more in the days ahead if the shutdown continues. so every day that goes on we see a mushrooming effect in terms of the damage and harm being done throughout the country. and a lot of the folks who work for these small business contractors, small business federal government contractors, are already getting low-wage paychecks, and now they're out of income altogether. one of those workers is lyla johnson. she is a janitor at the department of agriculture. so she works for a company, and that company contracts with the department of agriculture to provide janitorial services. lyla is 71 years old. she has bills coming due for her rent, her credit card, and her car. and here's how she's described the impact of the shutdown. quote, i don't have enough from my retirement and

>> so, it was a federal mandate.t was eliminated during the deliberations at the federal level last year. the proposal would be to reinstate that in california. there would be a program that mirrors the federal individual mandate essentially a requirement that individuals would have insurance coverage and if they don't comply with that, there would be a penalty that's a tax penalty and that's the same structure that was included in the federal program so of course for individuals that have difficulty affording coverage on their own, the program much the affordable care act did, the state proposal would add other opportunities to improve affordability of health care for individuals and that would be in the medicate expansion and it would also be in programs to revise the subsidy program for purchasing programs under covered california. there will be a number of things we still need to learn about terms of details and it will be an issue discussed and worked through over the next many months as we come to the governor'

we changed that law for federal workers. everybody in the federal government. we said, ironically, these jobs are so important that we can't have the government shut down. we can't have the government shut down. so, even though we have a president now in the white house who not only shut the job down, forced the workers to work without pay, and then, that was on the 22nd of december, on the 28th of december, he signs an executive order that says, no pay for all of 2019 for our federal workers. i want to point out that the t.s.a. workers that we walk by at least twice a week as we come and go from washington, their base starting salary is $28,000 a year. $28,000 a year. i made more money than that when i was an apprentice boy for the iron workers back in 1972. $28,000 a year. this would represent a $27 a week cost of living adjustment for those workers. may i have another 30 seconds? mr. cummings: i grant the gentleman another minute. mr. lynch: i thank the chairman. look, in taft hartley we said, as the government we were taking away the right of workers to str

the federal government owes the federal workers money. it is only reasonable and responsible and fair that interest accrues as well. the interest rate in this legislation is equivalent to the rate that federal agency must pay. it is known as the treasury payment rate, 3.625%. again, it's only fair as the american federation of government employees said federal workers are experiencing serious financial hardship from the shutdown and to take only more than a month worth of overdue bills and overdraft fees and interest charges. we support the back pay fairness act with interest. it is only the right thing to do. mister president, the shutdown lasting 35 days, the deal we got today will reopen the government through february 15, and it will go to a conference we will do what the chair said to do the other day, do what we do. remarw minutes ago, and i absolutely agree with them. you know, this government functions best when this body does what the founders of the constitution said we should do. go to regular order. go to conference. as senato

her husband is a federal employee. withrom family and friends limited employment options for me as a spouse in a foreign country, we find her cells without a paycheck and paying a mortgage on our home and medical expenses including my son's surgery two weeks before christmas. this is not a game. -- i amom woodbridge writing asking for your help. i have been a federal employee for 16 years. i receive a third to a quarter of what i can make in the private sector with little or north things from anyone -- no thanks from anyone. my husband, a veteran, was diagnosed with stage five -- stage four cancer at the age of 35. his treatment is adding to our debt. our young children require the basics and are involved in sports. we have a mortgage payment, car payments, that, student loan debt. we have not been able to save for their college because we are still paying my college debt. salt to theadds wound of being a furloughed employee. i know i am not alone. we are being held hostage for political purposes. i am not receiving pa

behalf of federal workers.e is talking about the wall for security, david. story. an astounding you have allll of these people n charge of security, like the tsa agents at the airports, like the border agents on the border. none of them are being paid. >> that's right. view the trump shutdown as another example of what happens when the government plays politics with the federal workforce. if you remember the government shutdown in 1995 and 1990 6 am a newt gingrich said part of the reason for it was president clinton had not talked to him on the way back from a funeral on air force one, and felt snubbed, therefore, he shutdown the government. though in the first two years of his administration the republicans controlled both houses of the congress, president trump was unable to get funding for his supposed wall and now he is the wrong attention much like newt gingrich did in making federal employees pay the price. what about this freeze on the cost of living increases that workers are supposed to receive in jan

these are not just people who are federal employees. these are people who have contracts with the federal government. these are people who have to rely on the federal government being open. i give you one example. like many americans affected by the trump shutdown, one of the vermonters who contacted by office is a veteran. he spent more than two decades serving this country in the navy. he's now a federal employee in charge of more than a dozen people who are going to -- he writes, i've run out of words to tell the 15 employees who work for me when asked how they're supposed to provide food, heat, electricity for their families here in vermont. keep in mind, the weather in vermont is projected to drop well below zero this weekend. with enough snow to close down this area very quickly. but this veteran continues, this navy veteran continues, we are real people, with real families, real bills. creditors do not understand as the president had claimed they would. they want their money now. try to explain to the bank why you can't pay your

over all other federal spending. he also insisted the government should never spend more than it received except during wartime. he put the brakes on federal spending. he got rid of the whiskey tax. and he abolished the internal revenue system. he paid for the government with revenue from import duties. import duties had been the primary source for federal revenue from the beginning. ordinary citizens tolerated them better than they tolerated internal taxes. because at a time when the economy in most parts of the country was largely a rural subsistence economy, only the wealthy wanted imported goods. hamilton was irate. he wrote a long series of newspaper articles in which he lambasted gallatin and the other republicans for pandering to the people and destroying a financial system. he said practical politicians knew the government should use their fiscal powers to encourage national prosperity. he claimed gallatin's obsession with debt repayment would sink the government and slow down economic development. indeed, ha

d the great state of georgia in in december of 2018, 144,000 federal workers did not receive a federal paycheck and that pains me debately. it is immoral. this is not democracy and not the american way. this bill by representative cox will provide some relief tore the families that are being held hostage by providing temporary financial assistance in the form of a 0% loan to make it through an unnecessary family hardship. because of this shutdown, workers are being forced to live each and every day without pay. this is wrong. and i ran for this seat in congress because i knew painfully well what is at stake when politics get in the way of governing. this shutdown represents the worst of washington politics. the senate is now refusing to even consider the same government funding bill that it wrote and approved by 92-6 at the end of last year. this is absolutely unacceptable. there are mothers in my district delaying their children's next visit to the doctor because they do not know when their next paycheck is going to come. the furloughed workers in our district must be be put back to w

approximately 35,000 veterans work for the federal government. this hardship of this shutdown on these men and women are multifolded. first of all, furloughed veterans who are federal workers are missing paychecks. they're having a hard time paying their mortgages and paying their bills overall. veterans with v.a. guaranteed home loans are at risk of being evicted by mortgage companies because they can't make their payments. veterans are not getting the benefits that they have earned from several departments other than the v.a. for instance, native american veterans who already face unique challenges with health care are unable to rely on the indian health service to provide their health care because it's closed down. homeless veterans who rely on the department of housing and urban development, housing vouchers are not going out because of the shutdown. and that is not all. other benefits and protections are at risk. the v.a. is currently implementing major reform bills, like the appeals modernization act and v.a. mission act to roll out these n

we also heard from a small federal contractor and mister president i'm sure all of us not just federal employees but small businesses that provide services to the federal government around the country are in danger of going belly up. and in order to deal with the shutdown that they may not get paid for their services, they also lay off their employees many are low-wage or median wage employees think about contractors that provide food services to different government agencies. janitorial services. and those that have been told not to come into work. we heard from one nonprofit called senior service america that actually helps put seniors to work in jobs around the country and this particular agency of federal contractor in maryland a few days ago laid off 176 of their employees.es this is an addition to federal employees that federal contractor employees who work for small businesses that contract with the federal government. now this mushrooms the negative impacts mushroom by the day. harming families and communities and all the others who also require the economic activity to help at