Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) took to the House floor today to call for an end to the 25-day partial government shutdown and share the stories of affected Vermonters ranging from furloughed federal employees struggling to pay their bills to those unable to access to critical government services.
“It’s somebody who has a microbrewery and can’t get the FDA inspection, it’s the construction company that can’t get the sign-off on a permit, it’s a home closing that can’t occur because the paperwork can’t be signed. And this is costing our economy about $1 billion a week. We must make off-limits the tactic of shutting down government in order to get our way. As vigorous as we argue our point of view, we should not cause collateral damage to others to get our way.”
A full transcript of Rep. Welch’s remarks can be found below:
I want to read part of a letter from Charles from Vermont. I'm a Marine Corps veteran, and have spent the last 15 years guarding the national borders as a C.P.B. Officer. The government shutdown is unacceptable. January in Vermont is pretty cold. As a furloughed government worker, I have to choose whether to pay for fuel oil to heat my home, or to make child support payments to support my ex-wife and my children. Without work and without pay, I'm unable to do that. He is one of 1,300 Vermont employees of the Federal government who is working without pay. These include 900 at the Department of Homeland Security, 300 employees of the Department of Agriculture, 100 employees of the Interior Department. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday I went to the shift change at the Burlington international airport and met with our T.S.A. Personnel. They asked me a question. They had missed a paycheck. They had been showing up for work every single day. They had been doing in their professional and cheerful way, processing all of us through security, keeping us safe, and they are very proud of their work, but they asked me a question that I couldn't answer. Do you know of any other situation, where an employer can require a person to work even when the employer has told that employee you’re not getting paid? That's what's happening. That happens nowhere. Where in your experience can an employer, whatever kind, tell the worker to show up, but we're not going to pay you? That's what's going on, and it is having a ripple effect throughout our economy. It's the Federal workers, but it is also everyday citizens who depend on routine functioning of government in order to meet their obligations. Let me read a letter from Carl, a small business owner from the Northeast Kingdom. He talks about how this government shutdown has affected his business. As the owner of Kingdom Construction, we employ nearly 30 full-time year-round construction workers and they were recently awarded a $2 million construction contract, but they can't get the permits signed because the permit signers are on furlough. Those folks are not going to work. That is real, and unacceptable, and inevitable when we have this government shutdown. Now, every one of us has these stories, whether it's somebody who has a microbrewery and can't get the F.D.A. inspection, it’s that construction company where they can't get the sign off on the permit, it's a closing that can't occur because the paperwork won't be signed. This is going on costing our economy about $1 billion a week. It's all because we're having this dispute, that's quite resolvable. Now, Mr. Speaker, the issue of border security is incredibly important, and we all know that. But at the 11th hour, because we have a dispute about one element of it, is that a reason to shut down the government, when not only does it do collateral damage to lots of innocent people, but it makes it more difficult for us to resolve the underlying issue about border security. Mr. Speaker, my suggestion, it’s time for us to have a cooling off period. Turn the lights back on in government. We can have a temporary short-term extension of the Homeland Security bill, get people paid and then convene all of the relevant parties to have a negotiation about border security and about all of our immigration policies, including the Dreamers, including undocumented workers, and including the challenge we have about legal immigration, and having people who can come here, vetted, to our country and contribute to our economy. There’s a price that’s paid by individual workers not getting a paycheck, there’s a price that’s paid by individuals who are not getting the functioning of government, but there’s also a price we’re paying in the trust that’s required to sustain a democracy. We have to make off-limits, the tactic of shutting down government in order to get your way. Our democracy depends on mutual trust, it depends on accepting certain norms. That is vigorous as we will be in advocating our point of view. We will not cause collateral damage to others to get our way. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Source: Welch 1.15.2019