For the People

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BEATTY. Madam Speaker, I am here today for the people. We want an agreement to continue to keep the government open and working for the people.

We are just 8 days from once again having the possibility of having 800,000 workers, Federal employees--air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents, Secret Service personnel, and many, many more--being furloughed or forced to work without pay. That is not for the people.

We saw how the 35-day-long government shutdown affected our constituents, our communities. We heard all the stories about the shutdown. We heard stories of cancer patients being forced to choose between treatment or paying their rent. We heard the stories of families, for the first time ever, being forced to turn to food banks and soup kitchens to eat. And the list goes on and on.

Madam Speaker, what we did here was, during the State of the Union Address, President Trump spoke about how we must ``reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retaliation.'' He needs to heed those words and live up to his promise: `` . . . bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future.''

He can take an important step in that direction by letting the conference continue working to keep the government open for the people.

Democrats and Republican leaderships indicate a long-term funding agreement is just within reach. It is so imperative that the conferees be allowed to put pen to paper before rushing to judgment or to fire off another tweet labeling their efforts as a waste of time, as the President has done time and time again. That is why the President would be well served to put down his phone, to stop tweeting, and to leave the negotiations to Congress.

Members on both sides of the aisle agree that another government shutdown would be disastrous for the economy, for the people, and unnecessarily harm tens of millions of Americans in the process.

The President, on Tuesday, said he was ready and willing to turn a new leaf. Madam Speaker, let's turn that new leaf. Let's keep the government open.

Madam Speaker, House Democrats are committed more than ever to keeping the government open and funding and finding commonsense solutions to the issues affecting my constituents and all Americans.

Madam Speaker, it is simple: Democrats are for the people.

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