-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, it is day 16 of the Schumer shutdown. During this time, President Trump has been working to guarantee that our troops get paid, ensure women and children continue receiving food assistance, and end the conflict in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Democrats continue holding the government hostage. As a result, air traffic controller shortages are causing flight delays, and some rural airports in Iowa may soon be forced to suspend operations. Seniors have lost access to some health services. The FDA is unable to process new drug and medical device applications, delaying the availability of new medical products.

And Senator Schumer is taking pride in his shutdown, claiming that ``every day gets better for us.''

Who is this ``us'' that it is getting better for? Because I know my folks back home really don't appreciate that attitude. Only a Washington politician would delight in causing such dysfunction.

And while Congress will be paid for failing to do its job, many essential government employees who have continued to work through this shutdown will likely miss their next paycheck.

The President is ensuring our troops get paid this week, a move that is being protested by some Democrats.

Now, my daughter serves on Active Duty. She is a young Army officer, and she had to sit down and counsel her troops last week on where they could go to get loans so they could make their obligated payments.

So, thank you, President Trump, for taking care of my daughter and her soldiers.

Meanwhile, 750,000 nonessential government employees--who haven't worked at all in these past weeks--will be paid for doing nothing. It costs $400 million every workday to provide backpay to those that are furloughed during Schumer's shutdown. As of today, the pricetag to pay nonessential bureaucrats not to work is $4.8 billion--$4.8 billion.

Taxpayers should all be asking: Why is Washington spending money on anyone or anything that is nonessential?

President Trump is permanently eliminating many of these nonessential positions as part of a reduction in force, or RIF.

So here are some of my suggestions for getting rid of the riffraff with a RIF.

First up, eliminate the positions of Federal employees and contractors who weren't even working before the government shutdown. While millions of Americans have two or more jobs to make ends meet, these Federal employees aren't working at all. There are dozens of National Laboratory employees with nothing to do who spend the workday catnapping or playing cards and games.

To pass time, one of them started journaling. One of his entries reads:

Did nothing all day today over 10 hours in here.

The following day he wrote:

I do hope to play another good game of chess.

They are not the only ones with nothing to do. A Department of Energy contractor actually filed a complaint that he was getting paid for work he wasn't doing. So good on him--at least he is honest. For years, he and his coworkers have been spending their time looking for things to do, watching Netflix and taking naps. He says he is ``begging for work,'' adding, ``I can't believe I am getting paid to do nothing.''

If Federal employees can't even justify their own salary, how can anyone else?

I have also uncovered bureaucrats who are holding several different government jobs simultaneously but aren't doing any of them. For example, a full-time HUD employee was being paid for two other full- time--got this, folks? She was being paid for two other full-time government contractor jobs. That is three full-time jobs in total. She frequently billed taxpayers for working more than 24 hours in a single day.

Gosh, if I could find more than 24 hours in a day, that would be pretty extraordinary.

But this woman was paid $225,000 for hours she never worked in nearly 3 years. Three full-time jobs, people--not working any of them.

This isn't an isolated case, either.

I have introduced my Double Dippers Act to crosscheck paychecks and payrolls to identify and stop bureaucrats from double billing taxpayers for work they are not even doing.

OK, don't laugh. This is true here.

There are plenty of other nonessential jobs that can be nominated immediately, beginning with the multitude of gimmicky government mascots. I am not talking about Smokey the Bear--OK?--not talking about Smokey the Bear, but rather other costume characters you probably have never even heard of, like the National Parks Service's Lupe the Ringtail, who is so frightening that Lupe makes children cry. Owlie Skywarn--I am sure you have all heard of Owlie Skywarn, with the National Weather Service.

Another Parks Service mascot is Riley the Roadrunner; Puddles the Blue Goose, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and everybody's favorite, Franklin the Fair Market Fox, from HUD.

I say, let's ``fur-lough'' these furballs forever.

Tax dollars should never be spent paying for any of these do-nothing jobs, especially when there are severe staffing shortages for critical jobs, like air traffic controllers and VA healthcare providers. The folks who are working these important jobs are too often overworked, understaffed, and underappreciated. So these folks can go.

I commend all of those essential workers who are doing the jobs that we need done on a daily basis. They continue to answer the call of duty during the Schumer shutdown without knowing when they may receive their next paycheck. Thank you for putting your country first. And on behalf of my fellow Iowans, I would also like to extend to them a very hardy thank-you.

To those who have been collecting paychecks without even working, even before the shutdown began, all I can really say is thanks for nothing.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source