Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this reckless plan to shut down the Federal Government. House Republicans are playing games with people's lives--with hundreds of thousands of federal employees and with the people around the country who depend on the services they provide. And they are doing this in order to prevent millions of Americans from signing up for more affordable health care.

My colleagues know that this legislation cannot pass the Senate, and that the President will not sign it. That is why they have offered legislation to ensure that our military personnel and the Defense Department civilians who support their work will continue to get paid even in the event of a government shutdown. And while I support that measure, I would expand it to include all federal employees, whose work is no less essential to the operations of our government and, in many cases, to our national security. This bill ignores those federal employees who protect our borders, care for our wounded service members, work to discover treatments and cures for diseases, and provide vital services that touch virtually every American family. They should not be pawns in this political game, and should not go without pay because the Congress cannot do its job.

I urge the Speaker to bring up a clean continuing resolution without extraneous and unrelated poison pills so that we can avoid this shutdown and keep the government working for the American people.

Source