Pay Our Guard and Reserve Act

Floor Speech

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I and most of the Members of this House have voted now for five different measures that would have paid our Nation's civilian defense workforce and all of our guardsmen and reservists. The first of those bills passed this House with overwhelming bipartisan support in July, Mr. Speaker--July. Unfortunately, the Senate and the President have refused to pass four of the five measures.

And in the Pay Our Military Act, the President unilaterally deemed many of the civilian workforce and our National Guard nonessential to our national defense. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, but what the President is doing is wrong. The civilian workers that design, build, and maintain our planes, our ships, and our infrastructure and support our warfighters in everything that they do are essential and should not be furloughed simply because the President chooses to do so.

Every member of our National Guard and Reserve stand ready to defend our Nation, and they should be paid while we wait on Harry Reid and the President to agree to negotiate. That's why I've introduced the Pay Our Guardsmen and Civilian Defense Personnel Act. Our national security depends on these men and women, and they should be paid while we're waiting on the President and Senator Reid simply to do their job and agree to negotiate with us.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

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