The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“FRUSTRATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1219-H1220 on Jan. 28, 2019.
The Department is primarily focused on food nutrition, with assistance programs making up 80 percent of its budget. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department implements too many regulations and restrictions and impedes the economy.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
EXASPERATION/FRUSTRATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning about 800,000 Federal employees from the 25 percent of the government that had been shut down for the last 35 days finally were allowed to go back to work and perform the amazing service that they do for the American people in a whole host of different agencies.
All of us heard from such great Americans coming from our districts, and certainly in the Second District of Connecticut, in eastern Connecticut, was no exception.
So, for example, Clark Chapin, who is the head of the Farm Service Agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who, again, for 35 days was unable to work on the different farm programs that are so important to eastern Connecticut farmers, particularly in the dairy sector with the new dairy insurance program, his frustration in terms of not being able to get that program up and running, again, was palpable when I talked to him about a week or so ago.
We also have the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, where, again, that was the one branch of the military that was shut down because they don't reside in the Department of Defense. They are in the Department of Homeland Security.
Even though, as Admiral Carl Schultz, who is the Commandant of the Coast Guard, pointed out on national television, there are Coast Guard cutters serving in Bahrain in the fifth fleet side by side with the U.S. Navy patrolling the territorial waters of the Persian Gulf in the Straits of Hormuz in about the most hazardous waters in the world. Their Navy counterparts were certainly being paid, but the Coast Guard sailors and officers were not.
In addition, we have got Coast Guard cutters over in the Indo-Pacific region doing work in the Straits of Taiwan, again, highly contested waters. The unique skills that coastguardsmen and -women bring to that particular type of patrol is essential to our country's national defense and national security policy.
They, again, are just a couple of examples.
Constituents in the State Department serving overseas in hazardous duty areas--the FAA, the TSA, the IRS, Commerce--this morning, I heard from one of the Commerce employees. She went to work this morning. The payroll system was flooded with folks trying to submit their timecards, and the system crashed. They are still trying to sort that out so that people will get not only their paycheck on Friday, but also retroactive payments.
Last Thursday, again, hours before the settlement finally was reached and the announcement was made from the White House, I held a telephone townhall meeting. We had 8,000 listeners from all across the district and, again, a very vigorous debate, and there was definitely disagreement about whether there should be a wall on the southern border or no wall.
But what there was universal agreement about was that shutdowns are wrong, that shutdowns should never be used as a tool or leverage to force a policy provision and cripple, again, the working lives of people who, again, are patriots for this country, but also the taxpayers who rely on the programs and services that they provide. That is why, again, it was astonishing to see in The Wall Street Journal, over the weekend, that President Trump gave an interview where he said another shutdown is ``certainly an option.''
Mr. Speaker, if we have learned anything as a nation over the last 35 days, it is what those 8,000 folks who participated in my telephone townhall articulated over and over again: This should not be used as leverage to force an issue through the Congress. It should go through normal and regular order.
We have a conference committee from the House and the Senate, from both parties, that will begin their work over the next couple of weeks or so to resolve the dispute. There is overlap. There is agreement in terms of boosting border security.
But no one should be putting down as markers that we are going to again disrupt the lives of these Americans once again just as they are starting to finally get back into the office and get the work done for the American people. Instead, what we should be doing is voting, as we are tomorrow, on H.R. 790, which is to overturn President Trump's executive order of December 28 canceling the pay increase for non-DOD employees.
Again, some of the very same people whose lives were turned upside down over the last 35 days are also going to lose their pay increase based on the President's executive order. The bill we are going to vote on tomorrow, H.R. 790, is going to overturn that executive order and give those folks the same pay raise as folks in the Department of Defense: 2.6 percent. These are people who, again, provide essential public services for the people of this country.
If nothing else, it was a learning experience over the last month about how vital that work is in terms of air travel, national defense and military policy, as well as agriculture and processing of tax returns at the height of the tax season.
Let's vote on measures that are going to restore and heal this country over the damage that was done over the last 35 days and take shutdowns off the table. It is time for shutdown politics to come to an end.
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