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.
“TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S19339-S19343 on Jan. 2, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1643, MFN status for Bulgaria; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that there be one amendment in order, the text of which is a clean continuing resolution for all agencies of Government without funding at this time which shall expire January 12, 1996; that the amendment be deemed agreed to, the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all without any intervening action or debate.
I send up the amendment.
Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object, and I shall not object, Mr. President, it seems to me this is a significant advancement in this process. I know that the majority leader has not been an advocate for a shutdown. He has indicated that a number of times on the floor of the Senate. We have all wanted to get to this point where the Senate could pass a clean CR. We have offered on 10 occasions a clean CR. This is a clean continuing resolution that provides additional funding through a date certain. We would prefer that it be beyond January 12 but we certainly are in agreement that doing it this way would bring Federal workers back to work with pay, restore the Federal Government to the functions that it was able to perform previous to this shutdown. This is a major step forward.
I hope very much that the House of Representatives will see fit as early as possible to also accept this clean continuing resolution. Doing so would then end this partial shutdown that now exists. I do not object to this and fully support the continuing resolution.
As I have indicated, we were prepared today to offer on the 11th occasion a clean CR that is identical to the unanimous-consent request that has been made.
Mr. DOMENICI. Reserving the right to object, and I will not object, Mr. President, let me congratulate the distinguished majority leader on his last proposal. While I supported two previous ones, I think the important one to many, many Americans is the last one which would say through the 12th day of January the U.S. Government goes back to work. The people that work for the Government would go back to work and would be paid. I think it is time we do this.
Obviously, I understand the House has some different problems than we have. I think it is right for the U.S. Senate under your leadership to proceed this evening to send this measure to the U.S. House for their consideration.
I want to suggest to the Senate that in my home State where, obviously, we have a considerable number of Federal employees, even those who are not Federal employees are very perplexed and concerned about something they do not understand. I think they make a great point. That is, Federal employees are furloughed but there is a commitment that when they come back to work we will pay them for the time they did not spend working. More constituents are calling me asking, what kind of business is that? We have people who are being paid for not working, and then you have Federal employees who have been deemed necessary, they are on the job and they are being paid but they must work. Frankly, most Federal employees are saying they would like to work for their pay.
As I understand the distinguished majority leader's proposal, not only would it open Government through the 12th day of this month, but pay the back pay for all the workers who have been furloughed. We would be back to a position where they would all receive their money and their back pay and the other things that are bothering us around the country. I compliment him for that.
I hope the House gives serious consideration to this and soon we will get to part of our efforts to get a balanced budget, which is separate and distinct, but nonetheless we must have the White House negotiating. They must concede some issues. They cannot win everything. Hopefully, that will continue while we move ahead with the continuing resolution at this time. I yield the floor.
Mr. DOLE. It would also provide that there would be no double-
dipping. You could not get unemployment compensation then be paid back pay. You would subtract any unemployment compensation pay for the pay that you should have been entitled to, which I think is fair.
Let me just say I read a wire story there is a split between the House and the Senate on what ought to happen. I do not get that feeling at all in talking with the Speaker. In fact, we just had a 30-minute meeting. The Senator from Virginia was there, I was there, the Senator from New Mexico was there, the Speaker, the majority leader of the House, Mr. Armey was there, and we had a good discussion. I think there is some difference on just how we should proceed, but in my view what we really want, of course, is to get people back to work.
I felt that way for some time. I have a hard time rationalizing paying people for not working when I know they want to work. If they did not want to work, I say they should not be paid. These people want to work. They are caught. They are in the middle. They are pawns. I do not believe at this point--I think if there was a point to make, that point has been made. I know the Speaker indicated you just have to do what you have to do.
We are going to send this to the House. The House will be back tomorrow. Hopefully tonight at 6 o'clock we will have serious discussions. I think we have had enough preliminary discussions at the White House. It is time that I think we will get serious about whether or not we will reach a balanced budget over the next 7 years.
I wanted to correct an impression that there might be some rift between the House and the Senate. I think there are some House Members who have a different view. They feel this is helpful in bringing about a balanced budget. That is not my view. I think it may have been helpful the first time around, but if you add up the time people have had off with the two shutdowns, it would be almost a month--about 30 days they have been out of work which they will be paid for. It is no fault of theirs. I am not critical. That is a huge cost when the work was not performed by willing workers.
It seems to me that if we extend this continuing resolution until the 12th of January we will know by then if we are serious about a balanced budget over the next 7 years. If we do not know by then, we ought--I do not know what we do. I think we would not have to be a rocket scientist to know by then. That way we will all be covered.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to commend our distinguished majority leader. I had the opportunity to be in that meeting. I suggest he look at his words again. He said half an hour; it was 2\1/2\ hours that we were there.
Indeed, I certainly perceive no split between the distinguished majority leader and the Speaker of the House. There are a wide range of issues which were discussed in a very objective manner. I think there was a clear perception that the American public now understand the complexity of this situation and there is a feeling of a sense of fairness emerging. That sense of fairness says to the Congress, we have to work with our President to come to some conclusion. It is not fair to the Government employees. They are being held hostage. More than that, there is a ripple effect. It is not just the Federal Government employees. It is many others who are dependent upon a functioning of the U.S. Government for their daily livelihood. Particularly that class of individual cannot look to compensation subsequently, like the Government employees, and I again thank the distinguished majority leader and indeed the speaker and others for confirming they will be paid. But this other group, this ripple effect, they are not likely to get any compensation. An empty hotel room tonight is an empty hotel room forever. A lost wage to a taxi driver, all of the people, for instance, in the greater metropolitan area who are here every day to make it possible that tourism--one of the largest industries in this area--can function are suffering irreparably. People are losing wages, and that is taking place all across the country, not only in the greater Washington metropolitan area.
I wish to be a cosponsor, Mr. Leader.
Mr. DOLE. The Senator is a cosponsor and the Senator from New Mexico will be a cosponsor.
Mr. WARNER. I commend you again.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Domenici). Is there objection to the unanimous-consent request of the majority leader with reference to the continuing resolution?
Mr. SARBANES. Would it be possible to speak for a couple of minutes after its adoption? I am quite content to have it go ahead.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
So the amendment (No. 3115) was deemed agreed to, as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
SEC. . TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION.
(a) In General.--Section 106(c) of Public Law 104-56 is amended by striking ``December 15, 1995'' and inserting
``January 12, 1996''.
(b) Effective Period.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall be considered to have taken effect on December 16, 1995.
SEC. . ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.
Begining on January 2, 1996, any federal employee who is excepted from furlough and is not being paid due to a lapse in appropriations shall be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits with no waiting period for such eligibility to accrue. With respect to any person who is eligible for such benefits by reason of the preceding sentence, any such benefits received shall be subject to repayment in the same manner and to the same extent when eligibility by reason of the preceding sentence ceases as if such cessation were an end to the period of unemployment.
So the bill (H.R. 1643), as amended, was read the third time and passed.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I want to commend the distinguished majority leader and all who have worked with him in bringing forth this clean extension of the CR with which my distinguished colleague from Virginia said it is not just the Federal employees affected, although they are clearly very much affected, but there is a large part of the private sector also impacted and impacted in a very negative way by what has occurred.
This, of course, will carry through until the 12th of January and give us an opportunity to correct the difficulties that have existed thus far and hopefully avoid any difficulties from arising in the future. I think it will bring, at least for now, significant relief in terms of anxiety and apprehension and tension and turmoil to a lot of families which have been very negatively impacted. I very much hope it will be adopted on the House side when they consider the matter.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, both Senator Dole and myself have been in contact almost on a daily basis with Congressman Wolf, Congressman Davis, and Congresswoman Morella. They are very much included. We are going to start meeting daily on this problem to give to the leadership of both Houses our best judgment as to the severity of the problem in the greater metropolitan area of Washington. I welcome the participation by my distinguished colleague from Maryland.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I hope the House would take a look at this tomorrow. They are all back tomorrow. It was an opportunity for them to have been in their districts.
I know some have said this is an indication that the Government is too big, that they are not essential or they have not been missed, what is the big deal?
If we want to make the Government smaller, then we ought to make the Government smaller. If we want to eliminate departments--some of us do--then we ought to do it. Bring it out here, have the debate, and say, OK, we will eliminate Energy and HUD and Commerce and Education, for example. But this is not the way to do it. If we do it through legislation, that is one thing, but if we just say we are not going to pay people, I, at least, think that is not, in my judgment, how it ought to be done.
People who work for the Federal Government are good people, and they understand that from time to time, as part of the Federal establishment, they have to make certain sacrifices when it comes to cost-of-living adjustments or even temporary Government shutdowns. So this is the second shutdown. This has been a lengthy shutdown. And, as I said earlier, if there is any point to be made I think that point should have been made by now.
Some of these Federal employees--in fact, I am certain the Senator from Maryland knows, what percentage make less than $25,000? Probably 20, as a percent of the total?
Mr. SARBANES. Probably even more than that, I would say.
Mr. DOLE. And they live from paycheck to paycheck.
Mr. SARBANES. Exactly.
Mr. DOLE. When they do not get the check, we say, ``Oh, well, they can borrow the money.'' If they borrow the money, they have to pay for it--if they can borrow the money.
So I hope, based on fairness and getting people back to work and eliminating some of the stress that I am certain some have undergone, that the House will look upon this favorably. If not, I think the second option--I know it is not the preferred option by a lot of people--would be the first bill we passed, which deems all workers essential and promises they will be paid. That is not the same as being paid. Plus, we added a number of categories--the Senator from Maryland was not here at the time--to take care of Meals on Wheels, protective services for children, unemployment insurance--there are about 11 States, plus D.C., which will have exhausted Federal funds for administering the Federal Unemployment Insurance Program, including, I might add, the State of Kansas, where somebody said today they shot out the windows at the unemployment office. I have not verified that story. In other words, if the office is closed, people with unemployment benefit claims cannot have their claims addressed.
The District of Columbia would be included, and also assistance payments to 53,000 Indian families and foster family care for about 3,000 Indian children. Then we have the same problem with about 170,000 veterans. And we believe that, of course, if you have a CR, you do not have to worry about that. If you do not have a CR, then the backup would be adopting the deeming provision.
Let me just say, in fairness--I will not make all these requests, because I hope that we have a bipartisan, or nonpartisan solution here that can be dealt with in the same way on the House side--but I would say, everybody wants to assign blame. I am not here to assign blame. I am just here to suggest that we have three appropriations bills that were vetoed. Had they not been vetoed, a lot of people would be working, they would not be worrying about the 7- or 9-day CR. But the President vetoed those bills. I understand some of them just have two or three areas where we have disagreements. I urge my colleagues--on the Interior bill, for example, I understand there are only three areas of disagreement. If we can work out the areas of disagreement, we ought to pass the bill, meet the President's request, and send it back and that will take care of any future problems in case the Government was shut down a third time. I hope that would not happen.
The same is true with VA-HUD. I understand that is another bill that could be, with a little effort, worked out, just a give and take on both sides.
State, Justice, Commerce, I think there are probably a number of differences there. I am not certain that can be accommodated.
On the D.C. appropriations bill, there is one issue, vouchers. Only one issue keeps that bill from going to the President and being signed by the President.
Foreign operations, one issue, one issue on the Mexico City policy. That is the only issue that keeps that bill from going to the President. I do not think he has a problem with that bill.
Finally, Labor-HHS, and we have had two party-line votes on bringing it to the membership on the floor. It takes 60 votes. It has been a party-line vote so we have not been able to bring Labor-HHS to the floor. Maybe there is some way to work out our differences there.
But one way to avoid the CR's and the potential problems of a shutdown would be to get together on the appropriations bills. We are urging our colleagues on this side to do that starting immediately. We would be happy to accommodate anybody on the other side. I know there is a lot of interest in Interior and State, Justice, Commerce; foreign operations; HUD; District of Columbia. If those bills could be passed--
and three of them have been vetoed--but passed again, to accommodate some of the concerns raised by the administration, then we would not be here worrying about 5 days, 9 days, and 10 days.
Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The acting minority leader.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me just observe that we have seen previous vetoes of appropriations bills in the history of the U.S. Congress, but that did not result in a shutdown of the Federal Government. I would not want people listening to this to believe that because appropriations vetoes occurred this year, that resulted in a shutdown of the Government. That is not why we have a shutdown. The shutdown, it seems to me, was a matter of strategy by some.
I might say, not the majority leader. He has made it, I think, clear a number of times on the floor of the Senate that he is not an advocate of shutdowns. Nonetheless, I think it has been a matter of strategy to use the shutdown as leverage with respect to the balanced budget talks.
Another Senator mentioned that his constituents could not understand this shutdown. I would say, my constituents have told me the same thing--they could not understand it. I have said that is pretty reasonable, because it is not an understandable policy. It defies all common sense. It does not make any sense to decide to shut the Government down, pay $40 million a day for labor that you prevent being performed by Federal workers, but that you say you will reimburse later. I think, when all of the noise and all of the dust and all of the wind is over, at least today we will have been seen as taking a first sensible step. That is a CR that funds the Government, brings Federal employees back to work, and pays them.
I might say that the proposal that we have offered on previous occasions, a continuing resolution to fund these functions of Government and bring people back to work, would take us through the end of January. The CR that we are enacting today in the Senate takes us only through January 12. While we would prefer that this go to the end of January, and that during this period, between now and the end of January, we would have a set of budget negotiations that would result in an agreement and we would not again be faced with the circumstances of a threatened shutdown, we accept January 12 because it is a step forward. If the House will address this, it will resolve this impasse.
Again, my fervent hope is that early tomorrow the House of Representatives will take this up. I hope they would agree with it by a voice vote as the Senate has and restore people back to work, pay them for coming back to work. And, I say again as I said before, I commend the Senator from Kansas for this initiative.
We have offered this initiative previously. I know the Senator from Kansas has not been an advocate of a shutdown. But nonetheless we were faced with this set of circumstances. If the House acts on this in the morning, it seems to me we finally have this back on track and perhaps we will not again see a shutdown that penalizes the American taxpayer, penalizes Federal workers, and does nothing good for anyone that I can see. It is fundamentally a nonunderstandable policy.
Again, I thank the Senator from Kansas, the majority leader. We were happy to accommodate the unanimous-consent request.
Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, throughout the day the distinguished acting minority leader has been on the floor, active in the debate. But I think it was very important that the majority leader bring up the fact that the veto of the appropriations bills is a very strong factor in the problem that we are addressing here with the CR.
The distinguished minority leader has stated his case. But I also feel very strongly that the majority leader, in good conscience, had to bring that matter up.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield on that point?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The acting minority leader.
Mr. DORGAN. I accept his point. My only observation was we could debate all this. On Labor-HHS, Republicans deserted on the vote there as well. Some of the vetoes were fully expected, in terms of what was in the legislation when it went to the President.
My hope is that now, beginning at 6 o'clock, the negotiations on the balanced budget plan will bear fruit and we will have no further shutdowns. We will have appropriations bills resolved the way they should be resolved, not by the leverage of a Government shutdown but by the give and take as between the Congress and the President.
Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I said earlier today it is senseless that we pass the football to your side, you pass it back to us. The blame game exchange will not get us anywhere. Let us put the football on the 50-yard line and blow time out on the blame game and let us get behind the President and the distinguished leaders of this body, who will go down in just a matter of minutes and try and reconcile this problem.
We all wish them luck.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I just make the observation that I think all of the appropriations bills that were mentioned had legislation on an appropriations bill. Of course, if we did not do that to begin with, why, it would be an easier task dealing with the appropriations bills. The President took issue with some of that and vetoed the bills.
I listened carefully to the majority leader who suggested maybe if some of those objections could be accommodated, it might be possible to work out the differences between the President and the Congress on that legislation. Therefore, there is a chance some of them might be enacted. And it seems to me that is a worthwhile path to explore.
The other thing though is I do feel very strongly, as I indicated earlier today, that this closing down of the Government was without reason and without common sense. And I wish to underscore one point because I think it tends to get overlooked. There is a tendency to think of this in terms of the Federal employees who are not working. That is a very important aspect of it. But by not working, they are not providing services that are needed by the private sector. So it is having an impact, a far-reaching impact through our economy and through our country.
In other words, people who want passports are not able to get those passports. You have people who planned trips for years. You have had business reasons to take such trips. Grants by the NIH have been put on the shelf, and so forth and so on. So there is a strong impact. People who contract with the Federal Government have found themselves unable to carry through and, of course, that is going to start affecting unemployment offices; they are closing down. That is not unemployment offices for the Federal workers. That is unemployment offices for everyone. So someone who gets laid off from some private job in some States now is not going to be able to find an open unemployment office with which to file a claim in order to obtain unemployment benefits in order to carry his family through a very difficult period.
Now, obviously, the way to address it is the way it is being addressed here, and that is with a clean CR which brings the workers back in, pays them, they do the job, they perform the services, they meet the need, the private sector can then interact with the Government as it does, and we can move forward from there.
So I again wish to thank the majority leader for moving forward with this CR, and I am hopeful that the House will accept it when it takes it up on tomorrow.
Mr. ROBB addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.
Mr. ROBB. I would like to add my own word of thanks and appreciation to the distinguished majority leader and those who have worked with him to propose the continuing resolution at this point. I think it is very important. Understandably, because of the serious differences in some of the philosophical questions that have been presented in this debate, it is not easy for leaders on either side of the debate to make a move toward getting us beyond a step which many of us feel is simply unconscionable and indefensible to continue.
I hope that the leadership that the distinguished majority leader has provided in moving us to this point will indeed provide an impetus for our colleagues in the other body to act in accord so that we may move beyond this particular impasse.
The big issues can still be debated, but the question of whether or not it makes any sense to continue the furlough of Federal employees who will eventually get paid so this Government is saving no money but which represents an enormous waste of taxpayer resources and an inconvenience for many and serious economic concerns for others who interact with the Federal Government, for many small businesses that are dependent upon the successful actions of the Federal Government, all of this can be resolved at least in the near term with this particular action, and all of the essential arguments that have been made by both sides are preserved for full debate at the appropriate time.
I again thank the majority leader for exercising this leadership. I thank my distinguished colleague and senior Senator from Virginia, the distinguished senior Senator from Maryland, and others in the region who are most impacted by this particular situation but all who have shown the good will in an attempt to get beyond the difficulties that have held us up.
So to all, including my good friend from Rhode Island, who may be about to speak on this topic, I say thank you for bringing us to this point and hope that they will succeed in urging our colleagues in the other body to follow the leadership of our distinguished majority leader.
With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. DOLE. I thank my friend from Virginia. I will be happy to yield the floor.
Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I just want to join in congratulating the majority leader for what he has done today. This is really terribly important. And while many citizens in the country are not suffering at all--they are getting their Social Security check, the VA checks, the AFDC checks--there are literally hundreds, and, indeed, thousands who truly are suffering out of this, whether it be a passport they cannot obtain, having made payments on flights that are not redeemable, whether it is the AmeriCorps individuals who are working in the inner cities and live paycheck to paycheck and are not receiving their check, whether it is those who are under some Government contract and not being paid. There is a lot of suffering taking place across the country.
And so I just give high praise to our distinguished majority leader, the senior Senator from Kansas, for what he has done, and I just hope the House accepts it. It is, as I understand, until January 12. And in the meantime the negotiators on the biggest subject, namely the budget, can keep working. This is not something that is fostering--in other words, the shutdown is not fostering the talks. Nothing is being gained from that. The administration is not being bullied, and the Republicans are not being bullied. It is a nonwinner. It is one of those rare things where everybody loses.
So I congratulate the majority leader, and I just hope the House accepts this and we can get on with the Government reopening. If things are not worked out by January 12, well, then have another. But meanwhile I just know everybody who is involved is trying to reach a settlement on this budget.
I thank the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues. I certainly share their view. I do not see any sense in what we have been doing, frankly. Maybe I missed the point. I have been here a while. Maybe something went by me. But I think we have had shutdowns before lasting a day or 2 days, and you can handle that. But when it is--what is today, day 18? And we have already had a 7-day. As I said earlier, you are going to have 30 days here very quickly. I do not believe any side gains.
I do not believe we are sitting down because the Government is partially shut down. I do not believe the President is sitting down because the Government is partially shut down. We better be sitting down because we agreed we ought to balance the budget in 7 years. And the Federal employees are going to be part of that. I think they are going to be asked to make sacrifices like everybody else if that is done. But to say that they cannot work and they cannot be paid until we put together an agreement--I know there are some of my colleagues in the House who feel just as strongly the other way, but I do not quite understand the logic of it all. As I said earlier, I think the Speaker is inclined to be receptive. All the House Members are back, I understand, tomorrow, and they will have an opportunity to discuss this. I hope that we could have quick action. People have been gone from their jobs long enough. Enough is enough.
I ask unanimous consent that Senator Stevens be added as a cosponsor to amendment 3115, the CR until January 12, 1996.
Mr. DORGAN. And anybody else who wants to----
Mr. CHAFEE. I want to join.
Mr. DOLE. Senator Robb, and Senator Dorgan already have.
Mr. DORGAN. Senator Daschle.
Mr. DOLE. Senator Daschle, and Senator Sarbanes, and anybody else.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DORGAN. I wonder if I might ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a description of the effects of the shutdown offered by OMB. I believe it was the description that Senator Dole referred to, and I think it would be useful to have that in the Congressional Record.
Mr. DOLE. Let me indicate we did not cover all those in the other one because we thought some were not as urgent as others, but I think we ought to enable people to be able to get a passport, to open the parks, and other things that I think are important to all people.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Effects of the Continuing Shutdown, Tuesday, January 2, 1996
Administration on Aging: 600,000 elderly Americans face the potential of losing their services of ``Meals on Wheels,'' transportation and personal care provided by HHS if a CR is not passed this week.
Protection and services for children: As of today, states will lose $74 million in quarterly grants for discretionary child protection programs, which help states respond to more than 2.5 million reported cases of child maltreatment each year. In addition, the Federal Parent Locator Service, to which 20,000 child support cases per day on average are referred, is closed.
Unemployment insurance: By the end of this week, 11 states
(plus DC and the VI) will have exhausted Federal funds for administering the unemployment insurance program (NJ, AL, RI, TN, KS, AK, MA, NH, VT, UT, NM). In order to keep unemployment offices open, states will have to fill the gap with their own funds. Otherwise, unemployment offices would have to close and benefit payments would cease. Kansas has already closed its unemployment office.
Securities markets: The SEC's funds are expected to be exhausted by the end of next week, causing review of an estimated three-fourths of pending and new SEC filings for the months of January to be delayed. A delay in review of filings for initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and filings for new debt or stock offerings would eventually impact the flow of corporate financing and capital formation.
Home-buyers: Each day of the shutdown, the Federal Housing Administration cannot process 2,500 home purchase loans and refinancings ($200 million of mortgage loans) for moderate- and low-income working families.
[[Page S19343]]
Protection of workers: Since the start of the shutdown, over 1000 workplace safety complaints have gone unanswered and 3,500 investigations involving pension, health and other employee benefit plans have been suspended.
Environmental protection: All EPA non-Superfund civil environmental enforcement actions have stopped, costing $3 million a day in fines or injunctive relief against polluters; and as of today, up to 32 Superfund cleanups will be shut down.
District of Columbia: The December 22 CR expires tomorrow which will continue the uncertainty over how DC an continue to operate its services.
Passports: Each day, the State Department can't process 23,000 applications for passports that it would receive.
Programs for native Americans: The Bureau of Indian Affairs cannot make general assistance payments due to about 53,000 Indian families and individuals, or to guardians and foster families that care for about 3,000 Indian children.
Veterans: While the December 22 CR provided funding for certain benefits and payments, it expires tomorrow; consequently, contractors providing services and supplies to hospitals will not be paid and benefits for January will not be paid (on February 1). In addition, approximately 170,000 veterans did not receive their December Montgomery GI Bill education benefits and will not receive benefits in January. Funding has also lapsed for processing veterans' claims for educational & rehabilitation counseling, and enabling veterans to obtain VA guaranteed home loans.
Small businesses: Each day of the shutdown, over 260 small businesses are not receiving SBA-guaranteed financing; and 1,200 small business owners are not receiving SBA-Sponsored training and counseling normally available to them.
National parks/forests and related businesses: Each day, an average of 383,000 people cannot visit National Parks. Potential per day losses for businesses in communities adjacent to National Parks could reach $14 million, due to reduced recreational tourism.
Foreign visitors: Each day, the State Department cannot issue 20,000 visas to visitors, who normally spend an average of $3,000 on their trips.
Export promotion: On an average day--export licenses with a value of $30.5 million that would otherwise have been approved by the Bureau of Export Administration will not be acted upon; more than $92 million in sales of U.S. products are blocked due to inability to process license applications; and more than 2500 telephone calls and faxes from U.S. businesses seeking export information are not being answered.
Effects on Federal Workers
Due to Congress' failure to approve short-term funds, beginning last Friday, December 29, about three-quarters-of-a-million Federal employees received only half their usual pay. They received pay for December 10 to 15, but not December 16 to 23. Unless the Congress approves funding by late this week, emergency and furloughed employees will not receive pay for the current pay period on time (i.e. next week).
480,000 emergency workers are working, and the government is obligated to pay them, but they can't be paid until Congress approves funds to end the shutdown (includes federal law enforcement officials, prison guards, and nurses at Veterans Hospitals).
280,000 non-emergency workers are currently furloughed and not being paid (and have no guarantee they will receive back pay unless Congress acts to approve back pay).
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