Coast Guard Retirement Parity Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. My objections are numerous. Again, there are a lot of reasons why I am objecting to this bill in this form today.

One of the things that I think is important to note, because I have heard throughout the debate in all these bills how passing these bills will reopen the Federal Government: Mr. Speaker, I heard that last week on the floor of this House, on the same appropriations bills.

I want to mention that again. Last week, on this floor, Members came up and said, if those bills pass the House, the Federal Government would reopen.

Mr. Speaker, those bills passed the House. They didn't reopen the Federal Government, just like these bills, which are identical to the bills that were passed last week--identical--unfortunately, also will not reopen the government.

Now, I have other objections as well, Mr. Speaker. This bill is, frankly, absurd because it takes a Senate product, ignoring all--all-- of the House Members' priorities. It is jamming it through this body without a single opportunity to amend or improve or change this bill in any way.

Not one House Member has had one priority put in this bill because there are no amendments allowed in this process.

Again, this ploy will not work. The Senate has no plans of taking up this legislation. And, again, this is deja vu all over again.

I heard folks last week talk about, if the House passed those bills last week, like we are hearing now, the government would reopen. Mr. Speaker, those statements were not true last week, and they are not true this week, unfortunately.

Now, not only did the bills last week not reopen the government. In fact, everyone on this House floor knows that this bill passing, unfortunately, will not reopen the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, all the members of the press up there know that passing this bill, unfortunately, will not reopen the government.

Heck, anybody who has been paying any attention knows that this is a sham; that, just like last week, those bills passing didn't reopen the government, and unfortunately, passing this bill, or these appropriations bills, in this manner will not reopen the government either.

So by introducing these Senate bills without any changes to reflect the priorities of this body and without any opportunity for amendments, we are engaging in a sad, sad charade.

I want to take some time, opportunity to discuss the real-world consequences of this stunt. Again, our majority is asking us, all of us here in this Chamber, to reject all of the hard work and all of the priorities of every House Member, Republican or Democrat.

Mr. Speaker, in our House bill, I am proud that we decided to make a historic investment, for example, in ports: port infrastructure, the ports, seaports, including larger seaports that are critical to our country's commerce. In the House bill, we provided $250 million for this program.

Well, the Senate didn't make this investment. They didn't think that that was as high of a priority. They missed that opportunity to build infrastructure that we need to create jobs and increase our ability to export American goods made by Americans.

We also placed a higher priority on roads and on bridges than the Senate did and with an emphasis on funds that go directly and immediately to the States and the territories through the highway formula program. The Senate didn't have that priority.

The Senate provides far less for this purpose, Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you what that number is, far less: $1.4 billion less for that direct spending in infrastructure, bridges, and roads that goes straight to the States.

The Senate, instead, put a high priority on administrative accounts and programs with, frankly, higher overhead. This bill means less funding for your State Department of Transportations and fewer jobs rebuilding the highways and the bridges around our country.

Mr. Speaker, we also included a provision that provided regulatory relief to, for example, sugar and beet haulers in Idaho and in Oregon. This narrow provision--and this is a bipartisan provision--simply made truck length requirements uniform between those two States--common sense.

Again, this provision has support on both sides of the aisle, and it will help truckers and farmers in those States. But, you see, the Democratic proposal before you does not include even that commonsense provision, commonsense bipartisan provision.

Mr. Speaker, we also included a provision in the House bill that allows for small increases in the allowable weight for trucks that run on electric batteries, an innovation to help the environment. This is another commonsense, bipartisan provision that this bill does not have, and it was not included in the Senate mark.

This bill eliminates House and Senate report language--I want to repeat,

both House and Senate report language.

Now, what does that mean? That every single item we put in the report for Members, at the request of Members from both parties, is gone, is irrelevant in this bill.

You see, the direction that we provide in our reports every year helps hold the bureaucracy accountable and ensure that our constituents have a voice in their government. Mr. Speaker, that language is gone.

For example, we put directives in our report that require that the FAA take specific action, specific action to address airport noise, airport noise in our communities. Now, this is specifically important-- I should say especially important--to our Democratic colleagues in the subcommittee and the committee on this floor, and we accommodated all of their requests on this issue with new stringent requirements on the FAA, Mr. Speaker. This bill makes those requirements null and void.

So let me now turn to housing programs. When we looked at the HUD budget, we made sure, in the House, in the House bill, the House mark-- and, by the way, this is done in a bipartisan way. We made sure that we scrubbed the administrative and overhead accounts and, instead, put funds towards programs that serve our neediest, our neediest citizens. This bill, unfortunately, falls far short on our charge to do the best that we can with the revenue, the taxpayer money.

And, again, to make sure that the bureaucracy is held accountable, this bill falls short. Let me give you a few examples.

In our bill last year, we included $50 million in new funding for a program that we call mobility vouchers. These vouchers are targeted at families with children, to enable them to move to neighborhoods with greater economic opportunity, and this initiative has strong bipartisan support from the authorizers and strong support from the advocates for the poor. The Senate bill does not include any funds, zero funds, for this program.

The House also included significantly more funding for new vouchers for people with disabilities. This program helps families across the country that struggle to take care of severely disabled relatives, and it also serves, by the way, so many veterans with disabilities. We provided $390 million for this program.

For tens of thousands of new vouchers, this bill before us, frankly, falls short there as well, by $236 million, and adds no new vouchers.

You see, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that every year, when I was chairman, I also worked to ensure that there was adequate funding for Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, or HOPWA. This program has a record of saving lives, reducing disease transmissions, and protecting communities. I am so proud of that. We provided $393 million in our bill to ensure that there was no reduction, no cut to housing services for this vulnerable population.

The Senate, unfortunately, again, falls severely short, $375 million. This will result in 1,700 people losing their housing, which will put communities at risk.

This, by the way, is a severe hit, particularly for cities likes Miami, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and many others. This is an area the Senate was counting on the House to fix, to fix their low funding levels. But, you see, Mr. Speaker, we don't have the opportunity because of this stunt that we are witnessing here today.

Finally, we included $150 million for Choice Neighborhoods, which is a program that provides much-needed neighborhood rehabilitation-- revitalization grants, I should say. This has such strong bipartisan support in the House. The Senate did not prioritize it as much as we did, and they only provided $100 million.

So I look forward to advancing a bill that protects this, all of these issues, and other important priorities for our House Members. I look forward to working to do that.

But before I close, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a minute to thank somebody who has become a personal friend, Chairman Price. I will tell you, it has been an honor, Mr. Speaker, to work beside him for the past 4 years developing bills that truly meet the needs of our people, of our country, of our communities. These past 2 years, I think, have been particularly energizing as we worked on T-HUD bills that made substantial new investments in our Nation's infrastructure.

Chairman Price and I have always been able to work together to find common ground, to find solutions, and that is the spirit of cooperation and good will that will get us, I am sure, to a breakthrough to end this impasse and to reopen the government once again. So, again, I do not have anybody in this Chamber that I am more pleased to work with than the chairman of this subcommittee.

Now, today, on this bill, mark my words, Mr. Speaker, mark my words, the passage of these bills in this form will not open the Federal Government. Everyone in here knows that; just like last year, last week, we knew that they would not open the government, and we heard on this floor that they would.

This bill, unfortunately, will not reopen the government. It falls short on our priorities. It does not include any of the House priorities; so, therefore, I respectfully would urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), a titanium Texan, the ranking member of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford), a former sheriff and my dear friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from

Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo), who, by the way, is not on the T-HUD Subcommittee but who has been an amazing asset to the full committee, but, in particular, to the T-HUD Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, if I might inquire how much time I have left.

Mr. Speaker, having no more speakers, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to first again commend the chairman. This is an individual who I know always works in good faith, and I look forward to working with him again.

But, Mr. Speaker, I think it is very clear that we say what we are doing here today. This bill that already passed last week will not reopen government.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you what potentially could have reopened government. You see, I went to the Rules Committee on Tuesday with an amendment, Mr. Speaker. The amendment was very simple. It has very strong bipartisan support. I think it could have been a way to reopen the government.

It basically was the Dream Act, to legalize all the Dreamers, that has been cosponsored by every Democrat in this body last Congress, along with also legalizing all the folks who are here under the TPS program, and it then had the funding for border security, issues that should not be partisan and controversial, issues that the Members across the aisle and the leadership--let me talk about the leadership across the aisle--said that they support.

I will never forget the Speaker of the House spent almost 8 hours on this floor saying that she wanted to fight for the Dreamers. Yet, there was a vote on Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, in the committee that she controls, the Rules Committee, on a party-line vote, the bill that would have, yes, funded border security--but would have legalized past the DREAM Act, and legalized those under TPS--was voted down on a party-line vote.

Mr. Speaker, you want to know if there is good faith to reopen this government. That showed it right there. No, this bill will not reopen the Federal Government, unfortunately. Like last week, this same bill that passed didn't reopen it. Real efforts to reopen it, like that one that I mentioned, voted down four amendments, voted down a party-line vote.

It is time to get real about reopening the government. It is time to get real about passing a real T-HUD bill. Let's get back to the people's business. This is not a way to do it. This is a sham.

Again, I am grateful to the chairman because I know he is working in good faith, but this effort is not in good faith, so we must vote it down to get back to doing the real business of the people.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Yes, in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, this motion to recommit restores a House priority that had overwhelming support when we put together the FY 2019 T-HUD bill during the last Congress.

As I mentioned in my opening statement, our House bill last year placed a high priority on increasing housing opportunities for people living with disabilities. We heard from members of humanitarian groups, nonprofits, and religious organizations, frankly, just from our communities, on the importance of ensuring that the disabled have humane housing options.

Our bill, therefore, last year included $390 million for this program, to provide over 20,000 additional housing vouchers for people with disabilities. These vouchers help some of the neediest among us live, frankly, with dignity.

The program provides a critical lifeline to families who struggle to care for the severely disabled. And it prevents, frankly, worst-case scenarios where severely disabled individuals would otherwise face homelessness.

Mr. Speaker, this motion is a reasonable, partial restoration of funding for this program. This modest motion partially restores the disability voucher cuts that my colleagues are offering today, and, instead, provides an additional $71 million for this valuable program.

The motion would provide 7,200 vouchers, and would correct a significant blemish in the Senate-originated bill that is before us today.

Every single dollar of this funding goes directly to serve those in need. This is an account without bureaucratic overhead. Every single dollar goes to serve those who need it. It is a program with, again, a strong record of accountability and of performance.

Not one dollar of this program goes to the Federal bureaucracy. These funds directly serve the disabled and their families, often, Mr. Speaker, through faith-based and community-

based organizations. This program also serves a large number of veterans, some of whom, Mr. Speaker, became disabled in service to our country.

This motion is offset by a reduction to HUD's Information Technology Fund, leaving the account at a very reasonable level of $209 million. Again, this is a manageable level for HUD IT, and it is a modest adjustment to bring dignity, relief, and help to individuals and families with disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 28, I call up the bill (H.R. 267) making appropriations for the Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 267, legislation to reopen and responsibly fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

The bill before us is bipartisan and invests in critical national priorities. It passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a unanimous vote, and it was adopted by the full Senate on a 92-6 vote.

It provides $71.4 billion in discretionary funding, which is $23.3 billion above the President's budget request and $1.1 billion above the FY 2018 enacted level.

This legislation is critical for the success of America's families, communities, and businesses. In addition to

maintaining existing infrastructure, it will allocate $17 billion for new transportation and housing projects in both rural and urban areas.

Like last year, it includes several billion dollars of funding above authorized levels for the FAST Act to accelerate improvements in our aviation system, to expand transit and rail networks, to replace aging highways and bridge infrastructure, and to repair our affordable housing stock.

It also builds on the progress we have made since enactment of the 2018 bipartisan budget agreement to ensure that vulnerable populations--including low-income families, seniors, veterans, and the disabled--have access to reliable transportation and safe housing.

It would provide robust funding for flexible grant programs, especially HOME and Community Development Block Grants, that allow towns and cities across the country, large and small, to leverage both public and private capital to address their most pressing community needs.

Just as important, this legislation would finally reopen these departments. It would allow more than 20,000 furloughed employees at DOT and over 7,000 furloughed employees at HUD to receive back pay and to return to their mission, which is serving the American people.

The Trump shutdown, Mr. Speaker, has dragged on for more than 2 weeks, shuttering vital government services and creating chaos and uncertainty for families, businesses, and communities in each of our districts.

For example, grants to help States and communities pay for upgrades to transit, rail, and aviation facilities are being put on hold.

State departments of transportation are beginning to delay new construction projects.

The National Transportation Safety Board has ceased major accident investigations.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is no longer investigating or reviewing information about major vehicle manufacturing defects, which, in fact, puts lives at risk.

New hiring and training for air traffic controllers has ground to a halt, exacerbating an ongoing staffing shortage. FAA equipment maintenance is curtailed, and pilot certifications are suspended.

Disaster relief funding for States hit by disasters last year-- funding that has already been appropriated--remains unallocated because staff at HUD remain furloughed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, we discovered just this weekend that HUD officials failed to renew more than 1,000 landlord contracts for the Project-Based Section 8 housing program before they expired at the end of the year, exposing tens of thousands of tenants to possible eviction.

Mr. Speaker, these problems can only get worse as the shutdown goes on. Hundreds more of these contracts are up for renewal in the coming months.

H.R. 267 would put an end to the madness, ensuring that vital transportation and housing infrastructure is funded for the remainder of the 2019 fiscal year.

This legislation reflects the best of bipartisan collaboration, and it excludes problematic policy riders from both sides of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to reopen the government without further delay, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mario Diaz-Balart, our ranking member and former chairman of this subcommittee, for those kind words--a sentiment that I share totally. And we, I am sure, are going to be able to continue this cooperative relationship in this new Congress, and I look forward to that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), our full committee chairwoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley), a member of our subcommittee and the chairman-designate of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), a member of our subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Ms. Sherrill), a new Member of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Ms. Kendra S. Horn), another new Member of the House, who, as she will tell us, has a special reason, given her district, to understand the impact of this shutdown.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Hill), another of our new Members.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have got to end this Trump shutdown. It is self- inflicted, costly, damaging, and dangerous. It is up to Congress to end it.

Speaker after speaker on the Republican side this afternoon have looked somewhat wistfully at the bills that passed the House Appropriations Committee in the prior Congress. They longed for the chance to consider funding bills that reflect compromise between the House and the Senate, the equivalent of conference agreements, that we negotiated last year.

Do we prefer those bills, Mr. Speaker? Of course, we do. But we missed our opportunity to pass those bills in September and we missed it again in December, when Republicans controlled all the levers of government.

Now the new Democratic majority is forced to clean up this mess in the middle of the Trump shutdown. This bill

would reopen DOT and HUD, and it would provide billions in critical transportation and housing investments for our communities, families, and businesses.

This bill, and others on the floor this week, is the best way to make it as easy as possible for the Senate to say yes. That is what this is all about, Mr. Speaker: the Senate to say yes and end this shutdown. They have already said yes to these bills.

I remind my colleagues and the Senate leadership of another interesting fact, this bill, and other bills, can become law, even if the President were to withhold his signature.

If you vote against this bill, you are enabling the irresponsible behavior of the President and you are telling the American people that you are willing to hold our government hostage for a boondoggle border wall.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and end the Trump shutdown.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, responsibility for funding the Federal Government is as basic as it gets. It is one of the most important duties of Congress. The previous majority failed to do the basic task of keeping the lights on. Here on day 5 of the 116th Congress, we Democrats and leadership are determined to reopen Federal agencies shuttered by the Trump shutdown.

This legislation, which has already gotten bipartisan support-- virtually unanimous support in the Senate--will ensure that the Federal Government is open and working for the American people.

The agencies funded in this bill have been shuttered for 20 days. More than 20,000 air traffic controllers have been on the job, ensuring the safety of the Nation's skies, without pay. They have been doing their jobs without the usual complement of safety professionals who support the operation of the airspace.

Yet, when payday comes for these controllers--and thousands of other Federal workers--they will see nothing. Instead of their pay, they will get a blank check. They will not get compensated for the work they have done.

HUD is scrambling to renew contracts and ensure that thousands of tenants aren't evicted. The uncertainty over Federal grants has caused State departments of transportation to delay issuing contracts just before the construction season, and the list goes on and on.

Mr. Speaker, we must end this madness. This bill, in its current form, represents the quickest and easiest way to do this, making it as easy as possible for the Senate to say ``yes,'' because they have already said ``yes'' to these bills.

This is why we are taking this approach. I ask my colleagues to support us in that so that here, on day 20 of the Trump shutdown, we can bring this to a close. We are on the verge of having the longest government shutdown in American history. We need to pass this bill without further delay.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this motion to recommit, vote ``no'' on the motion to recommit, and ``yes'' on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 267, the ``Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2019,'' which funds the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development and ensure that people living in housing supported by HUD are not evicted as a result of the government shutdown proudly engineered by the President of the United States.

I am pleased to co-sponsor and support this bill because it is the right thing to do.

Because of the Trump Shutdown, some of the most important activities funded in the Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies have ground to a halt.

In addition to concerns over possible evictions and severe slowdowns with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, the shutdown has also led to other serious impacts.

For example, the health and safety of renters have been put at risk because HUD's Real Estate Assessment Center is not conducting inspections in assisted housing units which are critical to ensure decent, safe, and sanitary housing.

Because of the shutdown, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has suspended data analysis and investigations into motor vehicle manufacturing defects which means that recalls of automotive defects will not occur.

The FAA training academy in Oklahoma City is closed, slowing the training of new air traffic controllers, despite shortages of qualified staff nationwide.

Additionally, the issuance of FAA airmen certificates that are required for the crew of international carriers that transit through the U.S. has been suspended--the issuance of airmen certificates which are mandatory for becoming a student, private, or commercial pilot; flight engineer, navigator, or attendant; or other aviation-related professions.

These are among the many reasons I strongly support H.R. 267, which is virtually identical to legislation that has already passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote.

This legislation will reopen the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and stop some the worst impacts of the Trump Shutdown on families, businesses, and communities.

The bill provides $71.4 billion in discretionary funding, $23.3 billion above the President's budget request and $1.1 billion above the FY2018 enacted level.

The total includes more than $17 billion in funding for new infrastructure projects, in addition to $49 billion for infrastructure from dedicated fuel and aviation taxes.

And the bill rejects the President's deep cuts to Public and Indian Housing and Community Planning and Development.

The bill also rejects President Trump's proposed elimination of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and the Choice Neighborhood Initiative.

Mr. Speaker, it is well that we take stock of the human toll caused by the Trump Shutdown, which is now entering its third week.

420,000 federal employees are working without pay.

Frontline federal employees, including law enforcement and public safety personnel, have been working without pay since December 22, including 14,000 FBI agents, 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents, 6,000 Forest Service firefighters.

400,000 Federal Employees have been furloughed.

In addition to the federal employees working without pay, hardworking federal employees at agencies like the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, and NASA have been furloughed without pay, plunging them and their families into uncertainty.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has stopped processing loans and mortgage approvals, putting families trying to buy a new home or refinance an FHA-insured mortgage into financial limbo.

IRS Customer Service Halted, Tax Return Processing Jeopardized.

Walk-in taxpayer assistance centers and all taxpayer customer service, which serves approximately 2.5 million citizens monthly, is unavailable during the shutdown.

Electronic and paper tax returns submitted by taxpayers will not be processed, leading to backlogs that will potentially delay tax refunds.

The Food and Drug Administration cannot accept any regulatory submissions and cannot support many routine regulatory and compliance activities.

This includes some medical product, animal drug, and most food- related activities.

The FDA also cannot conduct routine establishment inspections, which could prevent the finding and correction of violations, especially for food safety.

A shutdown beyond January would cause the Food and Nutrition Service to reduce benefits by about 40 percent to almost 40 million

individuals and families across the country who are dependent on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The Small Business Administration has completely halted its role in the federal contracting process, interfering with projects government wide.

The SBA has also stopped approving loan assistance and guarantee applications from commercial banks and small businesses, blocking access to federally-assisted loans for many small businesses.

Businesses across the country have lost access to the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program, which is intended to allow business owners to comply with federal law and determine the immigration status of employees they hire.

Most services provided by the Federal Trade Commission are suspended under the shutdown, including the National Do Not Call Registry (for consumers and telemarketers), consumer complaint systems, and identity theft reporting--as well as law enforcement access to FTC's consumer complaints.

In addition, the FTC has suspended most investigations and litigation under the shutdown.

The Department of Justice's civil litigation efforts against bad actors have stopped, and payments to crime victims have been put on hold.

Training for Department of Justice employees, even for those still working despite the shutdown, is canceled.

Department of Justice programs to train state and local law enforcement officers and officials have also been canceled.

All services for visitors to National Park Service sites--such as visitors' centers, interpretative programs, and restrooms--have been suspended.

Many Parks are overflowing with uncollected garbage, while curtailed law enforcement staffing is putting visitors' safety at risk.

In addition, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art have closed.

The Environmental Protection Agency has halted inspections at drinking water systems, hazardous waste management and chemical facilities.

The men and women who have been furloughed because of this manufactured crisis are not responsible for the Trump Shutdown.

The dedicated men and women of the federal civilian workforce, like those who serve in the Armed Forces, have not spent their professional lives fomenting ethnic hatred and xenophobia, or imagining a national security crisis on the southern border.

Instead, these loyal and committed public servants are motivated by their paramount interest in serving the American public without fear or favor and, for the last four days, without any guarantee that they would be compensated for their labor.

And yet, they gladly and willingly serve, some risking their lives to keep us safe.

Others stand watch monitoring weather systems and providing information necessary to protect the public from hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires or conducting research to find cures for disease or that will yield technological innovations or help us mark and measure the far reaches of space.

Others work to secure the borders and homeland, ensure the safety of our food and water, serve our seniors and children, provide training and support for those looking for work, and protecting our environment and keeping watch over our treasures--our national parks and monuments, including this magnificent Capitol where the people have sent us to their business.

Mr. Speaker, the men and women of the federal workforce do the people's business. They serve everyone equally. They do not single out some persons to serve and ignore others. They do not cherry-pick.

We should follow their example. And the best way to do that is for the House and Senate to pass this and the remaining appropriations bills by veto-proof margins and send them to President for signature and to vote to override should the President unwisely elect to veto the bill.

I urge all Members to join me in voting for H.R. 267.

Mr. Speaker, I have always found this debate interesting, but we know what this is all about. This is all about the negotiations on border security.

What I found interesting is to listen to everybody talk about the President not being willing to negotiate, not being willing to compromise. Yet, he has offered many of the things that the Democrats say that they want in any border security bill.

A negotiation ends when both parties can say they got something that they want. Yet, the Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate continue to say ``no'' to anything the President wants. He wants a border wall for a part of border security, and they continue to say ``no.'' That is no kind of negotiation, and we know that is what has led us here today.

Every one of us wants government reopened, but we know the games that are being played here. I will tell you, the problem with what is on the floor today is that we are bringing up the Senate bills that completely ignore the priorities of House Republicans and House Democrats in the appropriations process.

Most of these bills have been conferenced. Why bring up just the Senate bill and not the conference report that was done that recognizes both Senate and House priorities?

Let me give you one example. The House T-HUD bill carried a bipartisan provision that raises the length limit for specific vehicles used to transport sugar beets, and only on specific routes used to ship sugar beets between Oregon and Idaho for processing. It is a provision that is supported by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the State of Idaho. It is very limited--only sugar beets on non-interstate highways--and everybody agrees with it.

Mr. Speaker, I have a letter here from two Senators, one from Idaho and one from Oregon, who support this provision, and I will include it in the Record.

U.S. Senate,

Washington, DC, September 11, 2018.

Hon. Richard Shelby,

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Susan Collins,

Chairwoman, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development,

and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Washington, DC.

Hon. Patrick Leahy,

Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, this provision is noncontroversial. It is in the House bill. Guess what? It is not in the Senate bill. That means, if you adopt the Senate bill, you have dropped out this provision and you have dropped out many other provisions that are a priority for both House Republicans and House Democrats.

Why would we turn over everything to the Senate and their priorities?

You all know how this works. When we write a bill, we emphasize House priorities and we downplay Senate priorities. They do the same thing on their side, emphasizing Senate priorities and downplaying House priorities. Then we go to conference, and we work it out and find a compromise. But we are not doing that with this bill.

I will tell you, if you bring up the conferenced bills, the bills that have been conferenced last year between the House and the Senate, you will have my support. I will vote for them, but not for a bill that just emphasizes the Senate priorities and ignores the work of the House and the House Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, why are we here today? We are here today because the President is down on the border and he wants to build, along part of the border, a wall, a Maginot Line, if you would have it. The French thought that they could keep the Germans out by building a fortified wall and fortifications along part of their border. The Germans went around it.

Well, if the drugs were coming over the border illegally, they would go around it. But that is not where they are coming. They are coming through the ports of entry, where we don't have enough personnel, who, by the way, aren't getting paid today, and where we don't have the technology we need to find the humans and the drugs that are being smuggled through in tractor trailers and other vehicles across the border.

If you want to invest in border security, that is a place to invest in border security.

Now, the President promised us a grand infrastructure plan. Little did we know it was going to be a partial wall along the Mexican border that he felt so strongly about that he would shut down the government.

We have the busiest, most complex aviation system in the world. It is the safest in the world. Today, 14,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay. They all got checks today--I just got a copy of one--for $0. So they are still processing their checks, but the check is for $0.

Then we have 3,300 aviation inspectors who are furloughed. They are not essential. We are allowing the airline industry and all the aircraft maintenance facilities and everything else to self-regulate. No one is looking over their shoulder. ``Oh, don't worry about it. No problems.'' Right.

Then, of course, there are a few other issues that this bill would deal with. We have a $100 billion backlog to bring existing transit, which is inadequate for today's needs, up to a state of good repair. This is delaying dealing with that problem more and more into the future.

We have 56,000 bridges on the national highway system that need substantial repair or replacement. Well, guess what? That is not going forward today either.

Last year, we wasted 3.1 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel idling in traffic. A lot of concern about climate change--well, on this side of the aisle, not on that side of the aisle. They don't believe in it. I don't know, maybe the gentleman from Florida does; they are kind of going underwater.

But we aren't giving people the options they need to get out of their cars, to be more efficient with transit.

Wastewater, the Federal Government used to partner with communities to deal with wastewater. We are not doing that anymore.

So are we going to rebuild America? Are we going to deliver on the President's promise of something other than a stupid, wasteful, ineffective wall?

How about shutting down the government because Congress won't provide the funding we need to rebuild our infrastructure? That would be, perhaps, a better cause for this President.

I urge Members to vote for this, reopen the government, fund transportation and infrastructure, and fund our air traffic controllers who are keeping us safe.