Golden Speaks Up for Working Mainers, Calls Out Party Leaders on House Floor
Congressman uses first floor speech to urge real solutions that put federal employees back to work and fund effective border security
VIDEO: Golden Delivers First Floor Speech (C-SPAN)
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) took to the House floor to share the stories of Maine people affected by the shutdown and press leaders in both parties to come to the table.
"Back home, a [Customs and Border Protection] agent from my district said about all of us here in the House, in the White House, in the Senate: ‘I blame all of you. For the financial and emotional damage you are causing to the very people tasked with protecting your nation and your homeland. But ultimately the fault is on the White House...' We owe these people a solution that gets them back to work and gets them paid."
Golden has voted for nine different bills to open federal agencies, allow furloughed Mainers to get back on the job, and offer Mainers relief from the shutdown's harmful effects. Today, he voted for bipartisan legislation to fund the government through February 28th. The bill would put federal employees back to work and reopen government agencies immediately, while allowing party leaders and the White House time to negotiate on border security. Congressman Golden has also cosponsored the Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2019, which would provide regular pay to members of the Coast Guard and reservists when the federal government is shut down.
Today's full remarks from Congressman Golden are below.
Madam Speaker, this shutdown's been brutal on working people across the country. Many of them are my constituents and I came down here today to let their voices be heard.
Back home, a [Customs and Border Protection] agent from my district said about all of us here in the House, in White House, the Senate: "I blame all of you. For the financial and emotional damage you are causing to the very people tasked with protecting your nation and your homeland. But ultimately, this falls on the White House."
Suzette from my district. Her husband is a Federal employee working without pay. She asked me "to bring sensibility to this senseless power struggle that is currently going on.
The Democrats," she says — she's a Democrat by the way — "need to back down from their ‘must punish Trump and deny him everything' stance. And the Republicans need to get some control over the ill-equipped man running our country."
Another Federal employee from Milford, Maine, tells me: "I am very concerned with the furlough, with the lack of negotiations, and the lack of pay. I do not know who is right or wrong. I just want to get back to work. I want to complete my job and receive my pay."
We owe these people a solution that gets them back to work and gets them paid. I can only imagine that back home people are amazed to hear the ways in which both sides are right now talking past each other. I think it's wonderful that we both have expressed, on both sides of the aisle this morning, a desire to reopen government and to secure our borders. I would like to point out that the C.R. that will be voted on today does have border security funding, over $1 billion in new funding for border security.
I know that the Republicans said they want to reopen government and secure our borders. I also know that my party has said the same. Let's do it. I urge my colleagues to support the rule. Support the C.R. today.
Let's reopen government. Let's put people back to work. Let them work. They are public servants, they want to serve the people. Let's start securing our border. And with that extra billion dollars we can move on to a more robust debate of our border security that I look forward to. Thank you very much, madam speaker. I yield the time.