Lori Trahan

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, under current law, our brave men and women serving our country in uniform are able to maintain their residency status for the purposes of voting during deployment. Current law also protects voting residency status if a spouse of a servicemember is absent from their State in order to accompany the servicemember on a deployment. However, current law does not protect the residency status of a spouse if he or she is absent but without accompanying the deployed servicemember. My amendment fixes this loophole. It will ensure that these spouses may maintain their voting residency status, regardless of whether they accompany their spouse. Moreover, my amendment would extend the same protection to voting-age dependents. The absence of a servicemember who is deployed can be an enormous hardship on a family. It means a caregiver is no longer at home to share in parenting duties. In these cases, it is natural to rely upon friends and family, even those in another State, for support. However, these families should not lose the right to vote in their home district if they are absent while their spouse is deployed. Furthermore, my amendment extends those same protections to voting-age children. This is an amendment about ensuring those who sacrifice the most for the defense of our Nation are treated fairly and that they have a voice and a vote in our elections. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Illinois once again. I thank the gentlewoman from California. She made this easy on me, and I appreciate that. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today with a great sense of urgency. Every day it seems as if there is another news story about a shooting in a school, a movie theater, a synagogue, or on a city block. We have lost far too many lives due to gun violence. From my own community, I celebrate the life of Olivia Marchand from Westford, whose mother, Jody, endured years of domestic abuse. In 2010, she survived her husband's brutal attack but lost her beautiful Olivia when her husband shot and killed her and then killed himself. This tragedy devastated our whole community. As a mother, this loss still fills me with grief and anger. Today, Jody keeps her daughter's memory alive, educates women on domestic violence, and fights for tougher gun laws. We must answer America's call for action on gun violence, not the gun lobby's call to maintain the status quo. Yesterday, we passed universal background check legislation, a necessary first step to tackle gun violence in America. I urge my colleagues to continue voting for these critical reforms.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the gentleman from Arizona and his staff for their tremendous work on this bipartisan bill. I particularly appreciate its inclusion of a provision originally authored by my predecessor, Niki Tsongas, to add the Nashua River to the Wild and Scenic River System. Seeking this designation has been a labor of love for the communities in the watershed and local leaders like Marion Stoddart and Elizabeth Ainsley Campbell. I also value the bill's funding cap adjustment for Essex National Heritage Area. Finally, it is outstanding to see the bill's renewal of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that has benefited nearly every corner of the Nation, including Minute Man and Lowell National Parks in the district I grew up in and am proud to represent today. Mr. Speaker, I urge the bill's swift passage.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to commend the sponsors of this important bill that rewards the talent and commitment of our civilian workforce by granting them a 2.6 percent pay adjustment for 2019. Mr. Chairman, the shutdown was a stark reminder of how crucial these workers are to protect our air and water, secure our shores, guide air traffic, and ensure that our tax returns are processed on time. I heard desperate stories from many of these public servants, including workers at the IRS processing center in Andover. One of my constituents who works there wrote the following to me during the shutdown: ``Apart from selling everything I own to pay for food, bills, and the mortgage, I honestly don't know what to do and am truly scared that this may do me in.'' Mr. Chairman, this was an entirely avoidable tragedy that wreaked havoc on thousands of lives; yet he and thousands of others like him dutifully reported to work without any certainty of when or whether they would be paid next. The underlying bill is the least we can do for them and the dedicated public servants like them. My amendment is a simple clarification that all IRS employees would be eligible for this pay adjustment. We learned yesterday from legislative counsel that the bill could inadvertently exclude some of these employees hired under special provisions of chapter 95, title 5. For example, title 5, section 9503 grants IRS special authority to hire employees for critical administrative, technical, and professional positions necessary to carry out the functions of the IRS. However, it is unclear whether such individuals would benefit from H.R. 790's pay adjustment. This amendment simply removes any doubt. I hope that the amendment can be adopted. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).

Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Chairman, the employees I talked to at the IRS are noble. They are hardworking. They are working with the utmost integrity. They have endured cuts to their agency, at times doing jobs that used to require two, sometimes three people to do. Again, my amendment merely makes a clarifying change to be certain that all of these employees, all IRS workers, receive the benefit of this well-deserved pay adjustment. I urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mary Parziale of Dracut, Massachusetts who is turning 100 years old on Friday, January 25, 2019. Mary dedicated her life to raising a large family and working hard to help benefit those in her community. Mary has lived her life admirably, and her legacy of hard work and public service continues to inspire many in our community. Mary Parziale was born in Trapani, Sicily and arrived in the United States at the young age of 18 months. Mary lived in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts where she grew up to have 8 children of her own. At the age of 44, Mary received her driver's license and worked in a shoe factory until she was recruited by a police officer to work in the Labor Division at the Massachusetts State House. After 20 years of commitment to this new line of work, Mary retired. Mary's lifetime commitment to our community and her work at the Massachusetts State House Labor Division has been invaluable to Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, it is with great honor that I recognize Ms. Mary Parziale today.

Mrs. TRAHAN

Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about what is now the longest government shutdown in American history, its impact on the hardworking men and women of Massachusetts, and the opportunity cost of the current impasse. Over the last several weeks, I have heard heartbreaking stories from Federal workers and their families from across north central Massachusetts. During a meeting I had last week in Andover with furloughed IRS employees, I heard about veterans struggling to afford their prescriptions and parents worrying about putting food on the table. One woman had just recently lost her husband and others were still recovering from last September's gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley. A few days earlier, I spoke with an air traffic controller at Logan Airport who, after hearing President Trump's assurances from the Oval Office that the budget standoff would not lead to a shutdown last month, felt comfortable splurging on Christmas presents for his wife and four children. Now, with the bills coming due and his pay stub reading zero, he and his family are confronted with anxiety and financial hardship. Each of the over 800,000 Federal workers impacted by this shutdown, close to 7,500 in Massachusetts alone, has a story to share. I am the daughter of a union iron worker and the country's biggest union, the AFL-CIO, has a saying: A fair day's wage for a fair day's work. We gain nothing from punishing the dedicated Federal workforce, nor do we position ourselves to recruit the best and the brightest if we can't even keep the lights on. Today, the majority in this Chamber continues to vote for legislation that reopens the Federal Government, restores critical services, and makes Federal employees financially whole again. As we continue to wait on the President and his party's leadership in the Senate to do the right thing by approving House-passed legislation to end this shutdown, critical pieces of legislation languish as the American people wait anxiously for Congress to act on real issues and crises, not the manufactured one on the border. Healthcare costs continue to rise. Our climate is rapidly changing as coastal communities suffer from more intense storms and more frequent flooding, while California has faced down some of the largest and deadliest fires in the history of the State. Gun violence continues to rip apart families and communities, and more Americans died of an opioid overdose than died during the Vietnam war. There is so much more we should be focused on. Madam Speaker, we cannot allow shutting down the government over a policy debate to become the new normal. I was here as a staffer in 1995 during Newt Gingrich's shutdown and remember feeling that it was an unprecedented event, never to happen again. Sadly, that feeling was wrong. We were all elected to this body to debate issues that matter to the American people. It is what our constituents expect us to do. It is time to open the government and debate border security on the floor of the people's House for all to see. Ensuring the safety and the security of the United States is among our most solemn responsibilities. I take it very seriously, but the only crisis right now is the one the President is making. Each day that the administration keeps the government closed, it threatens the financial security of Federal workers, the people who process our taxes, inspect our food, and ensure airport security as well as all of the people who depend upon them. Each day of the shutdown is a day lost supporting education, improving roads and bridges, and providing affordable healthcare. We have sent bill after bill to the upper Chamber to provide border security and reopen the government. This week, we will do it again. If the President wants to improve border security, he should work with Democrats on real solutions. Madam Speaker, I oppose a $5 billion wall. Experts say the wall won't stop the flow of drugs or prevent visa overstays. The people who live at the border don't want it. But wherever you stand on funding a border wall, holding Federal employees and their families hostage is unacceptable. Madam Speaker, it is time to put people first, end this government shutdown, and get back to work.