NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, along with Congressmen Albio Sires (N.J.-08) and Donald Payne, Jr. (N.J.-10), today called for an immediate end to the Trump Shutdown that has left 800,000 federal workers—including over 5,000 in New Jersey—furloughed or forced to work without pay for nearly three weeks. While the impacts of lost services are being felt statewide, Senate Republican leaders refuse to call a vote on House-passed legislation to reopen the government that was unanimously approved by the Senate last month.
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“Across our federal government we’re fortunate to have a highly-professional workforce. Yet these 800,000 federal employees and their families are being treated like political pawns in Donald Trump’s pointless and cruel government shutdown,” said Sen. Menendez. “I’m talking about brave members of the Coast Guard, National Park rangers and port security inspectors, administrators who authorize Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages or federal small business loans, and IRS workers who get our tax refunds out the door. To Trump, these hardworking Americans are just political pawns, bargaining chips, collateral damage in his egotistical quest to fulfill a ludicrous campaign promise.”
“The Trump Shutdown is inflicting unnecessary pain on hundreds of thousands of workers across our nation, leaving many families struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and keep the lights on,” said Sen. Booker. “From Newark Airport to the Coast Guard patrolling off the Jersey Shore, the callous political games President Trump is willing to play at the expense of American workers is simply shameful. It’s time for the Senate to take immediate action to end this senseless shutdown and put the federal employees across New Jersey and our nation who are being forced to bear the burden of this avoidable disaster back to work.”
“The men and women, who have been furloughed or are forced to work without pay, deserve more from their government,” said Rep. Sires. “The President is holding the financial security of these families in limbo as he makes foolish demands and rejects reasonable, bipartisan legislation that could end the shutdown. It is time that Senator McConnell and President Trump listen to the will of the American people and reopen the government.”
“The people who work at our nation’s airports keep us safe,” said Rep. Payne. “Their hard work is the reason the United States has the world’s safest airline industry. It is a shame that hard-working Americans all around us are having to work without the promise of a paycheck during the Trump shutdown. Let’s restore sanity to our government and end the Trump shutdown madness.”
The lawmakers stood at Newark Liberty International Airport where Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, air traffic controllers, customs inspectors, and other essential federal employees are currently working without pay, to call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring to a vote, a series of House-passed bills to end the shutdown that were approved unanimously by the Republican-controlled Senate last month.
The impact of the partial federal government shutdown is being felt across New Jersey:
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