Saw Lines Like the Pandemic: Senator Cortez Masto Speaks on Shutdown Pain for Federal Workers | APT - video Dailymotion

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Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada delivered an emotional message on the Senate floor as the government shutdown reached 40 days, warning that unpaid federal workers, TSA agents, and air traffic controllers were lining up at food banks. Her remarks came as the Senate advanced a procedural vote to end the shutdown and reopen the government through January 30.  #CortezMasto #GovernmentShutdown #USPolitics

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00:00There's zero chance of dealing with the ACA issue as long as the shutdown continued.

00:05Now, I don't know, 50-50?

00:08But there's a lot better chance now than there was this morning

00:12because nothing was happening and there was no evidence

00:17that another week or another two weeks or Thanksgiving or Christmas

00:23was suddenly the Republicans were to come to us and say,

00:26oh, we want to now talk about the ACA.

00:30If they weren't going to do it by now,

00:32what's going to change in the next two weeks that's going to make them do it?

00:35The sum is we are closer to the possibility of work on the ACA tax credits

00:45for the people of this country than we were yesterday

00:48and than we were a week ago, two weeks ago, or a month ago.

00:52So this agreement tonight is a win for the American people.

01:00We have federal workers that were suffering.

01:03We have TSA agents.

01:06We have airport controllers.

01:08And we were seeing lines to our food banks in northern Nevada.

01:12These were lines that I hadn't seen since the pandemic.

01:15And what we have in this bill is the restoration of all the furloughed employees

01:21and a guarantee of their back pay,

01:23the restoration of all RIFT employees who got RIFT after October 1

01:27with all of their back pay,

01:29and a guarantee of no RIFs.

01:32No RIFs going forward.

01:34Two million federal workers, not just my 300,000,

01:37two million federal workers who are not uniformed military

01:40now have a guarantee of no RIFs going forward.

01:43So they don't have to go into the holiday season with anxiety

01:47about what's going to show up on their email one morning at 5.30 a.m.

01:51That's a big win for two million federal employees.

01:55And added together with these other ingredients of robust appropriations bills

02:00and a guaranteed path forward to vote on fixing the ACA,

02:04that made me sign on and say, yes, we can do it.

02:07Well, first of all, there was, as long as the government shut down,

02:11the clear statement from Senator Thune and the Republican majority,

02:20and they control the Senate, the House, the White House,

02:22was we will not talk about health care with you.

02:26So there was no vote that we were going to get on the Affordable Care Act,

02:31premium tax credits.

02:32We have a guaranteed vote by a guaranteed date on a bill that we will write.

02:39Not that the Republicans will write,

02:41although I do think it's important for us to engage with them

02:43because we need a bipartisan bill that we know is going to get enacted

02:48to provide the relief that Americans need.

02:51And I think there's a commitment on the part of many of our colleagues to do that.

02:55The real question is, why would a president of the United States

02:59pit hungry children against sick children?

03:02And that is what President Trump has done.

03:05I mean, this is outrageous.

03:09We can't reach agreement on government funding,

03:12so the government shuts down.

03:13And even though the law is clear

03:15that he could fund SNAP benefits during the shutdown, he did not.

03:19And then he also said, and by the way,

03:23I don't really care if people's health insurance premiums get so high

03:26they can't afford their care.

03:29That's on Donald Trump.

03:32My vote today was to do two things,

03:36both equally morally important and imperative.

03:40One is to make sure that the government is functioning

03:42so that our kids eat, so that our elderly citizens eat,

03:46so that our air traffic controllers can get some sleep

03:49and earn money, get paid while they are working,

03:52so that our veterans are protected,

03:56and continue the fight to a realistic platform

04:01to get the premium tax cuts done.

04:05And if that is not successful,

04:08then shame on the Republican Party and shame on Donald Trump.

04:12Is that one of your phones?

04:13That's not mine, thanks.

04:16That's mine.

04:16Yeah, okay.

04:17Okay.

Saw Lines Like the Pandemic: Senator Cortez Masto Speaks on Shutdown Pain for Federal Workers | APT

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