Sen. Hirono Rallies with Federal Workers

VIDEO: Sen. Mazie K. Hirono joined hundreds of furloughed federal employees who are members of more than 20 labor unions on Jan. 10, 2019. VC: Office of Sen. Mazie Hirono

Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) joined hundreds of furloughed federal employees who are members of more than 20 labor unions on Jan. 10, 2019, at a rally to call on President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to end the government shutdown.

From Sen. Hirono’s remarks at the rally:

“We know there are two people who can end this shutdown right now. One is the president, who is an amoral hostage taker. The other is Mitch McConnell, who has had no problem bringing forward a vote to eliminate the Affordable Care Act from millions of Americans, and yet he will not use his power to end this government shutdown to help 800,000 workers and thousands and thousands of contractors get paychecks.

“We all need to do our jobs. The House has done their job by passing a bill to fund the government last week. You all are doing your jobs by being here today demanding an end to this pointless and destructive shutdown. Now it’s time for Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell to do their jobs and end the shutdown.”

In December, Sen. Hirono announced she would donate pay she receives during the partial government shutdown to food banks in all four counties across Hawai‘i. On Jan. 9, Sen. Hirono spoke on the Senate floor, calling on Sen. McConnell to bring forward legislation that would reopen the government.

On Jan. 10, the Senate unanimously passed S. 24, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which would provide back pay for federal workers affected by the shutdown. Sen. Hirono was an original cosponsor of the bill.