Date: 2013-10-11
Speaker: MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New Mexico

Thank you very much to my friend and colleague from California. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to draw attention to the hard work of the men and women at New Mexicos National Labs who protect our Nations security and help grow our economy. Sandia National Labs in my district is home to 9.000 of those dedicated public servants. These are the best and brightest physicists. chemists. mathematicians. engineers. and technicians. They have chosen to serve our country instead of taking more lucrative jobs in the private sector because they are passionate about the labs mission. Sandia is a national security asset that uses technology to find solutions to the most challenging problems that threaten our Nation. Their work supports numerous Federal. State. and local government agencies. companies. and organizations. During the BP oil spill. Sandia employees were called in to help cap the well. The work they do is absolutely remarkable. Since 1976. Sandia has received 101 coveted research and development 100 awards. often referred to as the "Oscars of invention" or the "Nobel prizes of technology." While New Mexicos National Labs have been able to use carryover funds to stay open during the shutdown for the past 11 days. that money is quickly running out. Within the last week. employees at both Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs received letters informing them that they would face furloughs if the government doesnt reopen soon. Despite the fact that they play a crucial role in our Nations security. the employees at New Mexicos National Labs are technically not Federal employees. As a result. the legislation we passed to provide back pay to furloughed Federal employees. which I was proud to support. unfortunately does not protect employees at these labs. Earlier this week. Congressman LUJAN and I. along with Senators UDALL and HEINRICH. sent a letter to Energy Secretary Moniz requesting that he allow the labs to use their funding to back pay any employees furloughed because of the shutdown. I remain hopeful that the furloughs can be avoided because I have heard stories about the damage that they can do. and I have seen firsthand the damaging and devastating effect that the other Federal furloughed employees and their families have suffered in Albuquerque. my district. and the entire State of New Mexico. In fact. last Sunday in Albuquerque. I hosted a roundtable meeting with lab employees. furloughed Federal employees. and members of the business community. They told me that any missed or delayed paychecks would prevent them from paying their mortgage payments. household utility bills. car loan payments. and credit cards on time. But they are not just worried about their pay. they are also worried about their careers. Lab employees who hold security clearances are in danger of losing their clearances if their credit scores are impacted because they cannot pay their bills. After the meeting. I reached out to community partners to see if they would be able to help us in any way. Several credit unions. banks. utility providers. and other community partners reached out because they all want to help. If nonprofits in the business community can step up. then it is time for Congress to step up too. We need to do our job. we need to pass a funding bill to keep New Mexicos National Labs open. National Labs should not be forced to operate under the threat of shutting down just because a few dozen reckless Tea Party Republicans decided that destroying the Affordable Care Act was more important than keeping the government open. New Mexicos National Labs deserve and require the certainty and stability of a full funding bill and so does the rest of the country. We need to vote on the Senate passed clean funding compromise right now. I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership in protecting our national security interests and the labs in my home State.