Congress should “open the entire government for all Americans” and end efforts to restore government services on a piecemeal basis, Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, told his colleagues today.

“We should not be opening just parts of the government to serve just some of the people,” Larsen said. “We should open the entire government for all Americans. The Republican solution to the Republican shutdown, this piecemeal approach picking winners and picking losers, is no solution at all.”

Larsen, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Aviation Subcommittee, delivered a floor speech on a bill that would restore funding to the Federal Aviation Administration. The bill is part of a piecemeal strategy advanced by House Republicans to open parts of the government while leaving the rest shut down.

The Senate has passed a budget bill that would reopen the government immediately and a majority of members of the House of Representatives have said they would vote for the measure. But House leadership has not allowed a vote.

Larsen’s floor speech follows:

Mr. Speaker, as the Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, I know how important it is to end the shutdown of the FAA.

But I do have to ask the question: if safety is so important, why wasn’t this the first bill brought to the floor in this piecemeal approach that the Republican side has taken?

Now look, a safe and efficient aviation system isn’t good just for travelers. It’s the lifeblood of the economy where I come from. In our state, 131,000 people across over 1,200 companies work in the aerospace industry.

But those folks don’t depend just on the FAA.

Is it safety to say that police departments who need federal grants to cops on the beat should have to wait?

Is it safety to say that our functioning transit systems have to wait for grants to make the transit systems more safe?

Is it safety to say that the EPA can’t issue grants in my district or around the country to make sure we have safe and clean drinking water?

This bill funds none of these priorities.

We should not be opening just parts of the government to serve just some of the people. We should open the entire government for all Americans.

The Republican solution to the Republican shutdown, this piecemeal approach picking winners and picking losers, is no solution at all.

It’s great that this House wants to make sure air travel is safe, but why should we stop there? What about safety on our highways?

In the last 10 days, there have been three major fatal transportation accidents across this country.

A plane crashed in Santa Monica, California, killing four.

A bus crashed in Tennessee, killing eight and injuring another fourteen.

And less than a mile from this building, one person died and two others were injured during a Metro repair accident this weekend.

But the National Transportation Safety Board can’t investigate, because this Congress sent the investigators home on furlough.

Let’s end this piecemeal approach and move on to a vote on the Senate bill that opens all of the government for all Americans.

If it’s about safety, let’s do it that way.

This continued unwillingness to allow one vote—just one vote—to open the government for all Americans and not just some, this unwillingness needs to stop.

One bill, one vote, for all Americans.

With that, I yield back.