[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 51 (Friday, April 8, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H2541-H2542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IS NOT ABOUT MONEY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, there's a joke going around 
in Congress: the difference between a Boy Scout troop and the House of 
Representatives is that a Boy Scout troop has adult leadership.
  Now, I predicted a shutdown of this place more than a month ago, not 
because I'm some kind of prophet but because I saw the movie of the 
Gingrich shutdown in 1996. The same elements are here today that were 
there then. I don't want a shutdown. I know what it does. I think it's 
silly and stupid and hard on the American people and a lot of people 
are going to suffer, but the elements are there.
  First of all, a number of Members came in new, a lot of them, who 
were absolutely sure that they knew what was right. Secondly, they had 
no experience in governing. They didn't understand compromise. 
``Compromise'' was

[[Page H2542]]

a dirty word. It meant you give up your principles.
  If you operate on that principle, you can never negotiate a 
settlement in anything. What they don't understand is that there is a 
time when you take what you can get and come back tomorrow.
  Everybody who has been here for more than one term knows that nobody 
gets 100 percent of what they want. I have been here in this place for 
23 years, and I have gotten 60 percent and I figure I'm a big winner. 
Now, you come back the next year for the rest. We're doing that on the 
health care bill. We're doing that on a whole lot of things. You do not 
get it all now by saying, It's my way or the highway. No, every battle 
is not to the death.
  The only hope I had for us was that our leadership on the Republican 
side had been here in 1996. They saw what happened. And 2 years later 
the Republicans lost seats, 2 years after that they lost seats, and the 
Speaker, Gingrich, was gone, he's history, on the basis of coming in 
here and saying, My way or the highway.
  Now, if you think this is the big battle, let me give you the real 
facts:
  In 5 weeks we're going to come to the debt limit. If you think people 
who believe that their way is the right way are going to fight over 
what's going on right now, what is it going to be like when we get to 
the debt limit, or by September when we get to the next budget 
resolution? We could have three shutdowns this year with no problem at 
all if the leadership on the other side allows their Members to drive 
them into this craziness. They have to stand up and tell them, Look, 
guys, there is a tomorrow; all right? We're hurting people and they're 
going to remember. People are not going to forget what happens here. 
They didn't forget in 1998, and they didn't forget in 2000. They kept 
whacking away at the people who were in charge.
  Now, what's it all about here? It's not about money. H.R. 1 was $101 
billion. Okay. The President has come all the way to $71 billion or $73 
billion. That's more than halfway. The Republicans won that issue. Take 
it. Take it.
  No, no, they say, but we have to change social policy.
  This is really about social policy. It's not about winning or cutting 
down the deficit or any of that stuff. It is just as it was in 
Wisconsin. It was not about the deficit in Wisconsin; it was about 
breaking unions. The judge said that. That's why he threw the law out, 
because, he said, you're taking away people's rights in unions; you're 
not here worrying about the deficit in Wisconsin.
  Well, here the issue was NPR. Now, if we took NPR off the radio 
tomorrow morning, do you think the deficit would be one bit affected? 
Of course not. If we got rid of the EPA, would there be some effect on 
the deficit? No. In fact, the Senate, they took the EPA repeal off the 
table. They said, Look, rich people breathe the air; rich people drink 
the same water as everybody else in the country. That's a stupid public 
policy change. So we're not going to take that one.
  What was left? Family planning, abortion, poor women. Now, there's a 
bunch that can't fight back. Let's go get 'em. Let's hold out and we 
will finally get the poor women in this country.
  That's what this is about. It is not about balancing the budget. It 
is not about anything else except getting poor people.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

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