[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 131 (Saturday, September 28, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H5938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. KILDEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, like a number of the previous speakers, I'm 
a freshman and I'm really frustrated.
  I'm frustrated because we haven't done our job, but I'm mostly 
frustrated because I continually hear the talking point spouted that 
the President will not negotiate, and that's the reason we're in the 
position we're in. Nothing could be further from the truth.
  The President won't negotiate on the full faith and credit of the 
United States, just like we can't negotiate on our oath of office and 
you can't negotiate on the law of gravity. Some things can't be 
negotiated.
  What's frustrating to me is that the failure to negotiate falls 
clearly on the shoulders of the Republicans. The Senate and the House 
passed budgets. What the leadership on the Republican side failed to do 
is to appoint conferees to do what? To negotiate a budget, one that we 
might not like, the Senate might not like, but that we come together on 
and adopt a budget that the American people can support.
  This is a failure to negotiate, that's right. But it's a failure to 
do what every fourth-grade civics student knows: how a bill becomes a 
law, negotiate the differences.

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