[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 133 (Tuesday, October 1, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, this shutdown should not have happened. 
The Framers of our Constitution designed our system to have tension and 
differences between the two houses of Congress--that's a given. But 
after the House and Senate have exercised their best judgment, they are 
then supposed to sit down and negotiate out their differences. This is 
the way our bicameral system has worked for 225 years. It is the only 
way that it can work.
  That hasn't happened this time. This time the House proposed a 
compromise nearly 2 weeks ago to keep the government open and to defund 
ObamaCare in order to address the epidemic of dropped health care 
policies, massive rate increases, and job cutbacks that we're now 
seeing as a result of its implementation. The Senate rejected that 
compromise by insisting on full funding with no reform. That is their 
prerogative. It represents the best judgment of that body.
  At that point, the differences were supposed to have been negotiated. 
They weren't. The Senate's leaders refused even to discuss a 
compromise. So the House offered the second compromise of funding the 
entire government, including ObamaCare, but at least delaying its 
implementation for a year to address the rapidly growing complaints 
that we are all receiving. Instead of taking up the measure, the Senate 
instead chose to take the weekend off, come in at the leisurely hour of 
2:00 in the afternoon on the day of the fiscal deadline, and then 
summarily reject the House offer, again refusing even to discuss a 
compromise.
  With the clock running out, the House offered a third compromise: 
fund the entire government, fund ObamaCare, including the 
malfunctioning exchanges, but at least delay the mandate for 
individuals to obtain coverage for a year while these problems are 
addressed and rescind the illegal action of the President that shields 
Members of Congress from the costs of this law. It's a simple 
principle: equality under law.
  Since the President has already exempted Big Business from the 
mandate to provide health care for employees, then those employees 
should also be relieved from the mandate to purchase it. And if Members 
of Congress can't afford the new costs of ObamaCare, how do we expect 
the average American to do so? Once again, the Senate summarily 
rejected the third compromise by the House and once again refused even 
to discuss our differences. The clock ran out, and the government is 
now in a partial shutdown.
  Ironically, House Republicans have been accused of a ``my way or the 
highway'' approach, yet the record is quite the opposite. House 
Republicans compromised and compromised and compromised, only to be met 
by absolute intransigence at the door of the Senate.
  The House has now asked for a formal conference committee. This is 
the mechanism that has evolved over centuries to resolve even the most 
intractable differences between the two Houses. Yet once again, Senate 
leaders summarily rejected the offer even before it was formally made.
  The only explanation for this conduct is that Senate leaders believe 
that a government shutdown inures to their political benefit because 
they can blame Republicans. If Mr. Reid and his followers didn't want a 
shutdown, they would have been feverishly working through this weekend 
to avoid one as the House was doing. The fact is they didn't, and that 
speaks volumes.
  Our system of governance was not designed to operate in this manner. 
It cannot operate in this manner. The essence of a bicameral 
legislature is for each House to act according to its best judgment, 
isolate the differences, and then work them out. This is the critical 
link in our deliberative process, and it is not happening. It's not 
because of any failure of design, but rather because of designing men.
  In his 1862 address to the Congress, Abraham Lincoln set the only 
course that is open to us. He said, ``We can succeed only by concert.'' 
It is not ``Can any of us imagine better?'' but ``Can we all do 
better?'' The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to this stormy 
present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise 
with the occasion. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall 
save our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I appeal to the Senate to set aside its dogmas, rise 
with the occasion, and accept the invitation of the House to sit down 
in conference. Let us reason together, and then let us save our 
country.

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