[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 133 (Tuesday, October 1, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN OBAMACARE

  (Mr. FARENTHOLD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, the government is shut down today 
because Democrats like Harry Reid and the President refuse to 
negotiate. We, in the House, have sent not one, not two, not three, but 
four different spending proposals to the Senate. All were rejected 
without debate, and the Senate has refused to appoint conferees to even 
talk to us about it.
  This is now about more than ObamaCare. This is now a fundamental 
debate about how we work in a divided Congress. Republicans must work 
with Democrats. The House must work with the Senate, and the Congress 
must work with the President.
  During a Conference Call With Your Congressman last night that I 
hosted in the middle of all of this, Gloria Wilson from Corpus Christi 
said:

       You make us feel like we have a voice.

  Well, I am the voice of my constituents, and that's what we're doing 
here in the House. Compromise and coming together and doing what's 
right for the country is what the Founding Fathers intended when they 
set up two Houses of Congress and three branches of government.
  We, in the House, are ready, willing, and able to negotiate with the 
President and the Senate. What we're not willing to do is give up our 
constitutional responsibility as guardians of America's purse and 
voices of our constituents.

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