[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 2, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7105-S7106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, it is obvious when you check the press 
that the Republicans have had a very, very bad week. On the same day 
that Democrats in Congress delivered quality affordable health 
insurance to tens of millions more Americans, the Republican Congress 
delivered this Nation a government shutdown.
  Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, yesterday millions of Americans 
went on line to shop for affordable insurance policies in the new 
marketplace exchanges. Some compare that to when Google went on line 
and the many problems that Google had because they had no idea people 
were so interested in Google. There were some problems they had. Of 
course, now we know how people feel about Google.
  The same is going to happen with this Affordable Care Act. People 
have until December to sign up. They are on again today as they were 
yesterday signing up. But thanks to the Republican government shutdown, 
hundreds of thousands of public servants were sent home without pay. 
Thanks to the Republican shutdown, tourists lined up outside Red Rock 
Canyon outside Las Vegas where more than 1 million people a year go. 
But they did not go there yesterday. There were gates. They could not 
get in.
  Thanks to the Republican government shutdown, a group of World War II 
veterans who traveled from Iowa and Mississippi had to break down 
barricades to visit the Washington, DC, memorial in their honor, some 
of them in wheelchairs.
  Thanks to the Republican government shutdown, 200 very sick patients, 
including 30 children, were turned away from the National Institutes of 
Health clinic that offers lifesaving--that is an understatement--
lifesaving treatment. Most of the children turned away are suffering 
from some type of cancer.
  I read that modern-day anarchists in the House have been celebrating 
the shutdown--celebrating the shutdown. They can barely contain their 
glee at having realized a 2010 campaign promise to halt the basic 
functions of government. Here is what the tea party spokesperson said. 
She is their spokesperson, Michele Bachmann. Remember, she is the woman 
that ran for President and was the leading contender for about 4 hours 
or whatever it was. But anyway, she loves to talk. Here is what she 
said yesterday, ``It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it.'' You 
cannot make up stuff like that. Can you imagine anyone saying that when 
we have babies turned away who are coming for lifesaving treatment? 
``It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it.''
  It is time for my Republican colleagues to do a gut check. 
Republicans in the House have proposed one cockamamie, can't-pass idea 
after another the last few days: defund

[[Page S7106]]

ObamaCare, delay ObamaCare, deny preventive health. They tried that 
before. They tried it again. They were not satisfied until they said: 
Now, let's also go after women--things as basic as contraceptives--or 
else we will shut the government down. That is what they said.
  They are obsessed with ObamaCare. Now they have gotten their way. 
They have shut down the government. As Bachmann said, ``It's exactly 
what we wanted, and we got it.'' But none of their wacky ideas are any 
closer to becoming law. Instead of reading the writing on the wall, 
House Republicans have turned to a new bad idea, to cherry-pick a few 
parts of government that they like and reopen only those parts.
  Credit for this idea goes, I am told, to the junior Senator from 
Texas. He goes over to the House and tells them what they should do. 
He, along with people like Bachmann, are tea party, they are 
anarchists. They are happy. Listen, I have come here, and I have talked 
about how happy they are in hurting government. We now have them 
speaking out openly. ``It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it.''

  But I do have a little bit of advice for my Republican colleagues in 
the House. When your latest brilliant idea came from the same person 
who proposed the ``dumbest idea ever'' according to one of his own 
Senate Republicans here, I would think it is a sign you are on the 
wrong track. It is time for Republicans to stop throwing one crazy idea 
after another at the wall in hopes that something sticks. Nothing has 
stuck.
  There has been a sensible plan to reopen the government right in 
front of House Republicans all along: A clean 6-week resolution that 
opens government today. We passed it in the Senate last week. I believe 
reasonable Republicans--I hope--are desperately looking for a way out. 
That is what all of the newspapers said today, all of the news reports. 
Each day a couple more come forward. I do not blame them for looking 
for a way out.
  These piecemeal bills are not a way out. The Obama administration 
already promised to veto them. So they obviously are not the answer. 
Reopening only parts of government that they like is not a responsible 
solution. The Senate already has a plan to reopen the government while 
we work out our budget differences--open the government based on the 
resolution we passed last week.
  If Republicans really want to reopen the government, they should just 
go ahead and reopen the government. They have had that power all along. 
Once they do that, we will be happy to appoint conferees, work out 
long-term budget priorities with the House. Let's go to conference. We 
talked about it. Patty Murray has been here 18 times to talk about it.
  We should not be fighting over a 6-week stopgap budget bill. We 
should be working out our long-term fiscal issues. Americans are tired 
of this type of knockdown, drag-out debt fight, which costs our economy 
billions of dollars. The way to put our Nation on sound fiscal footing 
is to set sensible policies through regular order in the legislative 
process, not to extort concessions through dangerous hostage taking.
  First, Republicans must reopen the government. The next move is to go 
to conference and set our minds on reaching a reasonable compromise. 
Right now, Republicans led by John Boehner are the only thing standing 
between Congress and compromise. I would suggest he stop taking advice 
from Bachmann and Cruz.
  Unfortunately, it seems that some in the Republican conference are 
simply too mad at me personally, too obsessed with getting me 
personally to back down from doing what most of America believes is 
right. The National Review said yesterday that I was ``the villain of 
villains.'' John Boehner could reopen the government if he wanted to, 
but he is too obsessed with beating the villain of villains, and 
obviously too afraid of the tea party to do the right thing for the 
country.
  When I read this yesterday, I said: Villain. Huh. Be careful of the 
words you choose. Gee, no one likes to be called a villain. So I looked 
it up in the dictionary. Uncouth person. Well, I acknowledge, I 
probably was not born in a place that most people would like to be born 
in. I was not raised the way most people like to be raised. But I would 
hope over the years that I am not uncouth. I have tried my best to 
become part of mainstream society.
  The other definition is I am a scoundrel or a criminal. Well, I am 
not a criminal. I am not a scoundrel. So they better get a different 
definition for me. In spite of being the villain of villains, I have 
some advice and a suggestion. I really do believe there are reasonable 
Republicans in Congress. They have to, as I said, do a gut check and 
understand who they represent--understand that America is waiting for 
them to do the right thing. I know they believe in public service. But 
they have to understand why public service is important. I urge them to 
think about 30 babies--babies, little kids, who yesterday were brought 
by their parents to Washington, DC, for hope--hope that their little 
babies and children are not going to die, that they can get lifesaving 
treatment. They were turned away. So I urge them to do the right thing. 
I urge them to join us to reopen the Federal Government.

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