[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 136 (Friday, October 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6230-H6231]
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 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the government has now been shut down for 3 
days, the people's government that is formed to serve it and promote 
the general welfare and the national defense. That government has been 
shut down. Entirely? No, not entirely. There are some sporadic 
incidents where, for the public safety, we have people working.
  I read the papers every morning, clips, as so many Americans do, so 
many Members do. I start discussion of where we are today because 
surely the public must be confused.
  The Republicans say that they don't want to shut down the government. 
They say that President Obama wants to shut down government and that we 
Democrats want to shut down government for political advantage.
  Having said that, 99 percent of us are prepared to vote for a 
resolution at 12:01 this day to open the government, because that is 
the rational, common sense, and right thing to do. I tell Speaker 
Boehner, Mr. Speaker, that we're prepared to vote on that today, as 
soon as this House opens.
  Now, the Governor of Virginia is a Republican. The Governor of 
Virginia wrote an article today that said:

       Budgets are documents born of many compromises. A 
     government shutdown represents the antithesis of that 
     approach.

  We agree.
  He went on to say:

       In a shutdown, planning and forethought go out the window. 
     Instead of rational governing, we get speeches and inaction. 
     That's not how government should work.

  So we stand ready on this side of the aisle, I will say as one of the 
leaders of my party, to vote now to open government and, yes, to do 
what, in a democracy, we ought to do--sit down and discuss compromises.
  Now, the American people, Mr. Speaker, need to know where we are and 
how we got here.
  The process is that the House adopts a budget for the spending which 
keeps government open, and the Senate passes a budget that funds the 
government and keeps it open and serving the American people.

                              {time}  1030

  Now, often there are differences between the House and the Senate, as 
there are now. And so what our process is is to go to conference, as 
the Speaker has talked about so often, to sit down at a table and 
discuss, as reasonable people, as Governor McDonnell says government 
ought to work, resolving our differences.
  But for 6 months my Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, as you know, 
have refused to go to conference and sit down at the table. They have 
refused to try to bridge the gap. They have refused to do what Governor 
McDonnell says is necessary to do, compromise. And we are far apart.
  Now, interestingly enough, we have only passed three appropriations 
bills out of the 12. All three of the appropriations bills that we 
passed through this House are at the Senate number--not the House-
adopted number--at the Senate number. And so they have to slash the 
other nine bills very deeply. As a result, they have not brought them 
to the floor.
  I have no power. I used to be the majority leader. I could bring a 
bill to the floor, as my colleagues know. I can't bring a bill to the 
floor now. One of those bills was brought to the floor and it was 
defeated. Actually, it was pulled from the floor because they couldn't 
pass it. So we are at a place where we are now, have shut down 
government.
  The reasonable, rational, responsible thing to do is simply say we 
have enough votes to open government at the number that the Republican 
Party sent to the Senate. Not a compromise. We are telling them we will 
take your number. I don't like their number. But I like even less 
having government shut down, because it costs the economy money, it 
puts at risk our national security, and it undermines the confidence of 
the American people, not to mention the international community.
  But we will take your number, I say to the Republicans, Mr. Speaker. 
We will take your number. The Senate has said we will take your number. 
But unfortunately, they haven't yet taken ``yes'' for an answer.
  Now, earlier this week--and I don't know him--but Representative 
Marlin Stutzman, who is a Republican from Indiana, said this: ``We're 
not going to be disrespected.'' Now, by that I presume he means that 
the President and the Democratic Senate is not going to agree to 
undermining or repealing the Affordable Care Act that millions of 
Americans already are trying to access to get coverage and get health 
security in their families. He says, ``We're not going to be 
disrespected.'' Then he goes on to say this, ladies and gentlemen of 
the House and Mr. Speaker: ``We have to get something out of this. And 
I don't know what that even is.''
  Let me repeat that. He says, We have got to get something out of 
this, but I just don't know what it is. How are you going to negotiate 
in that context? I see Mr. McDermott here chuckling. I'm chuckling. We 
need to get something out of this, but I just don't know what it is.

[[Page H6231]]

  Now, after being asked about the GOP leadership putting a clean 
government funding bill on the floor for a vote, Representative Tom 
Cole, one of the leaders, close to Speaker Boehner, former chairman of 
their campaign committee, said this. When asked about putting a clean 
government funding bill on the floor for a vote, he said this: ``Why in 
the world would we do that?'' Now, they've said they don't want to shut 
down government--that's why they'd do it. Why does he ask such a 
question, ``Why would we do that?'' To open government so it can serve 
the people. That's why you would do it. How confusing can that be?
  He went on to say this, however. ``You know, that doesn't encourage 
anything. That's basically at this point a surrender to the Democratic 
position.'' Now, remember, ladies and gentlemen, I just told you that 
we took their number, their number that they passed through here. I 
don't like that number.
  Hal Rogers, the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, 
doesn't like that number. The subcommittee chairmen don't like that 
number. But we're saying, okay, yes, we'll take your number, let's keep 
government working for our people.
  Now, the House majority leader, I used to be majority leader, or as I 
refer to it, the good old days, he said this: ``We're trying to get the 
government open as quickly as possible.'' That's 12:05 p.m. today, 
ladies and gentlemen of this House.
  Mr. Speaker, it's 12:05 p.m., 5 minutes after noontime, right now, 
you can get it open as quickly as possible. If that's what the majority 
leader wants to do, Mr. Cantor, bring that bill to the floor and our 
side will overwhelmingly help you pass it and get government open for 
the people.
  Now, the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee said this. He 
echoed Cantor in an interview with the National Journal Daily, and he 
said this: ``I don't think anyone wants to stretch this out for 2 
weeks.'' But what we'll see today is little tiny slices of bills. It 
will take weeks and perhaps months to open at the rate they're going. 
``I don't think anyone,'' Lankford says, ``wants to stretch this out 
for 2 weeks.'' Now, this is the chairman of the Republican Policy 
Committee. Here's what he said: ``I'd like to resolve this this 
afternoon.'' We're ready. The American people are ready. It's the 
responsible thing to do. Get the government working for its people.
  If Mr. Lankford and Mr. Cantor want to get this done as soon as 
possible, I tell them as a leader on my side of the aisle, I will help 
get them the votes to pass it this afternoon, early this afternoon, by 
1 o'clock this afternoon. Let's get this government open.
  Mr. Lankford goes on to say, ``I don't believe there's any argument 
for stretching this out for 2 weeks.'' This is their policy committee 
chair. ``I don't believe there's any argument for stretching it out.'' 
Why are we stretching it out if there's no argument to do so?
  I close with this, Mr. Speaker. I also read the American people are 
angry. Let me tell the American people, Mr. Speaker, I share their 
anger. I am angry too. As Governor McDonnell said, this makes no sense, 
this is no way to run a government. We've taken the Republican number. 
Mr. Cantor says he wants to act quickly. Mr. Lankford says he wants to 
act quickly. We will support acting quickly. Let's do it. Let's just do 
it.
  Open the people's government today, not slice by slice by slice by 
slice over the coming weeks and months, but today for the people, of 
the people, by the people. Open the government today.

                          ____________________