[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 136 (Friday, October 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6232-H6233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SHUTDOWN DAMAGES THE POLITICAL PROCESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Andrews) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I say good morning to our colleagues, and 
hope that as we focus on the very real pain and burden that so many 
Americans are feeling that we can act this afternoon to alleviate that 
pain, whether someone is looking for health care services from the 
National Institutes of Health, or whether they are troubled by the 
problems at the FAA that Mr. Lowenthal just talked about,

[[Page H6233]]

or whether they are veterans or a person in our police departments or 
military, that we can alleviate the suffering they are feeling and we 
can again have taxpayers receive the services for which they are paying 
by passing the Senate short-term budget this afternoon.
  It's pretty clear to me that a significant majority of House Members 
would vote in favor of that budget. It should be put on the floor. If I 
am wrong, it will fail. But we will have a vote. I think I'm right. I 
think the bill will pass, the government will reopen, and the shutdown 
will end. That's the way we ought to proceed. If a majority of this 
House believes that that's the right thing to do, the majority should 
be given the chance to vote on that particular piece of legislation.
  I hope we can also focus on the long-lasting damage that's being done 
to the way we govern our country by what has happened here. I want to 
say from the outset that I feel strongly that the Affordable Care Act 
is a good thing for our country. I really do believe that that's going 
to do many good things for our country. But I completely respect and 
admire those who have a completely different opinion.
  I know that there are many Members of this Chamber, and many people 
in our country who believe that the Affordable Care Act is very bad for 
our country. They would like to see it repealed. They believe it will 
do harm to the country. I respect and admire their zeal and their 
passion. This is the essence of the democratic process. We are 
fortunate to live in a country where when we disagree over something we 
resolve our disagreements with voting, with elections, with peaceful 
and civil processes.
  But when that peaceful and civil process protects the rights of those 
who have lost an argument, as frankly those over the Affordable Health 
Care Act have, when it respects your right to continue to come back and 
pursue your views over that argument, you also have to respect that 
process in return. And grave damage is being done to that process 
because of this practice of threatening a shutdown of the entire 
government, in fact causing a shutdown of the entire government, and 
now threatening a default on the country's obligation to pay its bills 
by tying the health care debate to the extension of the Federal debt 
ceiling.
  And I want you to think about what is happening here. The health care 
legislation came to this floor and passed. It went to the Senate floor 
and it passed. The President signed it. It was challenged in the United 
States Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court said it complied 
with the Constitution. We had an election a little less than a year 
ago, where one candidate promised that the very first thing he would do 
would be to repeal the law, and the other candidate promised he would 
implement the law. The candidate who wanted to repeal the law lost, 
lost in the Electoral College by a substantial margin, lost the popular 
vote by about 51 to 47 percent.
  That does not mean that those who agree with Governor Romney have to 
abandon their efforts and try not to repeal the law. The democratic 
process says they have at their means every legitimate mechanism to try 
to win the next time around. That's part of the beauty of American 
politics, there is always a next time around. But it is not a 
legitimate means to shut down the entire government of the United 
States because you lost the last time around.
  Let me draw some analogies here. Virtually everyone on our side 
believes passionately that the Senate immigration bill, which would 
provide legal status to 12 million people, the vast majority of whom 
are decent, taxpaying, hardworking people who are benefiting the United 
States, we believe passionately that that bill should become law. 
Sixty-eight Senators voted for that law. It has never been put to a 
vote on the House floor. We feel passionate that should become law, but 
we did not threaten to shut the government down if we didn't get a vote 
on that. It looks like we may lose that argument. If it doesn't come to 
a vote, we are not going to shut the government down because we can't 
get our way.
  A huge majority of people on our side, a huge majority of the 
American people, if you believe the polls, believes that there should 
be a background check before someone can buy a gun. Before a wife 
beater or a terrorist can buy a gun, there ought to be a background 
check that says whether they can buy one or not. Again, we are damaging 
the political process by this, and we shouldn't do it.

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