[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 136 (Friday, October 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           STOP THE POLITICS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Messer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot we disagree on around here. 
By now virtually every American knows that we disagree on ObamaCare. We 
ought not allow what divides us to stop us from coming together on 
issues where we all agree. There is nothing political about passing 
bills to help sick kids or pay our troops or open our national parks, 
or bills to help low-income women and children.
  In recent days, the House has passed bipartisan bills to fund the 
areas of government like those I just discussed where we all agree. 
Each of these bills passed the House with dozens of votes from my 
Democratic colleagues. Each of these bills were unilaterally rejected 
by Senate Leader Harry Reid. The President has publicly declared that 
he will veto any of these bills if they reach his desk.
  Let me repeat: the House in recent days has passed bills to help sick 
children, pay our troops, open our national parks and help low-income 
women and children. Dozens of my Democratic colleagues have voted for 
those bills. And the President and Harry Reid refuse to have them even 
considered. Why? It is awfully cynical to oppose helping people who are 
being hurt by the government shutdown, a shutdown, by the way, caused 
by the President's refusal to participate in the democratic process and 
negotiate.

                              {time}  1130

  Clearly, President Obama and Senator Reid are putting political 
leverage before the American people, and that is wrong. This shouldn't 
be about politics. It shouldn't be about the inside baseball games of 
Washington and who's going to win and who's going to lose in this 
debate; it should be about the American people. We have very big areas 
in which we disagree.
  This is a time where that debate is coming to a head. Many of us 
believe the Federal Government is far too big. Many of us are concerned 
about a Federal Government that is $17 trillion in debt and robbing the 
next generation of their opportunity to live the American Dream. Many 
of us are concerned about ObamaCare and what it will mean to live in an 
America where government is in charge of 17 percent of our economy. 
Some on the other side of the aisle, disagree on each of those issues, 
but we do have areas where we agree. Common sense dictates that we 
would act on them.
  I urge our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to continue 
supporting these commonsense proposals, and I urge Senator Reid and the 
President to do the right thing and allow those bills to become law. 
The American people don't want a government shutdown, but they also 
don't want the President's health care law. It's time for both parties 
to listen to the people, work out our differences, and find a common 
way forward.

                          ____________________