[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 138 (Monday, October 7, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6335-H6343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
[[Page H6336]]
General Leave
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Nevada?
There was no objection.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus comes to
the floor now entering the second week of the House Republican-led
government shutdown. Instead of allowing a simple ``yes'' or ``no''
vote on a bill that funds the government, Republicans continue to play
irresponsible games that are hurting our country. The shutdown's impact
on our already fragile economy, as previously predicted, is already
beginning to take shape and is negatively affecting millions of
Americans.
There is a simple solution to this, however, and that is to bring a
clean continuing resolution to the House floor for a vote. The Senate
has passed it; and if Speaker Boehner scheduled a vote, it would pass
the House as well. But the House GOP is more concerned with catering to
a fringe group of their caucus than leading for the American people.
There are serious costs to that inaction for my constituents and
constituents throughout our country. In Nevada, an estimated 11,000
Nevadans may be furloughed or directly impacted by the furloughs. At
one of our Air Force bases in my congressional district, 1,100 Nevadans
are affected by furloughs, processing of claims at the VA and Social
Security have slowed for new applicants, and the Head Start program is
feeling the pinch of the shutdown.
Tonight, we come to this floor to raise these issues and others to
call on our colleagues on the other side and the Speaker to allow a
clean continuing resolution to be brought to the floor.
At this time, I yield to the gentlelady from Ohio, Congresswoman
Fudge, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, a leader who has
been fighting for equality and fairness for all Americans.
Ms. FUDGE. I thank my colleague for yielding, and I thank you, as
always, for continuing to lead this Special Order hour.
Mr. Speaker, I wish I could stand on this House floor today and say
that Republicans are playing with fire when they refuse to fund the
government, but I can't do that because what they are doing is much
worse. They are playing with people's very lives. They have made it
abundantly clear that they care more about scoring political points and
embarrassing this administration than addressing the needs of the
American people.
{time} 1930
A government shutdown has had an immediate impact on many people
across this Nation: furloughing more than 800,000 Federal workers;
stopping nutritional and clinical support for women, infants and
children; and delaying lifesaving research at NIH.
My office continues to receive calls from distressed constituents
about the status of Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP. While we can
reassure them that such programs will continue to operate, their
concern and anxiety demonstrates the price every day Americans must pay
when Congress fails.
Over the past few years, no issue has consumed more of the public's
attention than health care reform; but, unfortunately for the American
people, much of what has been said bears no relation to reality.
Republicans have tried to make the case that health care reform will
raise health care costs catastrophically and drive up the cost of
Medicare or increase the deficit. These claims are simply not true. The
truth is the Affordable Care Act will slow overall health care
spending, decrease Medicare spending, and decrease our deficit. All
this will be accomplished while expanding health care coverage, cutting
costs for seniors, and eliminating health disparities for communities
of color.
Unfortunately, Republicans are so focused on preventing the expansion
of health care that they are willing to hurt individuals in communities
that are still struggling to rebound from our economic downturn.
Already, as many as 19,000 children in 11 States have been left out of
Head Start programs because grant money ran out on September 30.
Several large defense contractors have started placing workers on
notice that they may be furloughed. The 9 million mothers and children
who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children, better known as WIC, are facing the possibility
that they may lose their benefits. And our local Federal courts may be
crippled by furloughs as soon as next week.
The growing economic impact of this shutdown is extremely difficult
to measure. The human and social impacts like the loss of money for
food, housing, or educational opportunities are impossible to quantify.
The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, passed by both Chambers
of Congress, signed by the President, and confirmed as constitutional
by the Supreme Court. Until Republicans accept this fact, the
government will be shut down and the American people will have been let
down by the majority party of this body.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield to the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield), the vice chairman of
the Congressional Black Caucus.
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Horsford for yielding me
this time, and I thank him for all the work he does here in the House
of Representatives and say he represents his district well.
Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight, quite frankly, very
frustrated. I am frustrated as I stand here right now. Our Federal
Government is shut down. This is the seventh day of a shutdown that did
not have to happen. This is political theater at its best--or at its
worst. And who's paying the price? It's the American people who are
feeling the pain.
This shutdown has been engineered and manufactured by House
Republicans. Anyone paying close attention to what's happening here in
the House will come to the quick conclusion that it is not the
Democrats who have manufactured this crisis; it is the Republican
majority that has done so.
There are votes on the floor tonight that could pass a continuing
resolution to get this behind us. I can tell you that most, if not all,
Democrats will vote for a clean CR, and many, many of my Republican
friends would do the same. I dare not call my Republican friends by
name, but there are many of them. I had two visit with me tonight on
the House floor to say they are willing to do it.
Yet Republicans feel that somehow they can use the budget crisis as a
means for defunding the Affordable Care Act. It will not happen. It is
the law of the land. It is fully implemented. It has been approved by
Congress, signed by the President, tested by the U.S. Supreme Court,
and it is now fully operational as of October 1.
Open season for the health insurance marketplace began several days
ago, and nearly 3 million people have visited healthcare.gov on the
first day alone. Americans who before lived with the constant fear of
financial ruin if they got sick because they never had health insurance
flooded the Web site in huge numbers to sign up for coverage.
Right now, there are more than 600,000 Americans living in a
household forced to file bankruptcy because of unpaid medical bills.
More than 60 percent of all bankruptcies filed last year were because
of medical bills that could not be paid. Many people forced to file for
bankruptcy because of medical expenses actually had insurance but were
hung out to dry by insurance companies that dropped them from coverage
simply because they had that power. ObamaCare makes that a thing of the
past.
Beginning on January 1 of next year, Americans can no longer be
denied coverage or dropped from coverage for having a preexisting
condition. All plans must include coverage for outpatient and emergency
services and maternity and newborn care, mental health, and
prescription drugs. I am very proud of this plan. There will no longer
be a yearly or lifetime limit on how much insurance companies will pay
out for care.
That the House Republicans would hold the Federal Government and its
[[Page H6337]]
more than 4 million employees hostage over a law that, on all counts,
seems to provide a great benefit to Americans defies logic.
Mr. Speaker, this is not a game, though my Republican colleagues seem
to think that it is. They are not working with any sense of urgency and
don't seem to comprehend the seriousness of the Nation's fiscal crisis.
Just yesterday, on national television, the Secretary of the
Treasury, Jack Lew, warned us of what the consequences could be. This
isn't about who wins or loses. We aren't keeping score, but the
American people are keeping score, and they can't figure out
Republicans' outright obsession with ObamaCare while the Federal
Government isn't open for business. It makes no sense.
Democrats have come to the floor for the past week asking and begging
for House Republicans to permit a vote on the Senate's clean continuing
resolution. I will repeat for the last time: It would pass this House
tonight if the Speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, will put it up for
votes. The votes are here right now to pass the Senate version of the
continuing resolution.
I urge the Speaker of the House, who is a decent individual whom I
have gotten to know over the years since I've been here, I hope that he
will finally say to the extreme right in his caucus that he has done
all that he could to lift up the issues that they care about, but now
it's the future of the country that we must all care about. Speaker
Boehner, this week, sir, please bring the continuing resolution to the
floor and see if the votes are here. They will be here, and we can
reopen the government, and then we can sit down and reconcile our
differences.
I thank all who are standing strong in this debate.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the vice chairman, Mr. Butterfield, for his
constructive remarks and calling once again for the Speaker to bring a
clean resolution to the floor. We know that the votes are here to pass
a clean continuing resolution, one that would reopen government, one
that would be supported by Republicans and Democrats; and so the
Congressional Black Caucus comes to this floor at this hour to ask the
Speaker of this House to do the will of the people and the will of this
body.
At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), a
civil rights icon, a man who speaks truth to power.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and my
colleague for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, it is a shame and a disgrace. Furthermore, it is really,
really sad that the government of the most powerful country in the
world is closed. It is closed. It is unbelievable. It is unreal. It is
downright embarrassing.
I wonder--I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us. We go all
around the world preaching democracy--one person, one vote--and we will
not even give the Members, all of the Members of the House of
Representatives, an opportunity to vote on a clean effort, a continuing
resolution, to end the shutdown.
Give the Members--please, give the Members, all of the Members,
Democrats and Republicans--an opportunity to cast a vote, a free and
open vote. That's what our Founding Fathers struggled for. People died
for the right to participate. And in the House of Representatives, in
this House, the people's House, we will not be provided an opportunity
for all of the people to vote.
We must end the shutdown and put our people back to work and keep our
economy growing and moving. We don't want to go back, my friends, or
stand still. We want to go forward. Let's come together, all of us,
Democrats and Republicans, come together and end this shutdown for
good. We can do it. We made hard and tough decisions before and we can
do it again, and we must do it because it's the right thing to do.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman very much for his comments and
for pricking the conscience of this body for doing what's right at a
time when the country expects that of our elected leadership.
I would like to yield, at this time, to the gentleman from Virginia
(Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nevada
for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it is time to end this shutdown. The absurdity of it
begins with the fact that we are now going to pay people for not
working. We need to bring them back to work to provide the services and
do the work that they are being paid to do.
Mr. Speaker, this shutdown is really not based on reality. Some have
said, some apparently believe, if they just stay the course and keep
the government shut down, they will be able to repeal or substantially
undermine ObamaCare. That's not going to happen, and so we are not
based in reality.
Now they are blaming Democrats for not negotiating, but there's
nothing to negotiate. We are talking about the budget. The Republicans
came in with one number; the Democrats had a higher number. The Senate
decided not to negotiate but, rather, accept the Republican number, so
we're in agreement. There's nothing to negotiate.
Now, in the 1990s when they had a disagreement on the budget, there
were profound differences on spending levels and tax and revenue
levels. They couldn't agree on the budget. But we, at this point, at
least for a short-term, 6-week continuing resolution, to keep the
government open for at least 6 more weeks while we can negotiate, we
have already agreed on the number.
Now, the problem we're in right now is we just cannot reward people
who have a tantrum and say we voted 40 times to repeal ObamaCare and we
haven't done it, so we're just going to shut the government down. You
cannot reward that behavior because it will become an expectation that
every time it's the end of the fiscal year and you need a continuing
resolution or the debt ceiling, there will be an expectation of reward.
No, this is not the end of the process. This is just the beginning. We
are just talking about a 6-week continuing resolution. Two weeks from
now, we'll have the debt ceiling. Four weeks after that, we'll be at
the end of the 6-week period if we can reopen the government. They will
be asking for things.
Now, the fact is, the problem that we have, as stated in a recent
article in Nation magazine, they revealed the strategy of the
Republicans. They made a list of the kinds of things they will be
looking for in the continuing resolution, the debt ceiling, every time
there's an opportunity to shut down the government, and here's the
list:
They want to undermine ObamaCare, Keystone pipeline, offshore
drilling, corporate tax cuts, business-oriented tort reform, sabotage
Social Security and Medicare, undermine clean air EPA regulations, cut
back on consumer protections, and end net neutrality on the Internet.
Now, I suppose that after they've gotten their list, they'll say:
We'll be reasonable. We'll negotiate. We will only take half of the
things that we don't have the votes to pass. We'll just take half.
No. If you get to the point where there is an expectation of reward,
then we will be in that. Suppose Democrats had thrown in maybe gun
safety, marriage equality, immigration reform, and a jobs bill, and
we're sitting up here trying to do the budget and have to do all of
that and all of those and think we're ever going to come to a
resolution. We have to have a clean CR so we can reopen the government
without all those complications.
{time} 1945
Back to ObamaCare, which seems to be provoking this problem. The fact
is our health care system was in trouble. The rates were skyrocketing
year after year after year. The problems with our health care system
were not caused by ObamaCare; ObamaCare is trying to cure the problems.
We had a gentleman earlier today who said people have looked at the
rates and some are paying a little more, some are paying a little less,
and some about the same. If that's the case, that is a miracle, because
after the last 50 years, rates have been skyrocketing and going up much
faster than inflation. If they had been anywhere close to even, that
would have been a lot less than it would have been had we not had
ObamaCare.
Now we have the situation where it's affordable, it treats those with
preexisting conditions, people under 26 can stay on their parents'
policies, insurance reforms, preventive care provided
[[Page H6338]]
without copays and deductibles, the doughnut hole. It goes on and on.
This is a good deal. It will be better than before.
Another gentleman earlier today said just eliminate the individual
mandate. The individual mandate is in every policy because if you're
going to cover preexisting conditions, you cannot allow people to wait
until they get sick before they buy insurance. If that's the case,
everybody will wait until they get sick to buy insurance. Everybody
with insurance would be sick, and the average rates would go through
the roof. If you look at what happened in New York and the rates there,
you can reasonably estimate that if you provided that exemption, the
cost of insurance would double on the spot. We can't have that. So we
need to just proceed.
If you want to improve ObamaCare, let's talk about improving it. In
the meanwhile, it is not going to be repealed. It's not going to be
undermined. This idea that you can keep the government open piecemeal
by funding one agency at a time is absolutely absurd. Passing those
bills would only serve one purpose, and that is to perpetuate and
extend the shutdown.
The fact is that they don't have the votes to repeal ObamaCare. They
don't even have the votes to keep the government shut. If they called a
vote, we'd reopen the government. We just want an up-or-down vote on
reopening government. We've had several procedural votes so far where
we could have reopened the government. At least have an up-or-down vote
on reopening government. And as the gentlelady from New York pointed
out, there are enough Republicans who are on public record saying they
would vote ``yes'' to give a clear indication that more than a majority
of the House would be voting in favor.
I want to thank the gentleman from Nevada for bringing us together.
ObamaCare is a very important advance in health care. It will cure all
of the problems they're talking about. We don't need to reward anyone
for shutting down the government or threatening the debt ceiling or
shutting down the government in 4 weeks. We need to just reopen the
government, and then we can have intelligent discussions about what to
do about the budget.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his comments
and for bringing up a number of key points. The main one that, I think,
gets lost is the fact that the President and Democrats in both the
House and the Senate have compromised. They've compromised on the lower
budget number to get to a 6-week agreement on funding the budget in
order for us to have a longer term negotiation for the budget in
subsequent years. That is a major point that I think the Speaker and
those on the other side tend to forget. That was a number that the
Speaker himself offered up in July and said that he would bring a clean
continuing resolution to the floor in July at the very number that
Democrats are prepared to say ``yes'' to.
What we're here to say, Mr. Speaker, and Members on the other side,
is take ``yes'' for an answer. We're ready. There are 195 Democrats who
are ready in this House, some 20 Republicans who publicly said that
they're ready to support a clean continuing resolution, and there are
probably more that would vote for it once it's brought to the floor.
I now yield to the gentlelady from Maryland, Congresswoman Edwards.
Ms. EDWARDS. I thank the gentleman from Nevada for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I want to echo what my colleagues have said: it is time
for us to bring a clean funding resolution to the floor of the House
that would get a majority of Democratic support, and it would get
strong Republican support to reopen the government. Not to reopen it in
pieces, but to reopen all of government for all Americans. It's time
for us to do that now.
We've had several funding bills that have come to the floor to fund
bits and snippets of the Federal Government, but that's really not the
way to do it. In fact, as the gentleman knows, the government was shut
down by Republicans, and it wasn't shut down piecemeal. So it should
not be reopened piecemeal; it should be opened in full.
I represent a district in Maryland that has a lot of Federal workers,
workers who work at virtually every agency of the Federal Government.
And I would note that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have
brought forward piecemeal funding bills that fund a handful of
agencies. There are 486 Federal agencies, and we haven't brought 486
funding bills to this floor. So it's rather silly to propose funding
the government in these little snippets.
These three workers were in my office. One of them works for the
Environmental Protection Agency. The other works for the Department of
Health and Human Services and, in fact, at the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid services, and the other one works at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. As I talked to the workers, I cannot even
begin to explain to you how devastated they felt being tagged
nonessential, knowing that their work is vital, but not really feeling
validated as workers. That was kind of one thing.
The other thing is that they're doing their jobs because they believe
in their jobs. They believe in the work that they're doing for the
government. They believe in the work that they're doing for taxpayers.
Lastly, they're worried about all of the work that goes undone.
They're worried at EPA about letting the public know that inspections
about conditions of water and other things in the environment in
communities across this country are not happening because the EPA is
not in business.
The worker who was in my office, Julia, who works at the Department
of Health and Human Services, Mr. Speaker, is worried because in the
work that she does, her specific job is to train Medicare providers so
that they indicate the right codes when they submit for payment so that
there's not fraud. The other part of her job is that she's supposed to
look through those claims and make sure that if there is any indication
of a problem or fraud, that it gets referred to the inspector general
and gets referred to the Department of Justice. At a time when we're
both implementing health care, but also when Medicare is being used,
it's really important that Julia's job actually saves taxpayers money,
and yet she's at home.
The worker who came to my office today, Emma, from NASA, is very
concerned because part of her job is working on systems that would help
deliver us our next generation of weather satellites because we have a
gap in our satellite coverage. The farther we get behind in developing
that new weather satellite, it means that it puts all of us in jeopardy
in terms of receiving the information that we need. Mr. Speaker, as
Americans know, we don't get our weather from The Weather Channel; we
get our weather from the National Weather Service, from the folks at
NOAA, from the people at NASA, and yet they are at home.
The other thing that these workers explained to me is the great
personal cost to them. Seconda, who works at the Environmental
Protection Agency, told me today that she takes care of her mother, in
addition to herself and other family members, on her salary, and that
she has been worried and up nights and unable to sleep because she's
not really clear how she's going to be able to meet those expenses.
Julia, who works at CMS and HHS, has an 11-year-old child who had
brain damage when he was born, and he's a special-needs child. Aiden
has a wonderful smile and a beautiful face and voice, and he needs his
mom, but they've also been able to take care of services for him with
the salary that she makes at HHS.
Emma at NASA said to me that her 12-year-old and 14-year-old really
don't understand why she's at home instead of going to work.
These workers aren't just a faceless bureaucracy. They have lives and
they have responsibilities. With the Federal Government shut down,
we're not enabling them to meet those responsibilities.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things that they said to me is if you open up
the government piecemeal, it doesn't really help them out. Take the
example of Julia at HHS. If her job is to make referrals to the
Department of Justice and to the Office of the Inspector General, and
she's at her job, if by some fortuitous chance our Republican
colleagues decide to restart HHS, what that means is that she doesn't
have
[[Page H6339]]
anybody to refer that fraud to because they're not on the job at the
Department of Justice. If NASA is working and NOAA is not, then that
joint work that takes place between agencies can't.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, what we do know is that every week that the
Federal Government is shut down, it costs taxpayers $10 billion. Mr.
Speaker, the Federal Government has been shut down now for a week.
Chalk up $10 billion to the taxpayers. So you can see that the entire
purpose of the strategy to shut down government is, in fact, costing
taxpayers money.
Finally, I will share with you what I read in the paper today, Mr.
Speaker. Three scientists and researchers won the Nobel Prize for
medicine. They won the prize for developing a way to track cell traffic
so that it could make determinations about when appropriate packages of
cells in the body are being delivered for certain purposes. In doing
that, it would help us make discoveries for immunological diseases, for
neurological diseases, for things like diabetes. Some of these
scientists had been working under a grant from the National Institutes
of Health for about the last 30 years. It made me think that if we are
not funding the National Institutes of Health and other government
agencies that do research right now, that the work that they've been
doing for the last 30 years is work, if you think forward 30 years,
we're going to be missing because we've failed to fund the kind of
research that we need. So there are ripple effects to the cost of
shutting down the Federal Government.
Finally, in my district, I plan every year to have a college fair for
the students in my district. Usually about 2,500 to 3,000 students show
up. Our college fair is supposed to come up this weekend. We usually
get assistance from NASA. They bring all kinds of projects and
experiments to the science fair to get young people engaged in the
science, technology, engineering, and math fields so that we can get
them invested in tackling these jobs for the 21st century. We usually
get assistance from the Department of Education to educate young people
about loan and grant opportunities that might be available to them as
they decide to make their college selections.
I just got an email, even as I was sitting here on the floor, that
none of these agencies will be able to participate in a college fair
for our young people who are preparing to go to college next year, and
they're going to miss out on those opportunities about learning of
what's available to them and the challenges that they face because the
Federal Government has shut down.
This is a really sad commentary, Mr. Speaker, on the impact of the
shutdown and the ripple effect that that has both throughout our
economy and in our local communities. So I will close by urging Speaker
Boehner, Mr. Speaker, to please bring a clean funding bill to the floor
of the House of Representatives, let it come up for a vote. You know
what? If it fails, it does. But I know that in this body Republicans
and Democrats like me will support that bill, and we'll do it, even
though I don't agree with the number, I never supported the number. But
I know that even though it is a Republican number, I'm going to agree
with it because it will restart government. It is time, Mr. Speaker,
for us to open up all of the Federal Government for all Americans.
{time} 2000
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentlelady for her remarks and for bringing
the real-life names and stories about who this furlough impacts and how
government shutdown is really affecting them. Those are the
individuals, the public servants who provide critical services each and
every day, who deserve to go back to work.
Again, we're asking that the Speaker bring a clean continuing
resolution to the floor so the government can be reopened; and like the
gentlewoman from Maryland, I, myself, have heard from my constituents
who are affected by this. Many have sent emails and called my office.
There is one by the name of Alex, a Department of Defense employee, who
got married a week before the shutdown and was furloughed a week ago
today. Now, is that the Republican Party's idea of a honeymoon gift?
This has to end, and it has to end now.
I got some letters today from a fifth grade class of students from
Sandy Miller Elementary School in Nevada. They wrote to me because
they're planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, but now it looks like that
trip may be in jeopardy because the government shutdown is threatening
access to the Grand Canyon. They wrote to provide me with some advice
on how to solve these problems and to suggest that if Congress could
start acting a little more like fifth graders, maybe we could get
something done around here.
I would like to share some of the remarks from the letters that they
wrote. Stefany writes:
You should be respectful of each other. Be communicators.
But most of all, be balanced and open-minded.
Rossie said:
You should be reflective about how you are affecting other
people, not just yourselves. If my class can compromise and
get along, you and your colleagues in Congress should too.
George wrote:
Congress should start cooperating and working as a team,
like we do here in school.
``The message is pretty clear,'' as one of the writers, Bailen, put
it, ``if fifth graders can get along, you can too.''
Well, I sure hope that's the case, Mr. Speaker. Because if we can't
work together to do the people's business, then we shouldn't be here;
and maybe we should turn the gavel over to them.
I yield the floor to my friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne).
Mr. PAYNE. I would like to thank the gentleman from Nevada for
chairing this hour tonight.
And just as I reflect, Mr. Speaker, on the comments made by those
fifth graders, well, I'm glad I'm in tune with them because, you see,
through this whole ordeal, I have spoken about people who have narrow
agendas, where they're only thinking of themselves and not the totality
of the common good in the United States. Because, you see, it's
disingenuous and hypocritical to one day vote for a shutdown of the
government and the next day show up at the World War II Memorial and
stand with the veterans saying this is horrendous what has happened.
You can't have it both ways.
I did not vote for a shutdown of the government, so maybe I should
have been there at the World War II Memorial, saying the things that my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been saying as they
voted to shut down the memorial.
I want to share a story with you from a young lady in my district
just a day or two ago. She's a young mother in Newark, New Jersey. I
represent the people of that town. She went to the young fathers
program at Rutgers University with her 2-year-old daughter. Due to the
government shutdown, this young mother no longer is receiving her WIC
benefits. And in desperation, she is reaching out to anyone and
everyone for help, as her child literally starves from lack of
nutrition assistance. She doesn't know where to go or who to turn to.
She feels totally alone. She doesn't know how she'll feed her child or
how she'll make ends meet.
This story breaks my heart, and, unfortunately, she is not alone.
There are millions of pregnant women and new mothers just like her
across the country who don't know how they'll feed their child. And
what breaks my heart even more is knowing that Congress has the power
to open this government tonight. The votes are here, Mr. Speaker. Let's
pass a clean CR.
Make no mistake, this is a Republican government shutdown. The
extreme faction got exactly what they wanted. Well, I ask you, did the
American people get exactly what they wanted? The people I represent
didn't. Families across New Jersey's Tenth Congressional District who
won't get the Hurricane Sandy relief that they were counting on didn't.
Veterans who put their lives on the line for this country didn't. Low-
income children kicked off of Head Start didn't. The 31,000 furloughed
Federal workers in New Jersey didn't. The 9 million women, infants, and
youngsters who rely on the WIC program certainly didn't.
So I ask, Who are my Republican colleagues listening to? Whose
interests are they representing? Instead of reopening the entire
government for everyone, House Republicans hold the country hostage
with their piecemeal approach, picking winners and losers,
[[Page H6340]]
choosing which parts of the government are worthy of opening. We must
open the entire government and do what we can to do it today.
Mr. Speaker, 200 Democrats have signed a petition to bring a bill to
the floor that would open the government today, and more than 20
Republicans have said they would also vote for the bill. So we have the
votes. The question is, why won't Speaker Boehner bring the bill to the
floor, one that he knows will pass, one that would reopen the
government today? Because it's not too much to ask Members of Congress
to do their job. It's not too much to ask to reopen the government and
pay our bills on time. The people I represent have to do their jobs and
pay their bills on time every single day. Why can't the leaders of this
Nation do the same?
With every day that goes by, the more we drive up the costs for the
American people, the more we threaten the stability of our Nation's
economy. We cannot keep the government closed, and we cannot default on
our debt. So I strongly urge my Republican colleagues to stand up for
the American people, bring a bill to the floor that would reopen the
government today, and let's start doing the job expected of us and
continue to move our country forward, not punish the American people by
moving it backwards.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman.
May I inquire as to the time I have remaining, Mr. Speaker.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Nevada has 16 minutes
remaining.
Mr. HORSFORD. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time, I yield to my good friend from Texas (Mr. Veasey).
Mr. VEASEY. I thank the gentleman from Nevada for recognizing me to
talk about something that is very important, and that is what is going
on with America's future as it relates to this Republican government
shutdown, the Affordable Care Act, and jobs.
While Republicans refuse to bring a clean CR to a vote on the House
floor to end this Republican shutdown, our Nation, our cities, our
States continue to suffer. Every single day, we are losing millions of
dollars, wasting time and resources by furloughing government workers
and limiting the public's access to government. And as we approach day
eight of this reprehensible Republican shutdown, Republicans continue
to bring bills to the House floor that will only fund pieces of the
Federal Government.
This cynical effort to make headlines and cover themselves for
causing such shameful dysfunction is resulting in a historical loss of
confidence in Congress and causing undue economic uncertainty for
families and businesses all across our country.
To my Republican friends, please understand this is not a game. These
political gimmicks are not a responsible approach to governing. Each
problem resulting from the Republican government shutdown can be taken
care of if we simply pass the Senate's clean continuing resolution.
In north Texas, in the area that I represent, the 33rd Congressional
District, families may miss out on over 300,000 meals because the USDA
may have to cancel food truck shipments to the North Texas Food Bank.
It's ridiculous. And millions of Americans may be affected by the flu
this year due to the closing of the CDC's flu tracking program. These
are only two examples of the widespread direct effects of the
Republican shutdown.
And here's what Republicans need to know: they should go in their
districts and talk to people, talk to workers who work in the defense
industry, that work at our military bases, that are government
employees. Talk to people that have been furloughed. Talk to the people
that, because of the sequester problems that we've been unable to solve
here because of the lack of Republican leadership, have already been
laid off, including the over 400 at Bell Helicopter in Tarrant County
in Fort Worth.
And if they talk to people and they go into their districts and speak
with everyday common people that are out there working hard every day,
what they'll find out is that it hurts to lose your job. And when you
lose that job--particularly at this time of the year, as we get closer
and closer to the Christmas season--and when you lose that job, then
something happens to your car, some medical emergency pops up that ends
up costing you a lot of money, then you really start to struggle as a
family, and it really starts to hurt. That is what is so shameful about
this Republican government shutdown. It doesn't take into consideration
the real people that are out there struggling every day.
Speaker Boehner claims there aren't enough votes to reopen the
government, but we know that's not true: 200 Democrats, including
myself, have signed a letter to Speaker Boehner, making it clear that
there are enough votes to pass the bill and reopen our government now.
Republicans claim they started this shutdown to defund, delay, and
deny health care insurance to millions of Americans. Such a move would
work to deny health care coverage in my home State of Texas to 6
million uninsured residents. We have the highest uninsured rate in the
Union. In the district that I represent, alone, over 265,000 are
uninsured. That's over a third in the 33rd Congressional District, in
Dallas and in Fort Worth.
To Members wishing to deny health coverage through the Affordable
Care Act, I want them to explain to those constituents in the district
that I represent and in their own districts. It's a myth that it is
only happening in our districts. They have people in their districts
that are uninsured also, and they need to start representing them.
The most ridiculous reality of this political stunt is that the ACA
is the law of the land, which means that this shutdown will be
fruitless in repealing the law. And in the end, Republicans will have
to behave like adults and stop simply saying ``no'' and come to the
table with solutions for matters we can address in good faith.
{time} 2015
Until then, House Democrats have a clear message: We demand a vote to
reopen our government so Americans can move on with their lives, get
back to work, provide for their families.
I ask my Republican colleagues to let reason overtake ideology, and
let's get our government open again. Let's get it running. Enough is
enough. Let's do the right thing. Let's stop with these games, stop the
obstruction, and let's get back to work. These families are depending
on us.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey) for his
very constructive remarks. And as he said, the fact that some on the
other side want to close down government and keep it closed and now
potentially threaten our ability to meet our obligations on October 17
with the debt ceiling over the Affordable Care Act, something that is
now the law of the land that's been passed by this Congress, signed by
the President, upheld by the Supreme Court, and that's simply not going
to happen, it's time for them to come to the table to negotiate without
holding the Affordable Care Act as a precondition. And that is what we
are here to say, to ask the Speaker to bring to the floor a clean
funding bill that's supported by an overwhelming number of Democrats
and Republicans, to reopen government and to allow our American workers
to go back to work.
I'd like to now yield to the cochair of this Special Order hour, the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), my good friend.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from the Silver
State, my good friend, Representative Horsford, for his tremendous
leadership for anchoring this CBC Special Order. And it's my honor and
my privilege to join him today, during this Congressional Black Caucus
Hour of Power, where, for 60 minutes we have the opportunity to speak
directly to the American people. It's always an honor and a privilege
to do so, but it's tragic and sad that we're here today under such
circumstances. This is a manufactured crisis, a government shutdown
engineered as a result of mean-spirited, reckless, and unreasonable
behavior by our friends from the other side of the aisle.
And in order to mask the obstructionism and the behavior that has
resulted in more than 800,000 hardworking civil servants being kicked
out of their jobs temporarily--we hope--there's been a series of myths,
of factual misrepresentations that have
[[Page H6341]]
been brought to the American people from our good friends on the other
side of the aisle. I just want to spend a minute or two exploring some
of the most significant ones courtesy of the House GOP.
The first thing that led us down this road is this idea that the
Affordable Care Act is a train wreck, repeated over and over and over
again. The Affordable Care Act is a train wreck.
It's not a train wreck. The train hasn't even left the station.
Enrollment just began a few days ago on October 1. The coverage period
for the American people doesn't even begin until January 1 of 2014. How
can it be a train wreck when the train hasn't even left the station?
This is behavior that is designed to create an accident because of
some obsession that folks have on the other side of the aisle with
providing tens of millions of Americans who are otherwise uninsured
with health care coverage. It's an obsession that, quite frankly, I
can't understand.
What are you so angry about? Are you upset about the fact that the
Affordable Care Act prohibits preexisting conditions from denying
health care coverage to Americans, including children?
Do you dislike the fact that young people going out into a very
difficult job market can now stay on the insurance of their parents
until the age of 26?
Does it really bother you that small businesses will be eligible for
a tax credit up to 35 percent to help provide health insurance coverage
for their employees in a manner that will allow these small businesses
to grow and prosper?
Enough with this myth the Affordable Care Act is a train wreck. But
that was the basis of the shutdown and the ransom notes that were sent
over to the Senate majority that courageously stamped each one:
Rejected; return to sender.
Defund, delay, destroy the Affordable Care Act, that was the genesis
of this conflict. And then we shifted, once it was clear that that
strategy was not going to work, into the second great myth of this
debacle that we find ourselves in. The second myth: Democrats refuse to
negotiate.
Negotiate over what? Negotiate over a law that my colleagues have
clearly indicated is the law of the land, passed by a duly-elected
Congress in 2010, signed by the President, declared constitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States of America in a decision issued
by Chief Justice John Roberts, a Bush appointee, and then affirmed by
the reelection of President Barack Obama in the electoral college
landslide? Why do you want us to negotiate over settled law?
There are three ways in the American democratic system for you to
change law, Mr. Speaker:
The first is through the legislative process. In 2010, you lost.
Forty-three or 44 additional times subsequent to that, you've lost,
unable to do it legislatively.
You can try and change the law in America through our democratic
system jurisprudentially, through the court system. In 2012, the
Supreme Court rejected that. You lost.
Then you can try and change things as a result of an election, and
you lost with the reelection of the President by more than 5 million
votes in 2012.
Those are the three legitimate ways--legislative, jurisprudential,
electoral--that you change laws in American democracy. You do not
extort concessions and threaten to shut down the government.
So this notion that we've refused to compromise is a great myth,
particularly when, as my good friend from Nevada pointed out, the fact
is that we've already compromised as it relates to the underlying
number connected to funding the government.
The Democrats believe the appropriate number is $1.058 trillion. That
number is right here. The Republicans believe the appropriate number is
$986 billion. That number is right here. We've agreed to drop our
number all the way down to $986 billion, representing a $70 billion
compromise, yet you continue to put forth this myth, as if we're the
ones behaving unreasonably. The American people see through this
factual misrepresentation.
Lastly, let me just say, we had another great myth put forth this
weekend by none other than the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
No, not the junior Senator from Texas; the other one from Ohio. He said
there are not the votes in the House to pass a clean CR. Not the votes?
I'm no mathematician, Mr. Speaker, but it's clear, 198 Democrats have
indicated they're willing to reopen the government if you put the bill
on the floor. And if you add that to the 23 Republicans who have gone
on record back at home in their districts, that gets us to 221, the
magic number being 217 to reopen the government.
Stop peddling factual misrepresentations to the American people to
cover your legislative malpractice. Let's get back to doing the
business of the American people.
Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman from New York.
I know we are coming down to the end of our time. I yield to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much. Let me first thank you
both for continuing to sound the alarm and to really conduct these
Special Orders so the American people can know the truth about what's
really going on here in Washington, D.C. So thank you, Mr. Horsford,
thank you, Mr. Jeffries, for your remarkable leadership and for what
you're doing tonight once again.
As I'm listening to what we've been talking about, there are two
things that I want to drive home.
One is many of us did not want to and will continue to oppose
sequester. What sequester has done is really gutted many of our safety
net programs, such as Head Start, where 21,000 young people cannot have
access now to Head Start in many of our districts. Senior citizens,
Meals on Wheels, they won't be able to really get their Meals on
Wheels, which is what they need to have a nutritious diet.
We see over and over again the impacts of sequester in people's daily
lives, and it's wrong; and, as a member of the Appropriations
Committee, the subcommittee that really works on all of our domestic
programs, we've been fighting so hard to end the sequester so that
people do not have to live through this pain, given what they're going
through now as a result of sequester. So for us to support a bill that
would open the government up at that level causes us a lot of pain and
grief.
And what we're hoping is that, by our support of that $986 billion
bill to open the government up, we can open the government up so that
people can get back to work, so that we have a functioning government,
and so that we can begin to negotiate what makes sense for the American
people in terms of the type of programs and the type of resources and
services they need until we can get the Republican Tea Party Members of
this House to understand that we need to create jobs and support a jobs
bill. But until we do that, we have to minimally ensure that the
Federal Government provides for the basics for the American people, and
so many of us would support that level of funding just to get the
government open.
I think, and as you said, the Speaker, I think they know that they
have enough votes to put up with our Democratic votes to open the
government up; and so, for the life of me, I don't know why they don't
just bring that bill to the floor. Let's see. Let's have an up-or-down
vote. I think the American people deserve that.
A government shutdown is wrong. People deserve to have health care.
Millions of people now are accessing the Affordable Care Act. They
didn't have health insurance before. Now they'll be covered.
So, once again, we have to see why in the world, or ask the question:
Why in the world would people who need health care, why would they be
held hostage to people who want to work in a government shutdown?
So I hope that more people are listening, more people understand that
we know how to open the government up and we know how to begin to
negotiate on a real budget that makes sense for not only our domestic
programs, but for the Pentagon and for our foreign assistance, State
Department, all of those necessary programs that make for a functioning
government.
So thank you again for your leadership, and thank you for giving me
the time tonight to speak.
[[Page H6342]]
Mr. Speaker, here we are day seven of the hurtful devastating
Republican government shutdown.
We all know that Tea Party extremists came to Congress--not to
govern--but to achieve the goal of shutting down the government.
Well, congratulations to them for achieving a dream come true.
Now, millions of families, children, seniors, federal employees and
our economy are paying the price.
In my congressional district, and throughout the state of California,
families are already feeling the impact of the Republican government
shutdown.
The California Women Infant and Children program is on the brink of
turning away low-income pregnant women and new moms if this shutdown
continues.
And schools throughout the state of California are cancelling field
trips to national parks and monuments which are closed to visitors due
to this Republican shutdown.
Across the country our vital national interests are also taking the
hit.
The shutdown threatens to derail the already unacceptable Veterans
Administration disability backlog.
There are no new business loans or assistance for small businesses or
for our farmers.
Without the CDC conducting disease surveillance and taking calls
about infectious diseases--our public health is at serious risk.
If the Republican shutdown continues--13 million children will lose
access to school breakfast and 31 million will lose access to school
lunches.
8.7 million women and their young children will not receive nutrition
assistance through the WIC program.
And 47.5 million people who rely on SNAP will go hungry.
Yes, the Tea Party is getting exactly what they wanted--and millions
of children and families will go hungry because of it.
To add insult to injury, Republicans have shut down the government
because they are obsessed--obsessed mind you--with destroying the
Affordable Care Act.
The vast majority of Americans--who, by the way, continue to blame
Republicans for the shutdown--see how senseless it is to shutdown the
government because you want to deny health care to millions of
Americans.
Despite the Republican government shutdown, health care exchanges
established under the Affordable Care Act have successfully opened for
enrollment.
Now millions of uninsured Americans are less than just three months
away from having the health care coverage they so desperately need.
For the nearly 7 million uninsured African Americans, October 1st
marked the opportunity to have fewer health inequities, and increased
access to quality and affordable health care and preventive medicine.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, 500,000 young, African American
adults have already gained coverage from a parent's health care plan.
And for the 7.3 million African Americans who have private insurance
and the 4.5 million who have Medicare coverage, the Affordable Care Act
now means access to key preventive health services, including vital
screenings, at no extra cost.
With health disparities continuing to have a huge financial burden on
the health care system, these key changes as provided through the
Affordable Care Act will not only save money--but they will save lives.
California--the first state to commit to establishing its own
exchange--launched the Covered California exchange.
In my Congressional District alone there are nearly 100,000 uninsured
constituents and the opening of the exchanges means they are one step
closer to health care coverage that can literally mean the difference
between life and death.
``Making Good Health MY Reality'' tour
Mr. Speaker, this summer I, and many of my colleagues in the
Congressional Black Caucus, co-hosted the ``Making Good Health MY
Reality'' tour health care town halls to help educate our constituents
about the Affordable Care Act.
Two hundred constituents attended my town hall, and while there were
many many questions, people were undeniably excited and looked forward
to the open enrollment period.
There were many who already had private insurance, but attended in
order to learn more so that they could tell their friends and family
members about the Affordable Care Act.
Some attended just to speak about the good health care reform has
already done in their lives, like the mother whose daughter became very
ill while away at college and had to rely on her health insurance to
seek treatment.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, her daughter was able to stay in
college, graduate, and now has her own health care insurance.
But that isn't enough for Tea Party Republicans.
It isn't enough that websites across the country are crashing because
of the interest millions of Americans have in getting affordable health
care coverage.
As one constituent, after working for 3 hours to successfully enroll
in a health care plan, put it: ``Do I now have doubts about the
Affordable Care Act? Absolutely not.''
I would go through much more to get affordable health insurance. I
experience more stress every day worrying about getting . . . a disease
like cancer and having to face a hospital bill I can't afford on my
own.'' (Janice Worthen wrote of her experience in The Alamedan)
That is what is driving Americans to the health care exchanges. That
is what the Tea Party Republicans are holding this country hostage for.
Mr. Speaker, while all of us believe it is important to keep the
government functioning, hostage taking is no way to run federal
departments and agencies.
Members of Congress are elected to make sure our government
functions.
Yet, instead of working together to do our jobs, Republicans continue
to double down on the tea-party plan to destroy and decimate our
government.
Instead of working on a serious option to reopen the government,
Republicans latest strategy is to exploit our veterans, cancer
patients, pregnant women, and young children, by voting on piecemeal
bills that will not end impacts of a shut down that extend across our
country.
WIC
It is simply outrageous to sit here and play politics with pregnant
mothers, their babies, and their young children.
In the past year alone the WIC program has been cut by $500 million--
simply unacceptable to the more than 21,000 WIC participants in my
congressional district alone.
As a Member of the Appropriations Committee, I witnessed Republicans
vote over and over and over again to cut funding to this vital program.
Despite committee Democrats' best efforts to stand against these
ridiculous attacks and to convince them of the importance of this
program, they have refused to listen to reason and insisted on massive
cuts.
Head Start
And that's not all.
Because of the Tea Party imposed sequestration, more than 57,000 at-
risk students have lost their Head Start slots, and my district alone
lost $1.5 million in federal contributions to the Head Start program.
Yet there is now a Republican proposal circulating to restore funding
to Head Start.
The hypocrisy is truly appalling.
VA
We saw them do the same for the Veterans Affairs department.
Even if we do fund the VA, their employees still need to work with
their counterparts at the Department of Defense and the Social Security
Administration in order to process claims.
Mr. Speaker, of course we support our veterans, of course we support
our national parks, and of course we support full funding for the NIH,
the WIC program, and the Head Start program.
Yet, some people in this chamber who have been leading the charge to
cut these very same programs are taking their fundamental
responsibility and holding it hostage, hoping that by doing so they
will get their way.
If my colleagues would really like to help our nation's most
vulnerable, the people who will suffer the most due to their
intransigence--rather than trying to score political points--they need
to not only fund the entire federal government, they also need to roll
back sequestration and other cuts to vital programs that they've made
over the last three years.
But they aren't going to do that.
Instead they will continue to posture, to attempt to score political
points, and in the end push to achieve the goal they set years ago: to
dismantle this government.
Mr. Speaker, this is not what the American people deserve.
This anarchy must end.
We must bring a clean CR to the Floor, and we must pass it.
Mr. HORSFORD. Thank you to the gentlelady from California.
I will just conclude, Mr. Speaker, by saying that we demand a vote.
We demand a vote on a clean funding resolution, one that's supported by
198 Democrats, 23 Republicans, 221 Members. A majority of the Members
of this body are prepared to vote on a clean resolution, and we're
asking--demanding--the Speaker bring that clean resolution to the floor
so that we can reopen government and allow all of our American workers,
those in government and those in the private sector, to get back to
work and to meet our obligations as a country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to
express my support for the Patient Protection and Affordable
[[Page H6343]]
Care Act which has already significantly improved health care for
Americans. The six month enrollment period for Americans to sign up for
affordable health care coverage in the state-based Health Insurance
Marketplaces has begun. Important decisions on government finding and
the debt ceiling await votes while politics take center stage and the
soundness of our economy remains in question.
House Republicans have caused a government shutdown in order to
advance a delusional political agenda spearheaded by disdain for the
Affordable Care Act. In a demonstration of hollow leadership, politics
are being placed before people. Instead of approving the Senate-passed
funding bill, House Republicans have cast yet another vote to undermine
the Affordable Care Act for the forty-third time since its passage.
However, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and many have
already benefited from its implementation. In Texas, families have
saved $46.3 million in insurance company refunds. Medicare
beneficiaries in the ``donut hole'' have saved $420.7 million in
prescription drugs. More than 40,000 Americans and 17 million American
children with pre-existing conditions gained insurance coverage through
the Affordable Care Act. The Congressional Budget Office released a
study showing that the Affordable Care Act will provide coverage for an
additional 32 million people while reducing overall health care costs.
The new health care law will only grow stronger and expand access to
quality coverage with the state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces for
those who cannot receive coverage through an employer. The Affordable
Care Act not only provides increased access to quality care but it
marks the beginning of fewer health disparities across the nation and
more investment in preventative health care. I am proud to stand with
the President and my colleagues in support of the Affordable Care Act.
____________________