[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 140 (Wednesday, October 9, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HOUSE GYM REMAINS OPEN FOR MEMBERS DURING SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today is the ninth day of the Republican 
shutdown, what started as a tantrum against the Affordable Care Act to 
defund it, then morphed into a demand to delay it for a year, but now 
is really an open assault on our system of government.
  Unless a fanatic minority holding John Boehner and the American 
people hostage get their way, they will continue to inflict unnecessary 
pain on hundreds of thousands of our employees and on the American 
public. Now they are poised to wreck the global economy by threatening 
that America will not pay its bills. If it works, they will do it all 
over again.
  Make no mistake, this is an assault on our system of government 
unlike anything we have seen before. We must stop them now, united in 
the belief that there are some lines we are not going to cross. There 
will be no weapons on the floor of the House and no willful damage to 
the American people.
  What if these fanatics had their tactics used against them? What if 
Democrats and Speaker Pelosi demanded that the disastrous war in Iraq 
stop and, if it didn't, we would wreck the American economy? that our 
deeply felt concerns about preparing for climate change and global 
warming were nonnegotiable? What if Senator Chris Murphy, who had 26 
innocent children and their teachers massacred in his district, what if 
he said, Enough. Unless we get background checks for purchasers of guns 
to make sure that unfit people can't get them, something that 90 
percent of the American people agree with, unless I get that, I am 
going to shut down the government? Can you imagine the howls of 
outrage?
  There is a tremendous disconnect here. One glaring symbol of the 
disconnect can be found in the subbasement of the Rayburn office 
building, the House gym. Now, make no mistake, everywhere I have worked 
I have started fitness programs for our employees. They save money; 
they improve productivity; they can even save lives. I helped start a 
fitness program for our employees here on Capitol Hill. If anything, it 
may be more important for people in Congress who are leading a crazy, 
unhealthy lifestyle and can seldom get together and interact like human 
beings. For 17 years, this is where I have tried to start every single 
day, to exercise, to enjoy bipartisan camaraderie, an island in the 
storm of Capitol Hill. It is convenient to be able to shower there 
instead of at home. It is important. It is very important, but it is 
not essential.

  I had somebody argue with me yesterday that it doesn't cost that much 
because we pay dues. We have an access key that lets us in and there 
aren't any staff members there now. Well, that is true. It doesn't cost 
very much, but it costs. The electricity, the hot water, the towels, 
they are not provided by gym fairies. They are provided by taxpayers. 
And the same is true for countless facilities across America, closed by 
the senseless Republican shutdown.
  In fact, since we have decided that we are going to pay all the 
employees when it is over, we are paying them not to work. And it is 
costly not to collect fees. You can make a better argument for 
restoring those services than you can for the House gym. Some of the 
most fanatic about inflicting unnecessary pain on the American public 
are regulars, enjoying our House gym while the staff gym is closed.
  Mr. Speaker, if you and the House Republicans are serious and not 
cynical about the shutdown, then shut down the House gym until this 
madness ends.

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