[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 140 (Wednesday, October 9, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THEIR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 3 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, members of the Republican Women's 
Policy Committee sent an earnest letter to Senator Harry Reid, asking 
him to please put aside the partisanship for a second and to take the 
opportunity to enact commonsense legislation to help our kids; take up 
bipartisan House legislation to restore WIC; to open NIH; and to fund 
Head Start.
  Senator Reid has done nothing, though, and President Obama said that 
it's their way or the highway, to give them everything they want or get 
lost.
  In North Carolina, our WIC program doesn't have sufficient funds to 
issue new vouchers until the Senate acts. It's the Senate's choice. 
They should do the right thing. At this point, however, the Senate is 
rejecting common ground.
  Senate Democrats are refusing to make government work for the 
American people because they won't even agree to having a conversation 
about whether all Americans should be treated equally under ObamaCare. 
Health care is a matter of security to many Americans; and health care, 
as we all know, is changing drastically next year. For many in North 
Carolina, it is becoming more expensive; and for others, their plans 
are being canceled.
  When asked why American families are being denied a 1-year delay of 
the individual mandate so they can figure out ObamaCare without having 
the threat of government penalties, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services suggested that the way to ``opt out'' of the mandate was to 
simply allow government to levy a fine against you. That sounds like a 
fair choice, doesn't it? Individual Americans do what we want or pay an 
unprecedented tax on your behavior. Mr. Speaker, the refusal even to 
acknowledge the specter of unfairness in ObamaCare's implementation is 
shocking.
  Consider the great lengths Senate Democrats are going in order to 
prove a point about not negotiating: Senate Democrats won't call a vote 
on legislation to fund the National Institutes of Health, to ensure pay 
for Guardsmen and Reservists, to stop veteran benefit application 
delays, to fully fund WIC, to restore Head Start, to restore FEMA or 
FDA funding. Senate Democrats won't call a vote to reopen the national 
parks.
  Throwing all of this common ground by the wayside--common ground that 
will help people--is inexcusable. The President and the Senate need to 
start explaining why their way or the highway is more important than 
doing their jobs and finding a compromise to end this shutdown.

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