[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 146 (Tuesday, October 15, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6597-H6598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND POTENTIAL DEFAULT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Himes) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this 15th day of the government 
shutdown, a shutdown which has put hundreds of thousands of Americans 
out of work, that will have untold damage on what is already a hesitant 
economic recovery; and I rise as we contemplate the last maybe 24, 36 
hours before an event unprecedented in American history: the 
possibility that, for the first

[[Page H6598]]

time in this great Nation's history, we may not pay our bills--we may 
default on our obligations--with a plea for sanity and a last-minute 
plea that we set aside the irresponsibility and recklessness that has 
consumed this Congress for years now, culminating in this moment.
  What has it profited anybody? Seventy-four percent of Americans 
disapprove of the way the Republican majority has handled this. 
Democrats could not have dreamed of a better plan to cut the ground out 
from under the Republicans.
  This week, the International Monetary Fund met here in Washington, 
and global leader after global leader stood up and basically said: What 
has become of the United States? How can you be so irresponsible? How 
can this one indispensable Nation now be a laughingstock?
  My constituents are certainly disturbed. I had a conversation with 
one of them, a guy I have known for probably 25 years now, and he said: 
Explain to me what is going on in Washington. The Republicans, Senator 
Cruz, the House majority are demanding a negotiation.
  I said: Yes, they are demanding a negotiation. They are using the 
shutdown and the debt ceiling as leverage to achieve their goals.
  He said: What are those goals?
  It started out with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act--that is 
where Senator Cruz started a couple of weeks ago--and then it moved on 
to we want Congress to not have its employer contribution; and then it 
moved on to simply talk to us; and then there was a long list of 
things--we want the XL pipeline approved; we want the Affordable Care 
Act delayed for 2 years--a long, long list of policy wishes that the 
Republicans have said they want in this negotiation.
  And my friend says: So what do you get? What do the Democrats get? If 
you build the XL pipeline--whatever it is--and if you give them five of 
the things they want, what do you get? Do you get investment in roads 
and railways and networks?
  I said: No, we don't get that.
  Do you get a commitment to improve the education of America's 
children?
  No, no, we don't get that.
  Do you get something that pretty much most Americans think is a good 
idea, which is some kind of comprehensive immigration reform?
  I said: No, we don't get that.
  He said: Well, what do you get? What do you get in this negotiation?

                              {time}  1030

  I said: All we get is that the government runs.
  Really? The government runs. That is what Democrats get in this 
negotiation?
  Yes.
  He said: That is not a negotiation.
  I said: That is exactly right. That is not a negotiation. That is 
something more akin to extortion.
  And here we sit, where it is not just the government shutdown which 
is causing pain to Head Start kids in Bridgeport or fear amongst 
workers at Sikorsky who are building the Black Hawks that ferry our 
troops in and out of danger. Here we stand on the cusp of saying to the 
world that you can no longer rely on the full faith and credit of the 
United States Government.
  Folks, I used to work in finance, and there is nothing in finance--
there is no share of stock, there is no bond, there is no income-
producing property, there is no asset out there--whose value doesn't 
rest on the unalterable proposition that the United States Treasury is 
risk free. But the House majority is saying, first of all, that that 
may not be true, that maybe a default is not a big problem. Maybe it 
can be managed. It never happened before, but maybe it can be managed. 
This bedrock, I like to say in doing finance without the concept of a 
risk-free rate, is like trying to do physics without gravity. Nobody 
knows what it means, and we are putting this at risk.
  So I plead for sanity, and I point out the fact that there are very 
real costs. The Macroeconomic Advisers, a research firm, has said that 
the last couple of years have resulted in 900,000 jobs not being 
created because of this constant hostage taking, this idea that we are 
going to run the country by crisis. Almost 1 million American jobs are 
not there because this Congress has done that.
  Colleagues, the American people deserve better. It is time at this 
moment to come together, to be responsible, and to do right by the 
country.

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