[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 149 (Wednesday, October 23, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WHEN PROPAGANDA TRUMPS REALITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, this Nation has gone through 18 
government shutdowns in the last 37 years. Fifteen of those 18 
shutdowns occurred when Democrats controlled the House. In those 15 
shutdowns, the Democrats demanded increased abortion services and labor 
and environmental policy concessions.
  Perhaps the reason we don't remember those shutdowns as vividly is 
because, in those days, Presidents negotiated around the clock to 
resolve the disputes that caused them and did everything that they 
could to minimize the public's inconvenience and suffering.
  This time was different. This time, the President refused to 
negotiate, and he took unprecedented steps to amplify the pain and 
suffering that the public endured. A senior administration official 
told The Wall Street Journal, ``We are winning . . . It doesn't really 
matter to us how long the shutdown lasts because what matters is the 
end result.'' A park ranger said, ``We've been told to make life as 
difficult as we can for people. It's disgusting.''
  This administration barricaded open-air venues like the World War II 
Memorial for Honor Flights by World War II veterans, yet it opened The 
National Mall for an amnesty rally by illegal immigrants. It closed 
simple parking lots and roadside turnouts that merely offered passers-
by distant views of Mount Rushmore and Yosemite. It ordered businesses 
to close just because they leased land from the Federal Government. It 
even tried to close the ocean to Florida fishermen. These measures had 
never been taken in prior shutdowns, and they often cost more than 
simply leaving these venues open.
  A constituent of mine in Hume, California, wrote, ``To get to my 
place of residence and work, I have to travel through the Big Stump 
entrance station of Kings Canyon National Park on Highway 180. 
Currently, the entire roadway is barricaded, and it appears as though 
the Park Service is attempting to prevent anyone from traveling to or 
through the national park. I was in the area 17 years ago as a young 
adult during the last government shutdown, and this type of thing 
didn't happen. Sure, the facilities at the visitor centers were closed, 
but the land was still accessible.''
  Now, why would the administration do this? Why would it deliberately 
order our public servants to ``make life as difficult as possible for 
people''? They told us why--because they were winning politically.
  On October 2, House Republicans, joined by 23 Democrats, passed H.J. 
Res. 70 to open the national parks, but the bill was killed in the 
Senate. Why? Well, they told us why. They were winning politically.
  When Republican Governor Jan Brewer stepped forward to use State 
funds to staff the Grand Canyon National Park--as Arizona had done in 
previous shutdowns--she was stonewalled by the administration for 10 
days. Why? Well, they told us why. They were winning politically.
  Now what was the outrageous Republican demand the Democrats refused 
even to discuss during the 16-day shutdown while they ordered our 
public servants to make life as difficult as possible for people? Well, 
on September 30, with the deadline just hours away, House Republicans 
had dropped all conditions to fund the entire government with one 
substantive exception: delay the individual mandate that forces people 
to buy policies against their will. Democrats summarily rejected this 
proposal and, for 16 days, refused to negotiate on this single point 
while literally accusing Republicans of sedition.
  Then, this past Monday, the President's press secretary made this 
stunning admission: the administration may, itself, seek to delay the 
individual mandate by dropping the penalty for noncompliance. They have 
got to be kidding.
  For the 16 days of the shutdown, the only substantive dispute was the 
Republican plea to delay the individual mandate for the millions of 
Americans who couldn't find or afford ObamaCare policies. Doing so 
would have ended the impasse instantly. During those 16 days, it was 
clear to everyone that the exchanges weren't working. Yet for 16 days, 
the President and congressional Democrats refused even to discuss the 
matter while they turned their formidable propaganda machine to the 
task of winning politically. Then, just 4 days after Republicans 
capitulated on all points, including dropping our single substantive 
request to delay the individual mandate, the administration is now, 
itself, considering delaying the individual mandate.
  Mr. Speaker, these facts speak for themselves and need no 
embellishment from me. John Adams once observed, ``Facts are stubborn 
things.'' As passions cool and reason resumes its rightful place in the 
Nation's discourse, these facts will speak eloquently and stubbornly of 
what happens when politics trump policy and propaganda trumps reality.

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