[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 13 (Saturday, January 20, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H587-H588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      OPEN THE GOVERNMENT BACK UP

  (Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, at this hour, the Federal 
Government is needlessly shut down because of Senate Democrats. One 
party in one House of this Congress is deliberately holding our 
government hostage. This did not need to happen.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important for people to understand why this is 
happening. On Thursday, this House responsibly passed a bill to keep 
the government open and to extend the Children's Health Insurance 
Program which covers nearly 9 million children who come from low-income 
families. No games. No strings attached. A straightforward bill. We did 
our job.
  But Senate Democrats simply refused to do theirs. Last night, they 
used the filibuster to block our bill and to shut down the government. 
But why? What exactly in this bill was it that the Senate Democrats 
opposed? Why would they do such a thing? What do they find so 
objectionable? What do they disagree with? What is so objectionable 
that it is worth holding the entire government hostage?
  Was it funding for our military?
  Was it the Children's Health Insurance Program?
  Is it funding for the Veterans Administration?
  Is it funding for our National Parks?
  What is it?
  The answer is, they have no problems with any of it, and, yet, they 
are blocking this legislation anyway. That is right: Senate Democrats 
shut down the government over a bill that they have no issues with. 
They opposed a bill they don't even oppose.
  We do some crazy things in Washington, but this is utter madness. 
Here is the simple truth: Senate Democrats refuse to fund the 
government unless we agree to their demands on something entirely 
unrelated. They want a deal on immigration, and then they will think 
about reopening the government. It is a shakedown strategy that Senate 
Democrats have been talked into by their base.
  Now, I could go on and on about how cynical I think this ploy is--and 
I certainly do--but let me read you something Senator Schumer himself 
said in 2013, the last time we found ourselves in this position with a 
government shutdown.
  Here is what in 2013 during a government shutdown Senator Schumer 
said:
  ``No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you shouldn't hold 
millions of people hostage. That's what the other side is doing. That's 
wrong, and we can't give in to that.''
  Let me repeat that first line:
  ``No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you shouldn't hold 
millions of people hostage.''
  He was right. You shouldn't. But that is exactly what he and his 
party are doing right now.
  Here is something else that Senator Schumer said in 2013.
  ``I believe in immigration reform. What if I persuaded my caucus to 
say, `I'm going to shut the government down, I am going to not pay our 
bills unless I get my way?' It's a politics of idiocy, of 
confrontation, of paralysis.''
  ``Politics of idiocy.'' His words, not mine.
  Here is one more quote from Senator Schumer in 2013 during that 
government shutdown:
  ``We believe strongly in immigration reform. We could say `we're 
shutting down the government . . . until you pass immigration reform.' 
It would be governmental chaos.''
  Sadly, he had that right as well.
  Mr. Speaker, as we speak, furlough notices are going out to Federal 
workers across the country. Half of the Defense Department's civilian 
workforce has been furloughed. Training for Reserves has to stop. 
Guardsmen have to be sent home. A number of States are going to run out 
of money for children's health insurance. And all of this, all of this 
is completely unnecessary.
  But Senate Democrats believe none of it is too high a price to pay 
for appeasing their political base. There was no reason for this 
shutdown. We have been, and we continue to be, willing to work together 
in good faith on immigration, but that deadline is weeks away. There is 
no good reason for Senate Democrats to keep willfully forcing a 
shutdown on this country.
  Now, I want to take a moment and I want to address the men and women 
who work here in the Capitol and who work around the country in this 
government, whether you are in the military or in the Reserves or you 
are law enforcement or medical researchers or people working at our 
National Parks, whichever you do, wherever you are,

[[Page H588]]

whatever it is that you are doing for the taxpayers.
  Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifices that you 
and your families make. We could not be more grateful. You should not 
have to go through this uncertainty. You deserve so much better than 
this needless shutdown, and we hope that it will end very soon.

  Mr. Speaker, Senate Democrats shut down this government, and now 
Senate Democrats need to open this government back up. Stop holding our 
troops and children's health insurance hostage. End this reckless 
shutdown that is inflicting needless uncertainty on our country. Let 
common sense and cooler heads prevail.
  Come to your senses. Do the right thing. Open this government back 
up.

                          ____________________