[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5674]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     AVOID THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Mrs. Ellmers) for 3 minutes.
  Mrs. ELLMERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my colleagues, 
and call on Senator Reid to pass a bill to avoid the government 
shutdown.
  I've been sitting here listening to my colleagues across the aisle, 
and I am in complete amazement at their lack of ability to remember 
history accurately.
  Thanks to the efforts of Speaker Boehner, this House, this Republican 
leadership, has consistently led. We did what the 111th Congress did 
not do: We passed a budget to fund the government through the end of 
the fiscal year.
  H.R. 1 was passed under an open rule, with open debate, and truly 
reflects the will of this House and the people that sent us here with 
their votes last November. Again, open debate, and it truly reflects 
the will of the people.
  Their message was, and is, get serious about cutting spending and 
change the culture in Washington so we can get our Nation back on a 
stable fiscal path. Remove many of the uncertainties facing our 
families and businesses, both large and small, and we can create an 
environment for job growth.
  Unlike my colleagues across the aisle, we here in government cannot 
create jobs. The private sector creates jobs.
  It has been 48 days since the House Republicans passed this bill, but 
we have yet to see a bill passed in the Senate to fund the government 
for the remainder of the year.
  Yesterday, House Republicans listened to the will of the constituents 
who thought it shameful that our Nation's bravest women and men, 
volunteering to put their lives on the line for our freedom, should 
have to face prospects of not getting paid during this government 
shutdown.
  With the passage of H.R. 1363, we fund the troops for the remainder 
of the year, regardless of any prospect of a shutdown, so those men and 
women fighting in the three theaters now and their families will not 
have to face the worry about whether they will get paid.
  Yet to hear Senator Reid's refusal to consider this bill in the 
Senate, and to hear President Obama threaten to veto this bill is 
nothing less than shameful. To choose to put politics before our 
soldiers and their families, to me, is appalling.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the President and the Senate majority 
leader to end this political game and work with us to ensure and 
provide for the Nation's military families to continue to fund our 
government.
  The fact is discretionary spending has increased over 83 percent 
under the current administration, and the Senate majority leader and 
the President are choosing to shut down the government over a less than 
2 percent cut in spending.

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