[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5678]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HOLDING THE GOVERNMENT HOSTAGE

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe, but in less than 12 
hours, the government will shut down unless Congress acts.
  The Republican leadership should bring a clean CR to this floor free 
of all their controversial riders so that we can keep the government 
running for another few days so that the negotiators can continue their 
talks and get a deal. But it is outrageous that today we are not doing 
that. We're bringing a net neutrality bill to the floor which has 
nothing to do with anything, and we should be spending our time talking 
about instead how we should save the jobs of hundreds of thousands of 
people that are in the balance if this government shuts down, how we 
should save the social safety net, because it's gone if this government 
shuts down.
  The Republicans should stop holding this government hostage and stop 
using these controversial social riders as ransom. We need to keep this 
government going. We need to get a deal. Take this net neutrality bill 
off the floor today. Instead, bring a clean CR so we can all vote and 
keep this government running so we can get a final deal.

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