[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. CARTWRIGHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, once again Congress is set to play 
politics by threatening to shut down the government, rather than work 
toward a compromise.
  Just last month, we marked a disgraceful anniversary of our Nation, 
the S&P's downgrading of the full faith and credit of the United 
States.
  Gridlock and extremism did what wars, natural disasters, and other 
natural crises could not do: cause credit rating agencies to question 
whether or not America had the political will to pay its debts as they 
come due.
  Now we're faced with another deadline with the end of the fiscal year 
fast approaching, a budget that needs to be passed and a debt limit 
that needs to be lifted so we can continue to do business.
  Congress has a lot of work to do. We need to do it fast. This is the 
work we were elected to do. Let's stop holding blame-game press 
conferences and get the job done.

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