[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14858-14859]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LET'S NEGOTIATE, MR. REID

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Meadows) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to ask the Senate to work with 
the House because of this shutdown.
  You know, four times now we have met here in the House to send a plan 
over to Harry Reid to ask him to consider to negotiate, to find some 
solution to avoid the shutdown. But indeed,

[[Page 14859]]

he made a decision that we would not have an honest, open debate; we 
would not negotiate. Instead, one person in the Senate decides the fate 
of our government, of the American people, and it all comes down to 
Harry Reid.
  When we look at this, we were here until 1:30 this morning passing 
the fourth proposal--and I agree with some of my colleagues, they're 
saying you're negotiating against yourself. But we wanted to go that 
extra mile to make sure that we put forth that final proposal that 
says: Can we not find some common ground?
  Now Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues have made comparisons to the 
Taliban. You know, I don't find that there are any American citizens 
that deserve that kind of rhetoric and name-calling. It's time that we 
have an honest and open debate about the merits of this offer, the 
merits of this debate.
  I come from North Carolina. And in North Carolina, we are one of two 
States that are the worst off of the side effects of ObamaCare. I just 
got off of a phone call from a government worker who I thought was 
going to give me a hard time because of the shutdown, and yet she and 
her husband said that they serve our Federal Government loyally right 
now. He has served in the military. And he says: You know what, we're 
standing with you, Mr. Meadows, because you're standing with the 
people.
  I think that what we must do is never forget who we've been elected 
to represent and support. Because you know what, it's not about here in 
Washington, D.C. It is not about the people that write down the news 
headlines. It's about the people that we represent back home. And it's 
time that we start negotiating.
  I find it unconscionable that we would send four different proposals 
to the Senate, and three of them they didn't even vote on. Why is that? 
Because they want to provide political cover. This quit being about the 
people and it started to be about politics. Why? Because Harry thinks 
that he will have an advantage by shutting down the government, that 
they will blame those in the House. Well, I want to ask you, Mr. Reid, 
how can you blame someone who has sent you four different proposals, 
and the best that you can do is just say no response?
  I think it is high time that we get together and we work together for 
the common good. You know, there is not a better example of that than 
when we passed a Pay the Military Act just the other day in the event 
of a shutdown to make sure that our military men and women who serve 
this country faithfully and loyally are paid. And what did we find? 
Well, that wasn't politically expedient to ignore over in the Senate, 
so they passed that and it is now law.
  It is time that we put the American people in the same focus. It's 
time that we come together and understand that there are hurting 
families back home--people that are losing their jobs, people that are 
having to be forced to part-time, people that truly are starting to see 
their insurance go away. They can't keep their doctors anymore. It's 
high time that we start to address that. People expect a difference, 
and I'm committed to represent those people of western North Carolina.
  I think the other part of it is key, and I'll close with this, Mr. 
Speaker: I'm willing to work around the clock so that we can find the 
best way to make sure that we put people back to work here in the 
government because they are families, too. I've got friends that I've 
met here that I can see, and I can honestly say that it is hurting me 
that Harry Reid is not thinking about them.
  This is not about politics, it's about people. And it's about time 
that we come together and start to negotiate. I challenge the leader of 
the Senate to quit giving the cover votes. Because when we put forth 
something that says that Congress should not get a better deal than the 
American people, he should have taken it up.

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