[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TODAY IS A DISGRACE

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, today's the first day of the Republican 
shutdown of our government. It's a disgrace. And why?
  Because of this obsession with repealing, weakening or defunding 
ObamaCare, a bill that was passed by both Chambers after full debate, 
signed by the President, affirmed by the Supreme Court, was a central 
issue in the last Presidential campaign.
  But this obsession with denying millions of Americans access to 
quality, affordable health care has caused our friends on the other 
side of the aisle to shut down the government unless they get their way 
on this policy issue.
  That's not how our democracy works. Our friends have allowed the Tea 
Party coalition within their caucus to hijack our government and shut 
it down, causing harm to veterans and seniors and Federal employees, 
and stopping the basic functions of government.
  It's time to end this practice. It's time to put the American people 
first.
  You got exactly what you wanted. One of the key spokesmen of the Tea 
Party, one of our colleagues said, and I quote:

       We're very excited. It's exactly what we wanted, and we got 
     it.

  The American people deserve better.

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