[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14868-14874]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  NATIONAL PARK SERVICE OPERATIONS, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NATIONAL 
GALLERY OF ART, AND UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM CONTINUING 
                    APPROPRIATIONS RESOLUTION, 2014

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
joint resolution (H.J. Res. 70) making continuing appropriations for 
National Park Service operations, the Smithsonian Institution, the 
National Gallery of Art, and the United States Holocaust Memorial 
Museum for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The text of the joint resolution is as follows:

                              H.J. Res. 70

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     following sums are hereby appropriated, out of any money in 
     the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of 
     applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and funds, 
     for National Park Service operations, the Smithsonian 
     Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and the United 
     States Holocaust Memorial Museum for fiscal year 2014, and 
     for other purposes, namely:
       Sec. 101. (a) Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate 
     for operations as provided in the Full-Year Continuing 
     Appropriations Act, 2013 (division F of Public Law 113-6) and 
     under the authority and conditions provided in such Act, for 
     continuing projects or activities (including the costs of 
     direct loans and loan guarantees) that are not otherwise 
     specifically provided for in this joint resolution, that were 
     conducted in fiscal year 2013, and for which appropriations, 
     funds, or other authority were made available by such Act 
     under the following headings:
       (1) ``Department of the Interior--National Park Service--
     Operation of the National Park System''.
       (2) ``United States Holocaust Memorial Museum--Holocaust 
     Memorial Museum''.
       (3) ``Smithsonian Institution''.
       (4) ``National Gallery of Art''.
       (b) The rate for operations provided by subsection (a) for 
     each account shall be calculated to reflect the full amount 
     of any reduction required in fiscal year 2013 pursuant to--
       (1) any provision of division G of the Consolidated and 
     Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (Public Law 113-
     6), including section 3004; and
       (2) the Presidential sequestration order dated March 1, 
     2013, except as attributable to budget authority made 
     available by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 
     (Public Law 113-2).
       Sec. 102.  Appropriations made by section 101 shall be 
     available to the extent and in the manner that would be 
     provided by the pertinent appropriations Act.
       Sec. 103.  Unless otherwise provided for in this joint 
     resolution or in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal 
     year 2014, appropriations and funds made available and 
     authority granted pursuant to this joint resolution shall be 
     available until whichever of the following first occurs: (1) 
     the enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or 
     activity provided for in this joint resolution; (2) the 
     enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act for 
     fiscal year 2014 without any provision for such project or 
     activity; or (3) December 15, 2013.
       Sec. 104.  Expenditures made pursuant to this joint 
     resolution shall be charged to the applicable appropriation, 
     fund, or authorization whenever a bill in which such 
     applicable appropriation, fund, or authorization is contained 
     is enacted into law.
       Sec. 105.  This joint resolution shall be implemented so 
     that only the most limited funding action of that permitted 
     in the joint resolution shall be taken in order to provide 
     for continuation of projects and activities.
       Sec. 106.  Amounts made available under section 101 for 
     civilian personnel compensation and benefits in each 
     department and agency may be apportioned up to the rate for 
     operations necessary to avoid furloughs within such 
     department or agency, consistent with the applicable 
     appropriations Act for fiscal year 2013, except that such 
     authority provided under this section shall not be used until 
     after the department or agency has taken all necessary 
     actions to reduce or defer non-personnel-related 
     administrative expenses.
       Sec. 107.  It is the sense of Congress that this joint 
     resolution may also be referred to as the ``Open Our National 
     Parks and Museums Act''.
        This joint resolution may be cited as the ``National Park 
     Service Operations, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery 
     of Art, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
     Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Idaho (Mr. Simpson) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Idaho.

                              {time}  1645


                             General Leave

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 70 and that I may include 
tabular material on the same.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Idaho?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise today in support of this important legislation to fund the 
operation of the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, 
the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and the National Gallery of Art.
  The effects of the government shutdown, which began at midnight last 
night, are already being felt across the country and in our Nation's 
Capital. As of this morning, all 401 National Park Service units in the 
United States, 19 Smithsonian museums and galleries,

[[Page 14869]]

including the National Zoo, the Holocaust Museum, and the National 
Gallery of Art, were closed to the public. This legislation, if 
adopted, would reopen these national treasures to the American public.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people woke up this morning to the 
headlines that read: ``The Capital of the Free World: Closed Until 
Further Notice.'' It's no surprise that the government shutdown has had 
an impact on real people and on the economy. On our National Mall, 
tourists yesterday raced from one museum to another, trying to see as 
many sights as they could with the government shutdown looming.
  It is estimated that the local economy could lose up to $200 million 
a day with the National Zoo, the Smithsonian museums, the Holocaust 
Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and other popular attractions 
closed to the public. This doesn't even begin to measure the national 
and international impact of these closures.
  In the case of the National Park Service, 21,379 employees across the 
country were furloughed today. This has an impact on real people. 
Families who long ago made plans to visit Yosemite or Yellowstone or 
the Statue of Liberty found these sites and others shuttered today. 
This has an impact on real people. I heard on the news about a group of 
World War II veterans who arrived at the World War II Memorial in 
Washington, D.C., today and found that the site had been barricaded. 
That didn't stop them from entering the memorial built to honor their 
sacrifice.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense bill, and I encourage my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I trust everyone in this body can imagine how much affection and 
respect I have for the national parks, that which I share with my very 
good friend from Idaho. We love the National Park System. I love the 
Smithsonian. When we have that family night, there is nothing more 
wonderful than taking our children to the Museums of American History 
and Natural History. I am so proud of what the Smithsonian offers the 
American people. The Holocaust Museum as well. You can't describe what 
happens to you emotionally when you walk through the Holocaust Museum.
  But notwithstanding how immensely valuable these institutions are to 
this country and how proud this Congress is of those institutions, I 
have to rise to oppose this legislation because it is not the way to do 
business. By that I mean, the idea of shutting down the whole 
government, and then when we get an adverse reaction from our 
constituents, we pick and choose and we open up a few.
  What happens tomorrow when the Social Security Administration comes 
to us and says, What about the 16,000 employees we just furloughed? 
These other folks got an exemption. How about us? It's going to happen 
every day with every agency until the Republican majority in the House 
realizes that every Federal agency is there for a purpose, and it's a 
purpose that serves the needs of the American people.
  But here we are. It hasn't even been 24 hours, and the House majority 
is feeling the heat from the government shutdown. We on this side 
warned the majority that you were playing with fire to shut down our 
government, but it is the American people who are going to get burned. 
Now, apparently, the heat has spread to the people responsible.
  Instead of reopening the entire Federal Government, which is exactly 
what we should be doing, the majority rushes to the floor a bill, under 
expedited procedures and with no opportunity for amendment, to reopen 
just four entities: the National Park System, the Smithsonian, the 
Holocaust Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. Of course, the 
National Gallery of Art should be open because it just so goes without 
having been said that, I think, we all share experiences of walking 
through the National Gallery. I mean, you can't find, really, anything 
comparable throughout the world except, perhaps, in the Louvre and in 
very few museums--but, my gosh, are we proud of it. Of course, the 
Smithsonian should be open. Of course, the Holocaust Museum should be 
open. Of course, our national parks should be open to serve the 
American people.
  Now, if we open these, at least our Federal employees will have a 
place to visit while the rest of the Federal Government is shut down, 
but it is so unfair to the rest of the government to pick and choose a 
very few agencies, which has no real impact on the budget, which is the 
issue here we are supposed to be dealing with. It's a marginal amount 
of money.
  This is an act of desperation. It's evidence, really, of how 
politically bankrupt this position of shutting down the government has 
become--degenerating down to picking winners and losers among Federal 
workers, just so as to dissipate the political heat, it will allow 
workers at the Smithsonian, at the Holocaust Museum, at the National 
Gallery of Art, and only those employees directly involved in the 
operation of our National Park System, to return to work. Even in the 
case of the national parks, thousands of National Park Service 
employees who are involved in historic preservation and in national 
recreation programs and in construction remain furloughed.
  What about the 10,200 furloughed employees in the Bureau of Land 
Management? I don't have many of them. I have one, but I don't have 
anywhere near as much of a presence of the Bureau of Land Management as 
my good friend from Idaho has.
  Can you justify the 7,750 furloughed employees of the Fish and 
Wildlife Service? This is hunting season, but you've got to close down 
these fish and wildlife refuges.
  There are 16,000 furloughed employees at the Social Security 
Administration who want to be serving the elderly and disabled.
  How about the medical researchers at the National Institutes of 
Health? When NIH comes to us and tells us what they're doing in terms 
of cancer research, in terms of the research on Alzheimer's and the 
like, what do we tell them? Are you going to tell them, ``We'll 
expedite under special procedures, and we'll pick you up? we'll take 
care of you next?'' Is that any way to run this government?
  How about the Centers for Disease Control and the immunization 
program workers? Shouldn't they be valued as much as the park rangers 
and museum workers, who, obviously, have earned their value as well?
  This bill is a bandaid on a shutdown that is disrupting the work of 
all Federal workers and the American people who rely upon the Federal 
Government to do its job. But for them to do their jobs, we have to do 
our job, and these exemptions aren't doing our job--picking and 
choosing what Federal activities we are going to allow to operate and 
which ones are going to remain shut down. It's going to prove itself to 
be a politically bankrupt as well as a morally bankrupt position. It is 
not fair to send 800,000 people home not knowing whether they're going 
to be able to pay their mortgages, take care of their children--sitting 
at home when they want to be serving the American people.
  It is time to stop the games. The Republican leadership needs to let 
its hostages go and get on with the real business of governing. Let us 
vote on a clean CR and reopen the government. If we could vote on a 
clean CR--and if a majority were all we needed, which is what the 
Founding Fathers anticipated--that democracy would rule--it would pass 
in the Senate and it would pass in the House, and we would be done with 
this Kabuki exercise. This stuff is beneath us.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to just respond. The gentleman from 
Virginia is correct in that this is no way to run the government.
  I would remind the gentleman from Virginia that we did pass 
resolution after resolution, and we sent them to the Senate to keep the 
government operating. Unfortunately, they were rejected by the body on 
the other side. Now, I suspect that you might have a

[[Page 14870]]

different take on why that was done. So, finally, we said let's go to 
conference to try to work out our differences. No, they wouldn't even 
do that. They rejected that.
  So is it fair to punish those people who have planned for months, 
sometimes years, to bring their families to Washington, D.C.? They've 
saved. They've put aside money so that they could come out here to show 
the American people our National Capital or to go to the Yellowstone 
National Park or Yosemite. Is it fair to punish them? This opens them 
and keeps them open for those people so that they can enjoy those 
natural things that you and I both love. There is absolutely no reason 
to punish them.
  Mr. MORAN. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SIMPSON. The gentleman from Virginia has his own time.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kentucky, Hal Rogers, the honorable chairman of the full Appropriations 
Committee.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding this 
time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which will reopen the 
doors of our national parks and memorials, the Smithsonian museums and 
facilities, and the Holocaust Museum.
  I couldn't believe my ears when the gentleman who just spoke said 
that he opposed the opening of these icons for Americans to visit.
  I can't believe that you would oppose that.
  The Capital City draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across 
the country--from all over the world, in fact--every year. To turn 
these visitors away from the highlights of this country is unbefitting 
of the Capital City. All over the country, our national parks preserve 
our rich national heritage and serve as a reminder to all of us of our 
history and the vast beauty that makes this Nation great.
  This legislation is essentially a portion of the clean continuing 
resolution I introduced several weeks ago. This is a piece of it. With 
that in mind, I certainly endorse this path forward. To keep these 
programs, parks, memorials, and facilities operational, this bill 
provides funding at the current annual rate of approximately $3.2 
billion. This is $2.4 billion for the national parks, $775 million for 
the Smithsonian museums and $48 million for the Holocaust Museum.
  While this bill helps to provide stability in this segment of the 
Federal Government, our jobs are far from done. We can't just fund the 
government in bits and pieces forever. Enacting full-year 
appropriations that reflect current needs should be at the top of our 
priority list. This bill keeps us on that path toward achieving that 
goal, but it's not the end of the line.
  Mr. Speaker, on this side of the aisle, we have offered now three or 
four opportunities for the U.S. Senate to avoid shutdown. They've 
rejected all of them out of hand--dead on arrival, they said--measures 
that would keep the government operating, keep employees at work and 
keep all of our national activities going on. Now they say, We are not 
going to talk with you, not even a discussion. We have appointed 
conferees to confer with the Senate. The Senate refuses to appoint 
negotiators, conferees, to discuss with the House side, bipartisanly 
and bicamerally, ways out of this rut that we are in. They simply 
refuse to talk, much less act.
  It reminds me a little bit of when Abraham Lincoln was practicing law 
back in Illinois. A young man accused of killing his parents came 
before the court, and his plea for mercy was that he was an orphan.
  I would hope the U.S. Senate would act. It's up to them. The bill 
that we passed last night--the amendment--would authorize the 
appointment of conferees, which the House did, and the Senate has 
simply refused to even talk. I thought that's what Congress was all 
about--negotiating, working across the aisle, working with each other, 
working with the other body to find some common path that we could all 
agree upon and then send the bill to the President for his signature. 
You can't operate if one side refuses to talk, so I urge the Senate to 
act.
  I support this bill, and I urge everyone to support it.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I say to my very good friend from Kentucky 
that that's a wonderful analogy, because this bill is an orphan that 
you're separating from the parent bill, where it belongs.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Virginia has 12\3/4\ 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. MORAN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Doggett).
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, thirty-seven of 40 National Park Service 
workers at the Missions National Historical Park in San Antonio have 
been sent home because of this shutdown nonsense. I'd like to have them 
back at work, but what about the 90 percent of the Small Business 
Administration field employees across town who've also been sent home?
  Suzanna Cabellero, president of Texas CDC, called this morning, just 
one of the agents processing small business loans, to tell me that this 
Small Business Administration shutdown is jeopardizing four of her 
small businesses that could create 214 Texas jobs. In two cases, the 
delay may cost a small business person to lose a purchase contract and 
earnest money. This latest Republican shutdown nonsense discriminates 
against small businesses; and to some of those small businesses, that 
discrimination may be fatal.
  What if a worker is killed this afternoon in a construction accident? 
Who from the largely shuttered doors of Occupational Health and Safety 
will be there to assure that another worker doesn't experience the same 
fate.
  Of course, the shutdown caucus is happy, gleeful, delighted that 
they've been able to shut down 94 percent of the Environmental 
Protection Agency. Their only trouble is that they didn't get the other 
6 percent, because they don't really believe in protecting, with 
effective safeguards, the quality of the air we breathe and the water 
that we drink.
  Instead of shutting down this whole government, this resolution says 
let's just have a little dismemberment. Through all of this reckless 
Republican maneuvering, it's not only the United States that cannot pay 
its bills, but it's so many of our families who are out there wondering 
how they're going to make the next truck payment or the next rent or 
mortgage payment.
  Shut down the Republican shutdown caucus before it strangles America 
the way it has strangled the House Republican Party.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Hastings), the chairman of the Natural Resources 
Committee.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation to 
fund our national parks. Nobody here wanted our government to shut 
down, but one of the consequences is that millions of Americans have 
been literally barricaded from entering our parks, memorials, and 
monuments. While it's understandable that some services would be 
limited in some parks, it's unfortunate that this administration has 
taken the unnecessary steps of closing off additional monuments in 
public places.
  Mr. Speaker, it appears to me the Obama administration is choosing to 
make this shutdown as painful as possible by unnecessarily preventing 
public access to open-air spaces and monuments. These are spaces that 
are normally open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long. These 
are places without doors or without gates. Yet the Obama administration 
is going out of their way to erect barricades and have people manning 
them in order to keep people out of these monuments. Mr. Speaker, 
that's flat-out wrong, and it is terribly wasteful.
  Just today, World War II veterans, who bravely fought to defend and 
protect our country, encountered armed National Park Police and metal 
barricades when they tried to visit their memorial, the World War II 
memorial.

[[Page 14871]]

Yet these veterans were undeterred. The shortsighted decisions by the 
Interior Department officials couldn't stop them from completing a 
visit to their memorial. I congratulate them for going in, as a matter 
of fact.
  This targeted bill before us today would allow our national parks and 
landmarks to reopen to the public, welcoming back tourists and families 
to these public lands that are critically important to so many local 
economies.
  Mr. Speaker, the House has acted multiple times, as has been said, to 
fund the government, but now it is time for the Senate to act. I 
support this legislation.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the very distinguished 
ranking member of the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations 
Committee, as well as the chair of our Steering and Policy Committee.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this irresponsible 
and purely political proposal by the House majority.
  The Government of the United States is shut down. Hundreds of 
thousands of Federal employees are furloughed. Our country is bleeding 
from 1,000 self-inflicted cuts, and this majority is trying to play 
political games rather than work to resolve the crisis.
  Because the majority has decided to shut the government down, all 
three of the priorities that we are voting on today--the Veterans 
Affairs Department, the National Park Service, the D.C. government--are 
in immediate need of funding, but so are countless other priorities 
that are not part of these proposals.
  Right now, nearly 9 million mothers and children are losing out on 
infant formula and nutrition support; food banks are being forced to 
curtail their activity. Food safety efforts at the Food and Drug 
Administration are being compromised. Families cannot get home loans. 
Small businesses cannot get SBA loans. Seventy-three percent of the 
National Institutes of Health have been furloughed, and biomedical 
research that saves lives is on hold. The Centers for Disease Control 
has been forced to halt its tracking of influenza cases right at the 
start of the flu season. Scientific research at NASA and the National 
Science Foundation is stalled. Federal economic reports used by 
businesses and investors are not being released. Environment reviews 
are not happening. Tax returns are not being processed.
  The government is shut down, and families all across America are 
being affected in countless different ways.
  On my way over here, I took the subway that takes us from our offices 
to the Capitol. The driver of that subway said to me: Do you see what 
they're doing, Ms. DeLauro? He said: I believe in opening up the park 
service and the D.C. government and the Veterans Affairs, but who cares 
about me? I don't know if I'm going to get paid. Do you know what kind 
of stress that has put me and my family under? All I could do was reach 
out my hand to him and tell him the Republican majority just doesn't 
care.
  It's time to get real. Reopen the entire government. Stop this 
irresponsible charade. I urge all of my colleagues to oppose this 
amendment.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my good friend from 
California (Mr. McClintock), who represents one of the most beautiful 
places in America, Yosemite National Park.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, the little towns around Yosemite 
National Park depend on tourism for their economies. They're still 
reeling from the Yosemite Rim fire that brought tourism to a near 
standstill last month.
  This morning, the National Park Service ordered all visitors out of 
the park due to the government shutdown, causing lodges and 
concessionaires to lay off employees and close. A local merchant tried 
to deliver $10,000 worth of perishable seafood to the park and was 
turned away. Unlike government employees, these folks don't get their 
backpay when the impasse is over.
  The one-two punch of the Rim fire and now the closure of Yosemite 
National Park make this one of the most economically depressed summer 
seasons on record. While the Senate obviously prefers a government 
shutdown to negotiating with the House over ObamaCare, I hope they will 
at least take pity on the gateway communities of our national parks 
that depend on tourism for their livelihoods and expeditiously pass 
this bill.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to Mr. Levin from 
Michigan, the very distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means 
Committee.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I think it's deeply disturbing that someone 
comes here and talks about a park. That's important, but a park?
  How about the children? How about the kids who need daycare? There 
are several billion spent on childcare and daycare in this country, and 
you're shutting it down.
  What about health research? You talk about parks. What about health 
research that involves the needs of people in your districts where 
there's a park?
  You're trying to evade reality. The reality is that you have to let 
all the hostages go, every single one of them. This Republican shutdown 
is a disgrace.
  Here's what you need to do: face up to it, bring up the Senate bill, 
and let the majority work its will. The only reason you don't do it is 
because part of your caucus is being held hostage. Bring it up. Most of 
us Democrats will vote for it, and more and more Republicans will vote 
for it, and we will end this shutdown.
  No more talk about parks. Let's get over this shutdown.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the 
great State of Montana (Mr. Daines), that has Glacier National Park in 
it.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support for the 
legislation that will reopen our national parks in this country, and I 
speak as a fifth-generation Montanan. I speak also as a voice of the 
people from the State of Montana who know that our national parks not 
only represent an important part of our economy, but also an important 
part of our national heritage.
  We're seeing firsthand, as we are listening to phone calls coming in 
from constituents across my State, the undue hardships that the 
communities surrounding Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks are 
facing due to Washington, D.C.'s failures.
  As a fifth-generation Montanan, I've got great memories of visiting 
Montana's national parks. In Yellowstone Park, fishing, spending time 
listening to the elk bugle in September, seeing Old Faithful. In 
Glacier National Park, there is nothing like going over Going-to-the-
Sun highway, watching mountain goats there on Logan Pass.
  But communities like Glacier, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Kalispell, 
around Yellowstone Park, West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cooke City, Silver 
Gate, Livingston, they're being directly affected by these parks being 
shut down. They depend on these parks for tourism, for economic growth, 
for jobs.
  I'm grateful I raised these concerns this morning to the leadership 
of the House, and here we are this afternoon responding to these 
problems and solving them. A little less talk, a lot more action is 
what is needed. I'm glad we're going to be moving forward here to open 
up the national parks.
  I urge Congress to come together and provide the funding needed to 
keep our national park gates open.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to Mr. DeFazio from 
Oregon, the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. DeFAZIO. I thank the gentleman yielding.
  Wow, the Republicans just figured out that their irresponsible 
activities of shutting down the government for political purposes have 
led to some unpopular things, like closing the national parks. They saw 
it on television. So, okay. They're going to try to put a bandaid on 
the national parks.
  What about other natural resource agencies? I'm pleased that you're 
going to do something for the parks. But

[[Page 14872]]

what about Fish and Wildlife? What about all of our national wildlife 
preserves? What about the U.S. Forest Service campgrounds, BLM 
campgrounds?
  Today I just met with the chief of the Forest Service. He is 
suspending all activity for emergency recovery and repairs and anything 
for restoration on the Rim fire in California and on other fires 
throughout the West. And he has suspended all activities on any 
possible potential salvage. This impact is even bigger.
  Then what about someone who has just turned 66 and wants to go down 
and get their Social Security benefits? Well, they can sign up, but 
they can't get it because they can't process it. What about somebody 
who is due for treatment at the National Institutes of Health? They're 
dying of cancer. Well, sorry. They're not taking any more patients.
  So you want to put a bandaid on a few things that are getting on 
television, a few things that sound good. But you don't want to back 
off your unbelievably irresponsible, politically motivated shenanigans 
here about a full closing down of the government of the United States, 
which is having a real impact to accomplish ends you couldn't 
accomplish in the last election.
  We don't have a system where one-half of one branch of the government 
gets to dictate to the Senate and the President of the United States 
and the courts. And that is what you are trying to do.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Idaho has 8\1/2\ minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from Virginia has 4\1/4\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Ellison).
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, this stunt about helping a few people who 
are embarrassing the Republicans because of some TV coverage is the 
wrong thing, I'm telling you.
  What about the folks in my district? In the Star Tribune ``Hundreds 
turned away from Social Security office.'' Hundreds turned away--what 
about them?
  Look, we could reopen the government right now if we put this Senate 
CR on and pass it and then argue about all that stuff you want to talk 
about. Open up the government, every bit of it.
  Mr. SIMPSON. You say we could reopen the government, yes, if we put 
the Senate CR on the floor. We could also open it if the Senate would 
bring up the House CR and pass it. So there are different ways to 
address this.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. It is with great pleasure that I yield 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the very distinguished 
minority leader.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for 
his leadership. I also thank the distinguished chairman of the 
committee for his leadership and supporting the natural resources of 
our country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Senate did pass the House CR on more than one 
occasion and sent it back here. Accept what they had on it; they had 
accepted your number--take ``yes'' for an answer--a number that even 
the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Rogers, our distinguished 
chairman has said does not adequately support government in its 
purposes of helping the American people.
  But nonetheless, in the spirit of going to a conference, they 
accepted your number, as do I. I said over and over again to the 
Speaker and on the floor of the House more than once, including this 
morning, that we make an explicit proposal to you that we accept your 
CR number and look forward to going to conference on that number. So it 
has been accepted.
  You haven't taken ``yes'' for an answer, because why? Because you 
wanted to undo the Affordable Care Act. And that was the part of your 
proposal that was unacceptable. And this is exactly what we're doing 
right now.
  This isn't about the parks. They are using the parks as a pawn. This 
is about defunding the Affordable Care Act on a day when millions of 
people are logging in to find out how they can enroll. It's really a 
remarkably historic day, where people can receive the promise of our 
Founders--of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A healthier 
life, the liberty to pursue their happiness, and following their 
passion, whether it's to be in Congress or to be a photographer, an 
artist, to start their own business, to be self-employed, to change 
jobs. The entrepreneurial spirit will be unleashed on our country. It's 
a great day.
  So here we are, back on the floor of the House, trying to come in the 
back window to, once again, go down a path to defund the Affordable 
Care Act. It's not going to happen.
  While we can all sing the praises of our leadership, our chairman, 
and our ranking member on their support of parks while cutting them off 
from other services of the Interior Department, that's curious. But 
it's not about the parks. It's about the Affordable Care Act.
  I urge our colleagues to see this for what it is. It's pathetic. It's 
not responsible. It's beneath the dignity. I keep saying that, but we 
keep getting further beneath the dignity of what our responsibilities 
are in this House.
  Let us reject this because, you know, they took hostages by shutting 
down the government. And now they are releasing one hostage at a time. 
Now it's the parks. Later it's veterans. Our veterans fought for our 
country, for our children, for our families, for our society. We've 
already passed an appropriations bill that covers our veterans in that 
respect. But our veterans need more than what is in the veterans bill. 
They depend on other services of the United States Government. So if 
we're honoring our veterans, let us do so in a way that honors what 
they fought for and honors what they need beyond veterans benefits.
  And then they talk about the District of Columbia. I know why you 
probably don't want to take a vote on the District of Columbia, because 
I don't know how many people over there will vote to support the 
District of Columbia. Certainly, certainly it should be treated like 
any other entity. We would all be in an uproar if our States were 
treated the way this Congress treats the District of Columbia. But 
they'll use them as a pawn, too.
  This is all subterfuge. This is a waste of time. It's not going 
anyplace, thank heavens. But what it is is not about what they're 
talking about--parks, veterans, or the District of Columbia. It's about 
the Affordable Care Act. One at a time, we'll do our cherry-picking so 
at the end of the day, we can isolate the Affordable Care Act. We're 
not going to let that happen. And let's just deal with our colleagues 
with some level of integrity as to what this is about.
  That's why as tempting, as alluring as their camaraderie of opening 
up government may be, they're throwing us crumbs while they take the 
pie someplace else. So I urge a ``no'' vote on all three of these 
suspensions.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to remind the gentlelady, 
my friend from California, that there is a process. And it's called, 
when the House and the Senate disagree on something, they ask for a 
conference. And they go to conference and they try to work that out.
  But my good friends on the other side of the rotunda chose to say, 
No, we don't even want to talk about it. We don't care what you want. 
We don't want to talk about it. And so they were unwilling to go to 
conference to discuss it.
  The other thing I would notice--I don't know that it is beneath the 
dignity of this House to make sure that when the World War II 
veterans--who are scheduled to come here tomorrow to fly the colors and 
celebrate at the World War II Memorial but are presently barricaded 
out--to make sure that that memorial is open so that they can enjoy it. 
I don't know that that is beneath the dignity of this House. That is 
all this bill is trying to do.
  I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao).

[[Page 14873]]


  Mr. VALADAO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the World War II 
veterans who today sent a clear message that they would not be locked 
out of their own memorial. This morning, because of the Senate 
Democrats' unwillingness to negotiate on a deal to fund the government, 
the National Park Service was ordered to close many of our Nation's 
monuments, including the National World War II Memorial. These 
memorials are not regularly closed for any purpose and remain open 24 
hours a day. The government went out of their way to ensure Americans 
could not access their own memorial.
  Not to be deterred, a group of veterans on an Honor Flight from 
Mississippi showed the resolve that made them America's Greatest 
Generation, moving barricades aside so they could appreciate the 
memorial that commemorates their generation's heroism and sacrifices.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans--especially America's heroes--should not be 
punished because Senate Democrats refused to come to the table and do 
their job, negotiating a solution to fund the government. The bill 
before us would reopen America's national monuments and parks so that 
we, as Americans, can continue to honor our heroes in the manner they 
have earned.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the World War 
II veterans who made headlines today and the dozen more Honor Flights 
that will visit the National World War II Memorial this week by passing 
the bill before us and ensuring that the memorial will be open to 
welcome our Nation's heroes.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, today 30 child cancer patients were turned 
away from NIH's clinical center because three-quarters of the staff was 
furloughed.
  With that, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Andrews).
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I think everyone here would like to be sure 
that those World War II veterans can see that memorial. And the way to 
do that is to put the Senate bill on the floor and pass it right now, 
which is what would happen. Before the clock strikes midnight, the 
government shutdown would be over.
  Now if the majority persists with this charade, here's what will 
happen: I'm skeptical that this bill will pass. But if it does, it will 
go to the Senate, and they start all over again on their mystical 
magical Senate procedures. Maybe it goes somewhere and maybe it 
doesn't. Maybe someone filibusters it maybe they don't. If you are 
serious about opening up the monuments, opening up the NIH, opening up 
NASA, all the things that you say you want to do, put the Senate bill 
on the floor, and let the majority work its will. We all know: that 
bill will pass.
  And to the American people, we say about the pain of this government 
shutdown: this too shall pass.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) on the Rules Committee.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we are 17 hours into the Republican 
shutdown of the Nation's government, and the Republican majority has 
come up with yet another bit of meaningless political theater. This is 
show business wrapped in spin. And don't take my word for it. Let me 
read to my colleagues part of a memo that was sent out by the 
Republican leadership earlier today.
  And I quote:

       Today the House will begin a strategy of passing limited 
     and targeted funding bills with the goals of being on the 
     offensive and taking away Democratic talking points.

  Did you catch that, Mr. Speaker? The Republican goal is not to end 
the government shutdown. Their goal isn't to come to the table for 
serious negotiations on the budget. Their goal is to write another 
press release.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I love national parks. I support them fully, and I 
want full funding for these parks above the awful sequester levels. But 
what about the cancer drug trials at NIH? What about the low-income 
mother who has been cut off from WIC?
  Mr. Speaker, when my kids were little, we used to give them trail mix 
as a snack. There was granola and raisins and nuts and all kinds of 
healthy things. But my kids always wanted to pick out the M&Ms. That is 
what this Republican majority has been reduced to, trying to pick out 
the M&Ms from the trail mix. Eventually, my kids grew up. I hope the 
Republican majority will do the same.
  We can do this the right way. We can pass a clean CR that has already 
passed the Senate. It is time for them to put on their grownup pants 
and do their job.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, there are millions of visitors every year to 
the Bureau of Land Management. And yet the entire BLM is closed down 
because of the shutdown.
  I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), 
the distinguished ranking member of the Rules Committee.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, so less than 12 hours from where we were 
last night--maybe a little longer than that--you've discovered that 
shutting down the government is not as funny as you thought it was when 
you came from the meeting in the basement. Everybody laughing and 
talking about how giddy you were about it.
  Let me tell you that since all of this has been about trying to kill 
the health care bill, I simply wanted to put on the record that this 
morning, in the first 2 hours of the exchange opening in the State of 
New York, 2 million people logged onto the Web site. I don't have the 
figures for the rest of the day, but we are off to a smashing start. So 
I think you guys are going to have some explaining to do.

                              {time}  1730

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Idaho has 6 minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from Virginia has 30 seconds remaining.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, even after we exempt national parks, 81 
percent of the entire Interior Department will be furloughed.
  I yield the remaining 30 seconds to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Perlmutter).
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member.
  Two hours ago, one of my constituents showed up in person at my 
district office in Lakewood. She was frantic and in tears. She just 
received her furlough notice last night.
  She's a Federal employee who has been furloughed 3 days since March. 
She's a single mom of a 25-year-old and a grandmother of a 2-year-old, 
both of whom live with her.
  She works hard, goes to work every day, and can't understand why she 
has to pay the price for these political shenanigans. I can assure you 
she's not celebrating like I saw some of my friends on the Republican 
side last night.
  We've got to defeat this piecemeal. We've got real people who are 
hurt by this shutdown, and we need to take care of it right now and get 
the CR on the floor.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I would urge all my colleagues to support this legislation. In spite 
of the Democratic majority leader on the other side of the rotunda's 
shutdown plan, the fact is every Republican wants the government to 
stay open.
  We've passed several bills over to the Senate and asked them to take 
them up that would have kept the government operating. And at last we 
said, okay, you won't go for our plans; let's go to conference and talk 
about it.
  But, no, they wouldn't even do that, wouldn't even go to conference 
to talk with us about it. It was shut it down. That's exactly what they 
wanted. In fact, all the time leading up to this, the only people 
talking about shutting down the government were my friends on the other 
side of the aisle.
  Republicans did not want to shut the government down, and so now what 
we're trying to do is to open up parts of

[[Page 14874]]

the government and see if we can get some consent on that.
  I would have thought my friend from Virginia who loves the national 
parks just like I do and loves the Smithsonian and knows the importance 
of it, particularly to this area, would have been persuaded by the $200 
million in revenue that comes in because of the Mall and the tourists 
that come here. But, apparently, that's not good enough.
  What you need to do is quit holding the national parks, the 
Smithsonian, the Holocaust Museum and others hostage to your desire to 
shut down the government. That's what's going on here.
  You think we're holding the Affordable Health Care Act hostage. 
You're holding our national parks hostage.
  And remember, we've got millions of people that have sat down, made 
plans to visit their national parks. They may have been planning for 6 
months. They may have been planning for several years to save the money 
to visit Washington, D.C., to visit our Nation's history, or to go to 
Yosemite or to Glacier National Park or the Grand Canyon. If you've 
never been there, you need to go to them; but all of a sudden now they 
can't go.
  Do you find it strange that, as Mr. Hastings said during his debate, 
the World War II Memorial is open to the public. There are no doors. 
There are no gates. You can walk through that at any time, day or 
night. It is just on the Mall.
  Yet when the government is shut down, the Obama administration 
decided to put a barricade around it. For the first time they put a 
barricade around it so that you couldn't even walk through it.
  We've got World War II veterans planning to come here tomorrow now 
asking--average 85 years old--they're asking the airline if they can 
refund their ticket and get them at another time.
  If they do it another year, a lot of those 85-year-old people won't 
be with us. They're coming here because they want to visit their 
memorial, the World War II Memorial.
  But, no, the Obama administration has put barricades around it. Does 
that sound to you like maybe they're trying to make this as painful as 
they possibly could?
  I think so. All we're trying to do is reopen the national parks, the 
Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art 
because they're important to the people that want to come here.
  Are the other institutions that were mentioned during this debate 
important?
  You bet they are. We would like to open every single one of them; and 
we will keep trying, in spite of the opposition from my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle.
  Mr. MORAN. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SIMPSON. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. MORAN. I thank my very good friend.
  As my friend understands, the reason why the World War II Memorial 
was closed down was for security reasons so that no one can damage it 
because there are no employees able to protect it.
  But I really ask sincerely, because you know better than I, about the 
revenue, $1 billion that's raised from the Bureau of Land Management. 
You talked about the hundreds of millions that come in from national 
parks. BLM raises even more, and yet BLM is being completely 
furloughed. So we are losing revenue.
  Wouldn't my good friend agree that this is not the way to run the 
government's business or to operate the Interior Department?
  Mr. SIMPSON. Reclaiming my time, as I mentioned, this is not the way 
to run the government, absolutely not the way to run the government. 
Everyone on this side of the aisle agrees with that.
  But the fact is we have a difference between the House and the 
Senate. And what do you do when you have a difference between the House 
and the Senate?
  Should it have been done 2 months ago?
  Sure. It wasn't. We are where we are today, and now we need to sit 
down and work out the differences between the House and the Senate, and 
I suspect we have a difference of opinion of how we came to this point.
  Mr. MORAN. I suspect we have an agreement that what we need to do is 
to pass a clean CR, and that fixes the whole problem so we don't have 
to do these little bills one after the other. That's what we need, a 
clean CR.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I would encourage all my Members to support 
this to keep our national parks open so that the families and their 
children can enjoy these national parks, and we will work on the rest 
of the government, trying to make sure that we get it open and get 
around this Democratic shutdown of the government.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge this bill's passage, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the joint resolution, H.J. Res. 70.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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