[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14953-14954]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE PRICE OF PARTISAN GAMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, partisan games have serious 
consequences. One of the many consequences is in my Arizona district 
where the Grand Canyon National Park is closed and our local economy is 
taking a direct hit.
  Instead of acting responsibly and funding the government with a clean 
bill, on Monday night the House GOP acted recklessly. The bill that 
they passed Monday night was so weighted down with partisan baggage 
that they knew it would lead to a government shutdown, and yet they 
chose this approach intentionally.
  The price of these partisan games is high and the American people are 
now stuck with the tab. Some estimates have the shutdown costing our 
Nation about $300 million every day. In Arizona and across the country, 
this hurts our working families, small business owners, veterans, and 
seniors. And this hurts our tribal communities. I have 12 Native 
American tribes in my district. All of these folks need and deserve to 
have elected leaders working to help them, not hurt them.

[[Page 14954]]

  After what happened on Monday, we must now do the urgent work of 
funding and reopening our government. But instead, the House GOP is 
stalling with more games, introducing piecemeal bills that pick winners 
and losers for funding. Last night, they tried to do it with piecemeal 
bills for veterans and for national parks.
  I will always fight for our veterans. I am proud to serve them in my 
work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. The first piece of legislation 
I passed this year will help our veterans who are stuck in the VA 
backlog.
  And I will always stand up for our national parks. I am grateful to 
live near the Grand Canyon, a national treasure. My district has many 
of these wonderful destinations. I recently introduced a bill that will 
protect and expand the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in southern 
Arizona.
  So my support for these issues is clear. But the real way to support 
our veterans and support our parks is to reopen the government. And if 
piecemeal is their solution, then what about making sure Social 
Security offices are open to help our seniors?

                              {time}  1100

  What about making sure programs to help women and children are up and 
running? What about our Indian health services, which serves the 12 
tribes in my district?
  We need to restart everything and protect our economy. Taking a 
piecemeal approach to the shutdown is like driving down a dead-end 
street. The House GOP knows this, and yet they refuse to allow a vote 
on a clean CR.
  We are wasting precious time. Every ounce of energy and urgency in 
Congress should be directed toward reopening the government and 
protecting our economy. Our local economies in Arizona are taking a 
direct hit.
  Yesterday, on day one of the shutdown in my district, busloads of 
tourists and hundreds of visitors were turned away from the Grand 
Canyon National Park. These folks waited a year or more for their turn 
to go on a river rafting trip in the canyon. There were even folks 
whose weddings, planned long ago, had to be scrapped today.
  The Grand Canyon National Park generates more than $1.2 million a day 
in visitor spending. That spending, like the government, is now shut 
down.
  I represent several other national park attractions, including the 
Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon Ruins National 
Monument, and the Montezuma Castle National Monument. These are some of 
Arizona's most important economic drivers. We can't afford to hang a 
``closed'' sign out in front of these destinations. This shutdown will 
devastate the small communities in my district.
  I call on my House colleagues to stop the games and get to work to 
restart government.

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