[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14956-14957]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           POLITICAL BRINKMANSHIP OVER RESPONSIBLE COMPROMISE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I take to the floor with a heavy 
heart, a heavy heart that is disappointed, frustrated and, frankly, 
outraged by our government shutdown.
  Once again, we have put partisan politics ahead of the needs of the 
American people; and as I stand before you this morning, millions of 
Americans are already suffering the consequences at the hands of a 
dysfunctional Congress. The legislative process that has resulted in 
this shutdown reflects a neglect of the responsibilities that we were 
sent here to meet.
  The House majority had a chance to avert the government shutdown, but

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chose political brinkmanship over responsible compromise. In order to 
avoid the shutdown earlier this week, the Senate sent the House a bill, 
a compromise spending bill, which accepted the Republicans' lower 
funding levels. Instead of allowing a clean funding bill to come to 
this floor, the House majority, once again, attached unreasonable 
amendments which had no hope of gaining bipartisan support.
  Now House Republicans want to partially open the Federal Government, 
cherry-picking winners and losers. This is no way to run a government. 
Think about it: if we and all of the small businesses and big 
businesses out there would run their institutions the way we run this 
Congress, our economy would be in shambles.

                              {time}  1130

  I hate to play the blame game, Mr. Speaker, but this government 
shutdown is solely the responsibility and the creation of House 
Republicans. We have tried to compromise, but Republicans time and time 
again have been using America's tax-paying money to redebate again and 
again the Affordable Care Act.
  People say that House Democrats, the Senate, and the President should 
compromise on this. How do you extend a hand to a clenched fist? You 
cannot compromise when the other side is not willing to accept the fact 
that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It has been 
debated. It has been voted on. It has been found to be constitutional. 
Let's just get on with the American people's business.
  I think that if we all ran our households and our businesses the way 
this Congress is now functioning, simply put, it would be unacceptable. 
We know better. We know that it's irresponsible and reckless to make 
the American people pay when we don't get our way. We were sent to 
Congress to represent something bigger than ourselves. We were sent to 
represent the American people, all of the people, all Americans, not 
just the privileged few.
  We represent every military family and every veteran, from the 
homeless veteran in Birmingham, Alabama, to those serving overseas 
right now. We represent every child in this great country of ours, from 
the child who will eat free lunch today because of the SNAP program, to 
the child here in D.C. who is enrolled in the Head Start program. All 
Americans. We were elected to be representatives. We need to start 
earning the title of being a representative by representing all of the 
people. It's unacceptable that we are in this Chamber while the rest of 
government is shut down. It is unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge that you bring to this House floor a clean 
funding bill unencumbered by unreasonable amendments. Bring a clean 
funding bill to this floor, and I guarantee you that both Republicans 
and Democrats would pass that bill and we would open back up the 
Federal Government.
  It's important that we put our partisan politics aside and truly 
start representing the American people that sent us here. Let's be 
representative of all the people.

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