[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 15060-15061]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     FRUSTRATION OVER THE STALEMATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Mrs. Roby) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to express my frustration 
and the frustration of my constituents over the stalemate here in 
Washington.
  It didn't have to come to this. The House has put forth four 
proposals to the Senate, each one offering a compromise to the other 
side. Time after time Senator Reid stonewalled our efforts to forge a 
compromise and prevent a shutdown. When House Republicans passed 
legislation that simply asked Senate Democrats to just simply come to 
the table to negotiate, Senator Reid said no.
  Everyone knows that Republicans and Democrats don't see eye to eye on 
every spending issue. However, there is a lot that we do agree on, like 
funding critical care for cancer research, the national parks, veterans 
services, National Guardsmen and Reservists. And when we have drafted 
stand-alone bills funding these efforts, we saw support from some 
Senate Democrats. But again, Mr. Reid said no.
  So first we couldn't get Mr. Reid to negotiate over what we disagree 
on, and today we can't get him to even consider what we do agree on.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know how many more olive branches we have left 
on the tree, but today we are going to offer more. We have already 
worked to ensure that young boys and girls who need cancer treatments 
from the National Institutes of Health receive the lifesaving medicine 
they deserve.
  Today, we will work to protect our Nation's military men and women 
who have served so honorably in combat, only to have their hard-earned 
benefits denied to them by partisan bickering.
  Finally, and most importantly, we will work to end this shutdown, not 
just for some Americans, but for all Americans, because, Mr. Speaker, 
this has always been an issue of fairness.
  So our message to President Obama is, you are willing to sit down 
with Big Business and insurance companies to negotiate delays and 
exemptions and exceptions from the health care law. Why will you now 
refuse to negotiate with us and give the same reprieve to regular 
Americans?
  Our message to the Majority Leader Reid is, you worked swiftly to 
pass a

[[Page 15061]]

stand-alone funding bill for Active Duty soldiers. Why now not work 
with us to pass similar bills for veterans, our National Guardsmen and 
Reservists, cancer research, or national parks?
  The people deserve better, Mr. Speaker, than President Obama and 
Majority Leader Reid's refusal to work toward bipartisan compromise. 
Enough is enough. Pass these noncontroversial spending bills. Come to 
the negotiating table. Let's talk. Let's demonstrate fairness to the 
American people. Let's work together, and let's end this shutdown.

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