[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 15117-15126]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will be 
in a period of morning business for debate only until 2 p.m., with 
Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President pro tempore is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, several people have spoken. I was touched 
so much by the Chaplain's prayer and by the words of the leader about 
our Capitol Police. The leader, in his young days as a student, served 
as one of the Capitol Police.
  Because I am President pro tempore, I do have a security detail. But 
long before I had that, I made it a point to go--every time I would see 
a police officer on this campus, I would say: You keep us all safe. 
Keep yourself safe. We worry about you.
  I am wearing this pin applauding them today. I think we have to know, 
tourists who come here, Members, staff--everybody is kept safe by these 
brave men and women. I asked those who are assigned to me to join me in 
my office for a silent prayer yesterday for the safety and the recovery 
of the officer injured, but also for the safety of all of those police 
officers.
  They rush in. They rush in when there is trouble. They do not say: 
Oh, gosh, I am not getting paid. Or, gee whiz, I am supposed to go off 
duty in a minute. They rush in, no questions asked. They are 
extraordinarily well trained, one of the best trained police 
departments anywhere in the country. I think we owe them a debt of 
gratitude.
  We have also heard a lot over the last few days here on this floor 
about the costly impacts of this needless government shutdown. It is 
needless. Of course, the solution to reopening the government is an 
easy one: the Senate has passed a resolution which would reopen the 
government while we work on a meaningful compromise to address our 
budget and our national debt. Because of a small radical group of tea 
party activists in the House of Representatives, they will not even 
vote on it.
  The House of Representatives has decided on a different approach. The 
irony of their parochial, bit-by-bit funding proposal is not lost on 
the hundreds of Vermonters who were given furlough notices on Tuesday, 
or the veterans in Vermont and across the country who fear the long-
term impacts of a government shutdown.
  They are holding the government hostage, and with it the millions of 
Americans impacted by this shutdown. They wish to pick and choose 
little popular things and say: Here, we are for that. They don't want 
to stand and vote yes or no on actual appropriations, because if they 
do that they have to take a position. It is easier to vote maybe. If 
they vote maybe, they can go home and say: Oh, we are for medical 
research. We are for the veterans.
  No, they are not. They voted to shut it down. We had a Member of the 
House of Representatives on television posturing to a group of veterans 
saying isn't it terrible the administration is closing off the 
veterans' memorial. One of the veterans caught them and said: No, it is 
not the administration that is closing it, it is you. It is you people, 
the small group of the House of Representatives that has closed it 
down.
  Why don't they bring the Senate-passed resolution to the House floor 
for a vote? This vote would end the shutdown. Instead, a handful of 
extreme ideologues in the House are deciding--arbitrarily--who is worth 
supporting in this crisis, and when. Bring it to a vote. Have all 435 
Members stand and vote, yes, we will open the veterans programs, the 
medical research, and everything or, no, we will not. They have to be 
on record yes or no.
  The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony yesterday--the 
distinguished Presiding Officer is a member of that committee, the 
distinguished deputy majority leader is. We heard from the Director of 
National Intelligence about the danger to our country from the threat 
that increases every day because of all the people who had to be 
furloughed. Every day the shutdown continues, our readiness and 
preparedness declines.
  That was evident on Tuesday when the Department of Defense released 
guidance to the National Guard that it would need to issue massive 
furloughs, even though the National Guard is essential in this country.
  That included 450 technicians of the Vermont National Guard and an 
additional 100 Vermont Guardsmen who were recalled from Active orders--
their weekend drills, cancelled. This is where 3,000 members of the 
Vermont Guard come together for joint training, so it results in a 
decrease in that readiness. This also impacts our national security 
just the type of scenario that Director Clapper mentioned.
  Some of the 450 military technicians in Vermont who received furlough 
notices on Tuesday are at home without

[[Page 15118]]

pay, after forfeiting 20 percent of their pay for six weeks this summer 
because of sequestration.
  I know many of them personally. Some are neighbors of mine in 
Vermont. These are real people. I have heard from some of them. They 
have called and emailed my office. They are asking why their service to 
the country and their local communities, which is so essential to our 
military readiness and to our ability to respond to crises like natural 
disasters, can be so readily dismissed. I could not agree more with 
them. They are not getting paid every week as are the Members of the 
House of Representatives--the tea party group--who are holding them 
hostage.
  I believe the number of furloughs in the National Guard was a 
misinterpretation by the Department of Defense. This week, the House 
and Senate adopted legislation to ensure that members of our Nation's 
military receive their pay, despite the government shutdown. I am the 
cochair of the National Guard Caucus. I supported this effort in part 
because the legislation specifically mentioned the Guard and reserves. 
Today, I have joined Senator Manchin and others in a letter asking the 
Secretary of Defense to reconsider the Department's interpretation.
  The government shutdown also affects our veterans. There are nearly 
50,000 veterans who call Vermont home. This shutdown is not how we 
thank our veterans and military members for their service. This is not 
how we show them our support.
  I have received phone calls and emails from Vermonters about the 
impact of the government shutdown on services for veterans, but my 
distinguished colleague from Vermont, who is the chairman of the 
Veterans' Committee, has also heard from these people. These are real 
people. They showed up in support of this country when they were asked. 
Now they say: Why aren't you supporting us?
  Veterans across the country know that while their benefits payments 
will continue in the near-term, furloughs within the Veterans 
Administration are unfair to our veterans who, after their service, 
were promised our support. Our veterans and military members, including 
those of our National Guard, should never question our commitment to 
their well-being, especially after all they have sacrificed to ensure 
ours. They now have a real question: what is our commitment to them? We 
didn't question their commitment to the country when they served, but 
now where is our commitment to them?
  We are not going to solve this problem by adopting a piecemeal 
approach, meant to win headlines and promote the blame game. That is no 
way to run a government. The Senate already passed a bill, a clean 
continuing resolution, to keep our government running, and to fulfill 
our commitments. It's time to stop picking winners and losers. If we 
are serious about caring for our servicemembers and veterans, we need 
to get serious about moving beyond this shutdown.
  The distinguished chair of the Budget Committee is on the floor. She 
got a budget through this committee. I remember passing the last vote--
I think it was 5:30 on a Saturday morning after we had gone all day 
long. Then, when we wanted to go to conference to actually work out the 
differences with the House, oh, no, then they might actually have to 
vote on something. It is blocked by a Senator working with the tea 
party in the House, saying: Oh, no, we can't go to conference.
  The same people are giving speeches saying: Why can't we have a 
budget? We passed a budget. Oh, no, now we might actually have to vote 
on something. We might have to vote yes or no instead of maybe. We are 
elected to vote yes or no, not maybe. Have the courage to do that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. I wish to thank the President pro tempore, as well as the 
majority leader for their comments this morning. I am wearing a button, 
as many of my colleagues are, that says thank you to the Capitol 
Police.
  The one I am wearing is not one that was issued today but one I asked 
to be commissioned after 9/11 because I thought about the extraordinary 
courage these men and women showed that day when an imminent attack on 
this building was well known. Yet they did everything in their power to 
protect all of us who work here and those who were visiting. I give a 
special thank you to them.
  Yesterday was a tragic day. A young woman--it is still unclear what 
motivated her--was involved in an incident at the White House, backing 
into a police vehicle and then trying to escape, followed by a Secret 
Service officer. She drove toward the Capitol Building and, sadly, her 
life was taken.
  It is understandable. We live in an era where this campus, the U.S. 
Capitol grounds are carefully guarded for obvious reasons. It is a 
clear, visible target to those who hate the United States. Someone in a 
car is a threat. We know that because car bombs are so common in some 
parts of the world and we are wary of vehicles that may be used to harm 
innocent visitors or people who work in the U.S. Capitol Building.
  It will be some time before we sort out all the details of what led 
to this incident yesterday, but there is something we know very 
clearly; that is, that the men and women in the Capitol Police stepped 
forward to defend this Capitol Building and all those who work and 
visit here. They did this risking their own lives.
  This morning's Washington Post has a few paragraphs on this which 
bear repeating for the record:

       What seems beyond doubt is that Secret Service personnel, 
     Capitol Police and probably many others rushed toward, not 
     away from, danger--as they are trained to do and as Americans 
     expect them to do. Inside Congress, aides took cover, traded 
     anxious text messages and then went on with their work.
       Like hundreds of thousands of other federal employees, 
     these are men and women whose contributions have been 
     demeaned by the federal shutdown, who are being asked to work 
     without, at least for the moment, being paid--and who are 
     doing their jobs with considerably more dignity than the 
     House of Representatives has mustered.
       ``We all owe the Capitol Police a debt of gratitude for 
     their work every day; no finer examples of professionalism & 
     bravery,'' tweeted House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). 
     That's true. But Mr. Boehner owes them, and the rest of the 
     federal workforce, more than a 140-character message of 
     thanks. He owes them a paycheck; he owes them a budget; he 
     owes them an apology.

  How many times have we listened on the floor of the Senate as those 
from the other side of the aisle criticize federal workers, try in some 
way to demean the contribution they make to this great Nation, trying 
to find some way to lay them off, if not fire them, or to restrict 
their pay over and over; they are trampled on; they are political 
casualties time and again on the floor of the Senate.
  Yet each and every one of us, every Member of Congress in the Senate 
and the House, our staffs and our families and those who visit are safe 
because of these men and women, these Federal workers. It is about time 
we realize when we shut down the government, it is the ultimate 
disrespect to these men and women who simply want to do their job to 
make this a safer and better nation.
  It was very visible on the grounds right off the Capitol Building 
itself yesterday afternoon. While many of us were told to stay in our 
offices, don't move, for at least half an hour, these men and women 
risked their lives during a government shutdown when they aren't 
receiving a paycheck. It was very visible--and should have been visible 
to everyone--the irony of this situation that we shut down the 
government and yet ask them to risk their lives without promise of a 
paycheck.
  I wish to mention one other thing that happened yesterday that may 
not have been noticed, where the impact of government shutdown is not 
quite as visible. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State, testified about the 
fear of Iran developing a nuclear bomb and sanctions imposed by the 
United States and the civilized world to persuade them not to develop a 
nuclear bomb.
  She went on to say: The government shutdown that has furloughed 72 
percent of the civilian intelligence employees in our government is not 
making this a safer country or giving us the eyes and ears around the 
world we

[[Page 15119]]

need to make sure Iran does not develop a nuclear bomb, a nuclear 
weapon.
  She added: Within the Department of the Treasury, 90 percent, 9 out 
of 10, of the people working in the agency which has the responsibility 
of specifically watching that the sanctions in Iran are enforced have 
been furloughed--90 percent of them.
  It isn't only a matter of the visibility of Capitol Police risking 
their lives, despite this demeaning government shutdown, it is also 
that less visible, such as 72 percent of our intelligence workers 
charged with keeping America safe, avoiding another 9/11, have been 
sent home. Ninety percent of those who are watching carefully so Iran 
does not develop a nuclear weapon were sent home because of this 
government shutdown.
  This is the third embarrassing, shameful day of this government 
shutdown. People say how could it possibly end? It could end very 
simply. Speaker John Boehner has on his desk in the House of 
Representatives a continuing resolution which is a spending bill which 
will reopen the government for at least 6 weeks. He should call that 
for a vote today. He will receive bipartisan support. He shouldn't fear 
that. He should celebrate it, bipartisan support to reopen this 
government.
  Then I hope he will accept the invitation of Senator Reid and others 
to meet with Senator Murray, the chairman of the Budget Committee, sit 
down, plan the spending, plan the savings, and plan the important 
policy decisions--which we have for 6 months tried to bring to this 
floor--in a conference committee. Let's do it and do it today. Today 
should be the end of the government shutdown.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the editorial 
from today's Washington Post and an article from The Daily Beast on 
Iran.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Washington Post, Oct. 3, 2013]

 Essential Workers: Those Dedicated to Serving the Public Deserve More 
                     Than a Brief Message of Thanks

       The order went out to Capitol Hill personnel Thursday 
     afternoon in capital letters: SHELTER IN PLACE. It was a 
     terrifying moment for a community already on edge. The scare 
     ended with less carnage than we have come to fear in such 
     moments--but not before we were reminded again of the 
     dedication of those who work for the government. Maybe that 
     reminder will bring some politicians to their senses.
       As we write this, investigators are trying to sort out the 
     series of events that apparently began when a woman tried to 
     drive her car through a security barrier near the White House 
     and ended with shots fired near the U.S. Capitol. What the 
     woman, who was killed, intended, whether police responded 
     appropriately, what lessons may be drawn about the efficacy 
     of security barriers: All of that remains to be examined.
       What seems beyond doubt is that Secret Service personnel, 
     Capitol Police and probably many others rushed toward, not 
     away from, danger--as they are trained to do and as Americans 
     expect them to do. Inside Congress, aides took cover, traded 
     anxious text messages and then went on with their work.
       Like hundreds of thousands of other federal employees, 
     these are men and women whose contributions have been 
     demeaned by the federal shutdown, who are being asked to work 
     without, at least for the moment, being paid--and who are 
     doing their jobs with considerably more dignity than the 
     House of Representatives has mustered.
       ``We all owe the Capitol Police a debt of gratitude for 
     their work every day; no finer examples of professionalism & 
     bravery,'' tweeted House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). 
     That's true. But Mr. Boehner owes them, and the rest of the 
     federal workforce, more than a 140-character message of 
     thanks. He owes them a paycheck; he owes them a budget; he 
     owes them an apology.
       Beyond the shooting Thursday, Washington was full of the 
     usual posturing, speculating, rumor-trading and jockeying for 
     public relations advantage. Maybe the shutdown would be 
     wrapped into the default. Maybe the Obamacare demands would 
     be subsumed into ``grand bargain'' demands. Maybe this, maybe 
     that.
       Meanwhile, there are mothers who depend on federal 
     assistance for nutrition for their children. There are motel 
     owners and workers on Skyline Drive whose livelihood is 
     threatened because the national parks are closed in what 
     should be their peak season. There are dedicated scientists 
     and food inspectors and intelligence analysts who have been 
     told by Mr. Boehner that he and his fellow Republicans do not 
     consider their work all that essential to the nation.
       Those scientists and inspectors and analysts are not the 
     nonessential ones.
                                  ____


                  [From the Daily Beast, Oct. 2, 2013]

    Government Shutdown Empties Offices Enforcing Sanctions on Iran

                            (By Josh Rogin)

       The shutdown has forced the Treasury Department to furlough 
     most of the employees enforcing sanctions on Iran, just as 
     the U.S. is beginning new negotiations. Josh Rogin and Eli 
     Lake report on the potential fallout.
       With the government shut down, most U.S. officials 
     enforcing sanctions on Iran are not at work, potentially 
     undermining pressure on Tehran as U.S.-Iran negotiations 
     recommence, according to administration officials, lawmakers, 
     and experts.
       The Treasury Department has furloughed approximately 90 
     percent of the employees in its Office of Terrorist Financing 
     and Intelligence (TFI), which is responsible for the 
     monitoring of illicit activities and enforcement of sanctions 
     related to several countries, including Iran, Syria, and 
     North Korea, Treasury officials told The Daily Beast. The 
     drastic scaling down of personnel working on those activities 
     comes just as the Obama administration is engaging in its 
     first set of diplomatic negotiations with the new Iranian 
     government, led by President Hassan Rouhani (/articles/2013/
     09/26/what-hassan-rouhani-really-said-about-the-holocaust
     .html).
       A subsection of TFI, the Office of Foreign Asset Control 
     (OFAC), which implements the U.S. government's financial 
     sanctions, has been forced to furlough nearly all its staff 
     due to the lapse in congressional funding, said a Treasury 
     Department spokesman.
       ``As a result, OFAC is unable to sustain its core functions 
     of: issuing new sanctions designations against those enabling 
     the governments of Iran and Syria as well as terrorist 
     organizations, WMD proliferators, narcotics cartels, and 
     transnational organized crime groups; investigating and 
     penalizing sanctions violations; issuing licenses to 
     authorize humanitarian and other important activities that 
     might otherwise be barred by sanctions; and issuing new 
     sanctions prohibitions and guidance,'' the spokesman said. 
     ``This massively reduced staffing not only impairs OFAC's 
     ability to execute its mission, it also undermines TFI's 
     broader efforts to combat money laundering and illicit 
     finance, protect the integrity of the U.S. financial system, 
     and disrupt the financial underpinnings of our adversaries.''
       Two other subsections of TFI, the Office of Intelligence 
     and Analysis (OIA) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement 
     Network (FinCEN), also are working with a skeleton crew. 
     According to FinCEN's shutdown plan (PDF (http://
www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/
FinCEN%20Shutdown%20Plan_ 
     revised%20FY%202014_Web%20Version.pdf), 30 of 345 employees 
     were kept on after appropriations ran out Oct. 1.
       Administration officials often tout the various rounds of 
     sanctions (/articles/2013/09/23/lawmakers-set-a-high-bar-for-
     iran-to-escape-sanctions.html) passed by Congress and signed 
     by President Obama as crucial to pressuring the Iranian 
     regime to strike a deal to bring its clandestine nuclear 
     program into accordance with international standards of 
     transparency and convince the world it is not developing a 
     nuclear weapon.
       ``If the lights are not on, then the Iranians will engage 
     in massive sanctions busting to try to replenish their 
     dwindling foreign exchange reserves.''
       ``Because of the extraordinary sanctions that we have been 
     able to put in place over the last several years, the 
     Iranians are now prepared, it appears, to negotiate,'' Obama 
     said Monday (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/
09/30/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-netanyahu-
israel-after-bilate) after meeting with Israeli Prime 
     Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. ``But we 
     enter into these negotiations very clear-eyed. They will not 
     be easy. And anything that we do will require the highest 
     standards of verification in order for us to provide the sort 
     of sanctions relief that I think they are looking for.''
       Pressures must be kept in place and even strengthened as 
     new negotiations with the Iranians begin, Netanyahu 
     responded. But the furloughs are making it more difficult to 
     enforce the sanctions during the budget stalemate.
       FinCEN processes tips from banks about suspicious activity 
     and possible money laundering, and shares the data with law 
     enforcement. The network and OFAC are two of the most potent 
     tools the U.S. government has used to pressure Iran.
       ``Given the fact that the vast majority of FinCEN employees 
     have been furloughed, important pieces of financial 
     intelligence will not be sifted through and analyzed by the 
     agency charged with this task,'' said Avi Jorisch, a former 
     policy adviser for the Treasury Department's TFI office. The 
     government is shut down, Jorisch said, but ``money launderers 
     are certainly not taking vacation.''
       Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for the 
     Defense of Democracies, said Iran could capitalize on the 
     lack of monitoring and sanctions enforcement to replenish its 
     coffers and advance its nuclear program while no one is 
     looking.
       ``If the lights are not on, then the Iranians will engage 
     in massive sanctions busting to

[[Page 15120]]

     try to replenish their dwindling foreign exchange reserves,'' 
     he said. ``If you don't have the resources to investigate, 
     identify, and designate the tens of billions of dollars of 
     Iranian regime assets, then you've extended the economic 
     runway of the Iranian regime and increased the likelihood 
     that they could reach nuclear breakout sooner rather than 
     later.''
       In Congress, top Democrats blame House Republicans for 
     failing to pass a continuing resolution to keep the 
     government running.
       ``Today, we learn that the Republican shutdown is hurting 
     the Treasury's efforts to implement sanctions against Iran to 
     prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon,'' Rep. Jerrold 
     Nadler (D-NY) told The Daily Beast. ``This insanity has to 
     stop. We must not allow a few extreme members of the 
     Republican Party to threaten our national security any 
     longer. Speaker Boehner should put a clean bill on the floor 
     and allow an up or down vote on reopening the government 
     today. Any further delay clearly threatens our national 
     security.''
       Top Republicans involved with Iran sanctions said the 
     administration is to blame for not keeping the Treasury 
     employees at their jobs.
       ``Enforcing sanctions and stopping illicit financial 
     transactions are core national security missions,'' Sen. Mark 
     Kirk (R-IL) told The Daily Beast. ``The administration should 
     not be putting our national security at risk to score 
     political points. All sides need to find common ground and do 
     what's right for the American people.''
       Treasury officials say they are implementing the shutdown 
     guidelines given to them by the Office of Management and 
     Budget and doing the best they can with limited resources.
       ``The House Republicans' decision to shut down the 
     government has real consequences, and it goes to our ability 
     to execute our mission, which is integral to protecting our 
     country and advancing our interests,'' a Treasury Department 
     official said. ``We are still enforcing our sanctions, we are 
     still capable of taking action if necessary, but it's a hell 
     of a lot harder and we can't be nearly as nimble and 
     comprehensive as we could be if Congress would pass a clean 
     CR.''
       Meanwhile, the State Department, which has somehow managed 
     to avoid any significant staff reductions due to the shutdown 

     (/articles/2013/09/30/how-the-government-shutdown-hurts-
     national-security.html), is beginning a new round of 
     negotiations with Iran in conjunction with its partners in 
     the P5+1, set to take place later this month in Geneva 
     (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130930/eu-plays-
down-deadline-iran-talks-0).
       State Department officials told The Daily Beast on 
     Wednesday that the shutdown won't affect those plans.
       ``Dealing with Iran's nuclear program is an absolute top 
     priority for the State Department, and Undersecretary Wendy 
     Sherman and the State Department team are working hard every 
     day on this issue preparing for the next round of talks in 
     Geneva with Iran and our international partners,'' said Marie 
     Harf, deputy State Department spokeswoman.

  Mr. DURBIN. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I join with our majority leader who 
spoke just a moment ago, the majority whip who just spoke so 
eloquently, as well as our President pro tempore who just spoke, to 
thank our Capitol Police, Secret Service officers, and all those who 
responded so courageously yesterday to the situation in the Nation's 
Capital. We depend on them to be there to do their jobs for all of us. 
We need to be there to do our jobs as well today.
  I thank all of them for doing their jobs, and I plead with our 
colleagues to do our jobs.
  I am so disappointed that we find ourselves again in the morning 
waking up where the government is shut down, where families and 
communities across our Nation are feeling the impact today and worried 
about what the impact will be tomorrow.
  I spoke to some small businessmen only a few days ago in my office 
from the construction industry. The impact on their contracts, lack of 
contracts or uncertainty about their contracts is affecting their 
ability--and they are now worried they are going to have to lay off 
some of their employees because they can't sign contracts when they are 
so uncertain whether our government is going to be paying our bills in 
the future.
  I met with some Head Start moms a few days ago. I spoke with a young 
woman who told me this passionate story about being homeless and on the 
street with a brandnew baby because of an abusive spouse. The Head 
Start folks in her community found her, found her a shelter, placed her 
in some education courses about how to be a mom. In 2 years, she is now 
on her own, working, and back in school because of a government service 
that was there for her. She didn't plead to me; she pleaded for those 
other moms or dads who are out there who now face uncertainty and may 
not have that help in the future.
  I have talked to veterans, as the President pro tempore knows, the 
former chair of the Veterans' Committee, about having worked so hard to 
make sure our veterans get the services they need as they come home. 
They are not here pleading for themselves, although they are very 
worried about whether, as this goes on, they will get the services they 
need. They are pleading, as veterans always do, so selfless in their 
service to our Nation, for us to get the government moving again so our 
country is back on track, this country that they have so proudly fought 
for and that people are now hurting.
  Today, of course, we are hearing news of a storm, a tropical storm 
that is approaching our Nation as well.
  Families across the South are paying attention to that and they are 
worried about what a government shutdown or impact might be to them as 
they face that news on their television and radios this morning. Of 
course FEMA will be there. They have told us they will be able to call 
back their furloughed workers. They are prepared to respond to this, as 
our great Nation always must. But we have to be very concerned about 
what happens in the future if this government remains shut down--
whether there will be reimbursements in a timely fashion, whether 
cleanup will be able to move forward, and whether there will be an 
ability to pay for that.
  Thousands of members of the National Guard, who have been furloughed, 
as this approaches us, will need to be called back to get ready for 
that emergency. Of course, if there is any significant damage--and we 
all pray there is not, but if there is--cleanup and recovery will 
likely be impacted because of furloughs at the SBA and at the 
Department of Transportation. All of our government agencies and 
government employees who are normally there to respond in a disaster 
are today not at work, not getting ready, not possibly there in the 
future, if this shutdown continues.
  So I hope for the best for these communities as this storm is 
threatening. I know our Federal workers will do everything they can to 
protect these families. We owe it to these communities that are 
impacted by this storm and to communities across the country to get our 
government back up and running as quickly as we can, which can happen 
very fast.
  And by the way, Madam President, I will be here later today to talk 
about the impacts on my State. The impacts of this shutdown are real, 
and as it continues, so is the uncertainty it produces. Our ability to 
respond as a Nation to any kind of disaster is a concern for every 
family.
  But I am here today to say it doesn't have to be this way. The answer 
to this is so simple. As the majority whip just said, there is a bill 
in the House of Representatives right now, this minute, that is sitting 
there, and Speaker Boehner can simply bring it up for a vote. We know 
it has the votes to pass. It will say this government will continue to 
run until November 15, and it will give us the opportunity to then 
negotiate and to deal with the broader issues that we all know we need 
to deal with in terms of our budget. But we cannot hold our communities 
and the future of this country hostage while we negotiate those bills.
  So it is so easy. The Speaker can take up this bill, put people back 
to work--our government employees, who need to respond to any kind of 
emergency. Our National Guard will be back at work. Our veterans will 
not have to worry about payments coming for them, and this will be the 
country for our fellow countrymen as we always have been--all that, 
simply by Speaker Boehner bringing up a bill that would quickly pass. 
It would then go to the President, and then this would be over.

[[Page 15121]]

  I know there has been a lot of talk the past few days about a grand 
bargain. No one on this floor has worked harder than I have to get us 
to a budget compromise so we have a path in the future to deal not only 
with our debt and deficit but also with our deficit in terms of 
transportation and education and our deficit in terms of our 
investments that we need to make as a country to be strong in the 
future. We all know what the sides are on that. We all know we need to 
come to the table and solve that--that is, the differences we as 
leaders of this Nation need to address.
  I have worked extremely hard on that, and it is time for us to do 
that. As everyone on this floor knows, we were told by our Republican 
counterparts and told and told and told the Senate needs to pass a 
budget. I became budget chair at the beginning of this year. We did our 
job. Our committee passed a budget. We brought it to the floor. We 
lived through 5 days of amendments. We brought up every amendment 
possible and voted on over 100 of them and then we passed that budget. 
That was the time, 6 months ago, when we should have then said, the 
House has passed a budget, the Senate has passed a budget, let's go to 
conference and figure out those differences so we don't end up in this 
crisis today.
  That is the expectation people have of a democracy. Unfortunately, we 
were told time and again: No, we are not going to allow you to go to 
conference. So here we are in a crisis. Well, let's address this crisis 
first. First, let's put people back to work. Let's get our country and 
our economy moving quickly again, and then allow us to go to conference 
to deal with those issues that are so critical to this Nation in terms 
of our fiscal responsibilities and the investments and priorities we 
need to make as a Nation.
  So my plea today is to the Speaker to take up the bill, to allow the 
country to work again, and then for us to take up our responsibility to 
find solutions to the disagreements we truly do have as a Nation. I 
urge my colleagues to urge the Speaker to allow the country to get back 
to work, and then let's get to the table and let's solve this.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Ms. AYOTTE. Madam President, I want to first thank the Capitol Police 
for their bravery and for the important work they do in protecting all 
of us in the Capitol. Yesterday really showed how important they are. 
So I want to thank them for everything they did yesterday to make sure 
people were protected.
  This is day 4 of the government shutdown--a shutdown that did not 
need to happen. I had hoped when I came to the floor a couple of days 
ago, and when I heard congressional leaders were meeting with the 
President, at his request, that they would emerge from that meeting 
with a plan to end this impasse and get the government open again, to 
come to an agreement as to how we can responsibly fund the government 
and address the challenges we face as a Nation. But coming out of that 
meeting, what we got, of course, was a President who said he will not 
negotiate.
  From the beginning, I have said this strategy was an ill-conceived 
strategy by some Members of my own party who thought that defunding 
ObamaCare--therefore, shutting down the government--would, No. 1, stop 
the exchanges from opening. But we knew that was not going to happen. 
In fact, it has already happened, even though we shut down the 
government. It was ill conceived because, again, we knew that with the 
President and the Senate Democrats in charge, they were not going to 
defund their signature piece of legislation.
  As much as I support repealing that piece of legislation--because I 
have seen the impact already in my own State of New Hampshire, in terms 
of premiums and in terms of less choice for individuals, and I do 
believe there is a better way to address health care in this country--
where we find ourselves right now is unacceptable for America. It is 
unacceptable as leaders elected by the people of this country. We owe 
it to our constituents to resolve this now. Both sides need to get 
together and we need to resolve this.
  I would say to my Republican colleagues in the House and to some in 
this Chamber, it is time for a reality check. Defunding ObamaCare did 
not work as a strategy, so let's find common ground and work together, 
yes, to address the very legitimate concerns we have with this health 
care bill, but also to get this government funded. I would say to my 
Democratic colleagues here in the Senate and to the President, come to 
the table and negotiate. Let's work this out on behalf of the American 
people. I will say it again: I think where we are is the result of an 
ill-conceived strategy by many in my party, leading to an immature 
response that says we will not negotiate and talk and try to work this 
out on behalf of the American people.
  We all know the American people are the ones suffering the most from 
this shutdown. I have heard it from our guardsmen in New Hampshire who 
have been forced to go to the unemployment office, Federal employees 
who wonder whether they will be able to pay their mortgages, furloughed 
civilian workers in New Hampshire at one of our proudest military 
installations in this country, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and small 
business owners who can't get the help they need from the Small 
Business Administration. They deserve better than this.
  I hope, as we head into this weekend, the President, the leaders of 
the House, the leaders of the Senate will get together, and that we 
will get behind them on behalf of the American people, to get this 
government open, to resolve our differences, to find common ground and 
do the people's business.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. RUBIO. First, let me also start, Madam President, by thanking the 
men and women of the Capitol Police and the District of Columbia and 
the Secret Service. It reminds us they are the thin blue line standing 
between us and danger. This is a moment to extend our thanks to all law 
enforcement and first responders around the country who, on a daily 
basis, are on that thin blue line as well. So we are all grateful for 
what you do for us and how you keep us safe.
  I wanted to talk, of course, about this week. It has been an 
interesting week, to say the least, beyond the events of yesterday. 
When we turn on the cable news, it features these countdown clocks 
leading up to the government slowdown. Now, in the aftermath of it, we 
see the countdown about how many days we have been into this thing.
  Look, there is no doubt this impasse we are at is a problem for the 
country. This is not the best way to run the most important government 
in the most important country in the world.
  There are people around here who all they do is focus on politics. 
For them, every day is election day. They are focused on who is 
winning, who is going to get the blame, and who is this going to help 
in the next election. I suppose that has a place in politics and in the 
governing process. But let me answer the question: Who will get the 
blame? We all are. Every single one of us in the House, the Senate, and 
in the entire Federal Government will get the blame.
  And let me tell you why. Because there are people who woke up this 
morning who didn't get enough sleep last night. Maybe they were up late 
helping their kids with their homework. They got up, guzzled a bunch of 
coffee and forced themselves to work. They didn't want to work. They 
were tired. But they had to. And they are going to work today, and they 
are going to get home and go through all that again. And they are 
wondering: Why can't you guys do that? Why can't you do your job? I 
think that is a very valid frustration that people have with this 
process and with those of us here today.
  I am not happy about some of the things we have seen this week or 
over the last couple of weeks. I think it is very unfortunate--some of 
the rhetoric

[[Page 15122]]

that has been used around here, both in this Chamber and in the public 
domain. But each day that goes by, what I am more and more worried 
about may not be what everybody else, or at least too many people here, 
are worried about. See, I think it is wrong that those of us who stand 
on principle, who believe, for example, ObamaCare is going to badly 
damage our economy--I think it is wrong we have a Congressman from my 
home State who compares us to the Taliban. We have a spokesperson for 
the White House who says we are like people with bombs strapped to our 
chests. I think that is wrong.
  I think it is wrong too by the way, that the President has used the 
megaphone of the Presidency not to bring Americans together but to 
deepen these divisions. Mr. President, you are not the chairman of the 
Democratic party. You are the President of the United States. Act like 
the President of the United States. Rise above that stuff. Your job is 
to bring this Nation together. I know people are going to say things 
about you that you don't like. It comes with the territory. You have to 
rise above it. And I hope he will.
  But those are not the things that concern me the most. What I am most 
worried about is that this country faces a very serious crisis, and we 
are running out of time to fix it. There is no doubt this government 
slowdown is not good, but it is not the crisis I am referring to. This 
issue about hitting the debt limit is a problem, but that is not the 
most serious crisis we face either. The single most important crisis we 
face in this country is that for millions of Americans the promise of 
the American dream is literally slipping through their fingers. With 
all the focus around here on whatever the crisis of the day may be, I 
fear we are simply not spending enough time focusing on that reality.
  It reminds me of a story I know. A few years ago, a friend of mine in 
Florida was on a twin-engine airplane flying from one part of the State 
to another. At some point during that flight, a fire broke out in the 
cockpit. That fire was a problem. But the bigger problem was that both 
of the pilots started to put out the fire, and no one was flying the 
plane. Within a few seconds, the plane began to plunge, and it lost 
hundreds of feet of altitude. Luckily, they figured it out quickly and 
were able to correct it. But they were so focused on the fire in the 
cockpit, they weren't flying the plane. Luckily, they realized in time 
if they didn't start flying that plane that fire was going to be pretty 
insignificant for them in just a few seconds.
  So we have a government slowdown, and this government slowdown is a 
problem, yes. We have the upcoming debt limit issue, and that is a 
problem, yes. But the fire in our cockpit and the one we need to 
address is the erosion of the American dream.
  If we think the slowdown of government is problematic, that is a vote 
away from being solved. All we have to do is take a vote in either 
Chamber and we can solve that problem. But the slowdown in government 
is going to be a big problem when this government no longer has enough 
money to pay its bills, and if we keep doing what we are doing now, 
that is going to happen.
  We think this debt limit situation is a problem? That is one vote 
away from being solved. When it is going to be a real problem is when 
no one wants to buy our debt anymore because they don't think we can 
pay them back.
  We think all this division and dysfunction in Washington is bad for 
our economy? Yes. But what is worse is a tax code that kills jobs, 
regulations that on a daily basis are killing jobs, and a national debt 
that is killing jobs. By the way, one of the greatest destroyers of 
jobs in America today is ObamaCare, and that is why we are so 
passionate about it.
  The American dream--which people throw around so loosely as a term--
is basically the notion that no matter where you start out in life, no 
matter how many obstacles you have to overcome, you have the God-given 
right, through hard work and perseverance, to achieve a better life and 
leave your children better off than yourself. But it is being eroded on 
a daily basis, and not nearly enough attention is being paid to that. I 
don't see any countdown clocks on cable television about the American 
dream.
  The most dangerous thing happening in Washington today is that 
everyone is so busy fighting about the problems before us today that 
there doesn't seem to be enough focus on the crisis we are headed to 
pretty soon; that we are on the verge of losing the American dream. I 
say that because, to one extent or another, we are all guilty of 
misplacing that focus.
  So my speech here today as much as anything else is a reminder to me 
of why I wanted to serve here. The reason I wanted to serve here is 
because I know--I don't think; I know--that America is special. I know 
this partially because I was raised by and around people who know what 
life is like in places other than America. In places other than 
America, you can only go as far as your parents went. You are trapped. 
Whatever your family did is the only thing you are allowed to do by 
those societies.
  But we have been different, and I have seen it with my own eyes. Both 
in my neighborhood and in my family, I have seen people who came here 
with little education and no connections and through hard work and 
perseverance achieve a better life, achieve a meaningful life, and 
leave their kids better off than themselves. I also see how every 
single day there are millions of people out there now trying to achieve 
the same thing, and they are finding it harder and harder to do that. 
We are on the verge of losing that. If we lose that, every day that is 
eroded, so too is the exceptionalism of this country. People love to 
use that term, an ``exceptional nation,'' and I believe it is 
exceptional, but it is exceptional primarily because of the American 
dream.
  Many countries in the world have powerful militaries. Every country 
in the world has rich people and big companies. What makes us different 
is that here, if you are willing to work hard, if you have a really 
good idea, you can be rewarded for it with a better life. That is 
eroding. If we lose that, we lose what makes us special and different, 
and no one seems to be fighting enough about that.
  The only reason all these other issues matter is because they relate 
to the American dream. The reason the debt really matters is because it 
undermines the American dream. The reason our Tax Code, which is 
broken, matters is because it undermines the American dream. The reason 
I am so passionate about ObamaCare is because for millions of people it 
is undermining the ability to achieve the American dream.
  The reason I ran for office is because as a country we are headed in 
the wrong direction because we are losing the American dream. We still 
have time to fix this, but we don't have all century. We don't even 
have all decade. We have to begin to take these issues seriously or we 
will be known as the first generation of Americans who lost the 
American dream and left our children worse off than ourselves.
  We still have time to refocus ourselves. With all this noise about 
politics and who gets the blame and who is responsible for what, I hope 
we can use these challenges before us as a catalyst to begin to focus 
on these issues and why they matter. They matter because they are 
hurting people, and they are hurting people who are trying to achieve a 
better life. If we do that, if we focus on that and if we solve the 
problems before us with an eye toward that, then I think we will have 
the real opportunity to do what every generation of Americans before us 
has done: to leave our children better off than ourselves and to leave 
for them what our parents left for us--the single greatest Nation in 
the history of the world.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I come to the floor again today to 
talk about the effects of this government shutdown that are being 
experienced in New Hampshire. As I begin, let me start where a number 
of my colleagues have this morning, and that is by thanking the Capitol 
Police and the

[[Page 15123]]

Metropolitan Police for the great job they did yesterday, and 
particularly the Capitol Police, who are willing to put their lives on 
the line, as we say frequently, every day to protect us, but in this 
case where they are doing that and they are not getting paid, that is 
certainly a tribute to the commitment and the dedication they have to 
this Congress and to this government.
  I hope that as Members of the Senate and as Members of Congress, we 
will take inspiration from that dedication and recommit to trying to 
end this government shutdown and end the negative impacts it is having 
on people across this country. We are just 4 days into the shutdown--
this is day No. 4--but every day we see more and more of the effects it 
is having across the country and in my home State of New Hampshire.
  My colleague Senator Ayotte was on the floor earlier talking about 
some of the frustrations people are experiencing as a result of the 
shutdown. As I said earlier this week, hundreds of Air National Guard 
civilian employees have already been furloughed. We have Portsmouth 
Naval Shipyard workers who are facing furlough. We have new SBA loan 
originations that have come to a halt, so businesses aren't able to get 
the capital they need. So many other important services and so many 
other people are being affected.
  I really wanted to talk today a little more in-depth about the effect 
of the shutdown on one of New Hampshire's national treasures, the White 
Mountain National Forest.
  This time of year the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains 
really starts to see bumper-to-bumper traffic. You might not expect 
traffic jams in a remote location like that in the middle of the 
mountains, but when tourists come in to see the beautiful fall foliage 
in New Hampshire, it really is a boon to New Hampshire's economy, and 
they are everywhere.
  New Hampshire's director of travel and tourism, Lori Harnois, 
estimates that about 7.8 million people will come to New Hampshire 
between September and the end of November, which is 2 percent higher 
than last year. According to Lori, more than spending time, these 
visitors will spend over $1 billion, which is about 3 percent more than 
was spent last year. That is why this season is so critical for the 
small businesses in New Hampshire that depend on the tourism industry. 
This is really about the economics of New Hampshire and the ability of 
so many of our small businesses and their owners and employees to 
survive throughout the year. Local stores, restaurants, and attractions 
rely on this season to meet their bottom lines.
  Many tourists coming to New Hampshire visit our Federal forest lands 
in the White Mountain National Forest. Those lands are administered by 
the U.S. Forest Service. The White Mountain National Forest stretches 
over 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and Maine, and it is one of the 
most visited outdoor recreation sites in all of United States, with 
nearly 6 million visitors a year. More visitors than go to Yellowstone 
or Yosemite Parks come and visit the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 
For everyone who has been there or visited one of the many landmarks in 
the forest, it is no surprise because its natural beauty has kept 
visitors coming back for centuries. Given its proximity to cities such 
as Boston and Montreal, it is a great place to bring families. Nearly 
60 million people in the United States alone live within 1 day's drive 
of the White Mountain National Forest.
  Unfortunately, this year, during the busiest few weeks of the year, 
tourists are going to be shut out of important services because of this 
unnecessary government shutdown. Restrooms for families in bumper-to-
bumper traffic will be closed along the highways and trails in the 
national forest. Garbage collection is going to be suspended. 
Campgrounds will be closed starting over the next few days. Families 
looking to camp in the White Mountains will have to find new lodging or 
change their plans.
  Ongoing repairs to bridges and roads in response to Hurricane Irene--
we are still cleaning up as a result of the damage from Hurricane 
Irene--those projects are going to be put on hold, and only a few staff 
members are going to still be there to respond to emergencies, conduct 
repairs, and help direct people.
  This is leading to a frustrating experience for tourists, and it is 
frustrating for all of the businesses that depend on the people who 
come to visit. The shutdown could really hurt a very important industry 
in New Hampshire at a critical time.
  All told, about 120 employees for the White Mountains have been told 
to stay home until Congress reaches a budget agreement. And as we have 
heard here in Washington, as we know from our own staffs, these 
employees have done nothing to deserve these furloughs. They have 
worked hard, they have been dedicated, but they are going to have to 
try to make ends meet because Congress can't get its act together. No 
wonder people are outraged.
  Our Federal forest lands are not only critical drivers of the tourism 
industry, they support New Hampshire's timber industry. If this 
shutdown continues, the Forest Service will have to determine whether 
to suspend existing contracts for timber-harvesting on Federal lands, 
and these companies will have to shut down their operations at one of 
the best times to harvest timber. So the impact will also be on all of 
those people who work in the timber industry and depend on that 
industry for their livelihood.
  I wish to highlight some of these effects because we need to remind 
ourselves just what this government shutdown means for the people who 
are being hurt, what it means for the small businesses and their 
employees, and what it means to the economy in my State of New 
Hampshire and the economy across the country. We are clearly seeing the 
effects of the shutdown in New Hampshire. If we don't act, these 
effects will become more and more severe every day.
  I hope we can begin to see talks going on between Members of the 
House and Senate. I hope those who are holding up the continuing 
resolution in the House--the legislation that would get this country 
operating again--will reconsider. All it takes is the Speaker to bring 
that legislation to the floor. He keeps saying we haven't negotiated. 
In fact, we have negotiated. We negotiated for over 1 year before we 
passed the Affordable Care Act. We negotiated before this continuing 
resolution was agreed to, and the Senate, in fact, accepted the 
numbers, the cost of that continuing resolution to keep the government 
open. We thought our numbers were better, but we accepted the House 
numbers because we wanted to try to negotiate and reach an agreement. 
Unfortunately, what we have seen is that the House has reneged on that 
agreement.
  It is now time to bring that legislation to the floor, to get this 
government operating again, and to end the negative impact and the real 
hardship so many people across this country are experiencing.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, in Vermont and all over this country 
there is profound anger and disgust at what is going on here in 
Washington. The reason is that today we remain in a significant and 
very serious economic downturn. Real unemployment is close to 14 
percent. Over 20 million workers are unemployed. And what the American 
people are saying as loudly and as clearly as they can is, Congress, we 
want you to create millions of decent-paying jobs. All over this 
country, people are struggling with wages of $9 or $10 a hour. What the 
American people are saying to Congress is: Congress, Mr. President, we 
want you to raise the minimum wage.
  In the midst of a serious economic crisis, the American people want 
us to act to improve the economy, to create jobs, to raise wages. But 
what are we doing today? We are saying to 800,000 hard-working Federal 
employees: Don't come in to work. We don't know when and if you are 
going to be paid. We are saying to 1.2 million other Federal employees 
who are at work: Thank you very much for coming in to your job today. 
Thank you for your work as a

[[Page 15124]]

Capitol Hill police officer or FBI agent or somebody in the CIA or 
somebody working at Head Start or somebody delivering meals to low-
income senior citizens, thank you all very much for your work but we 
don't know when and if you will be paid.
  What we are doing right now is the exact opposite of what the 
American people want. They want us to create jobs and raise wages. What 
we are saying to 2 million American workers is: You are not getting 
paid. Some of you are furloughed. Some of you are coming in.
  These Federal employees are not millionaires. They are hard-working, 
middle-class Americans. They are struggling as is everybody else in 
this country to pay their mortgages, to send their kids to college, to 
afford childcare, to do what other middle-class families need to do. We 
are putting all of them under extreme anxiety today. In an unstable, 
volatile economy, that is not what we should be doing.
  In addition, this shutdown is having a very negative impact on the 
entire economy. The estimate is that we are losing about $10 billion a 
week as a result of the government shutdown, according to Goldman 
Sachs. If the government is shut down for 3 weeks, the economy will 
lose over $36 billion. Moody's has estimated if the shutdown lasts 4 
weeks, it will drain $55 billion from the economy.
  Does any sane person believe that when our economy today has so many 
problems--when we are just beginning to recover from the worst economic 
downturn since the Great Depression, when we were losing 700,000 jobs a 
month, when we are trying to get our feet on the ground economically--
does anybody think it makes sense to not be paying over 2 million 
workers and to be losing billions and billions of dollars in the 
economy as a result of the shutdown?
  This is the start of the flu season. Every fall the Centers for 
Disease Control closely monitors the spread of flu and directs vaccines 
to where they are needed the most. But because of the shutdown, the CDC 
is today unable to support the annual seasonal influenza program. Does 
that make sense to anybody? We are endangering the health and the lives 
of millions of Americans because of the shutdown of the CDC.
  During the shutdown the Food and Drug Administration is stopping most 
of its food safety operations. We have seen over the years outbreaks of 
salmonella and other types of food problems. Does anyone think it makes 
sense to shut down the FDA?
  Most of the Department of Labor is closed. Ironically, we are 
supposed to be receiving a report from the Department of Labor telling 
us what kind of unemployment rate we now have, but we cannot get that 
because they are shut down.
  The WIC Program, Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, is 
being shut down. This is a program that provides good nutrition to low-
income pregnant women and their babies so that the mothers and the 
babies will be healthy in these critical times in their lives. We want 
healthy children in this country. We don't want to see children die at 
birth. That is what the WIC Program is about.
  Social Security services are being delayed. In Burlington, VT, where 
I live, there was a rally yesterday. Social Security workers are being 
furloughed. Others are working without pay. We owe it to the seniors in 
this country that when they are eligible for Social Security and they 
apply for Social Security their papers are processed in a timely 
manner. That is what they are due.
  Head Start Programs for thousands of lower income kids are starting 
to close. Today Head Start provides education, health, nutrition, and 
other services to roughly 1 million children throughout our country. 
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on the impact the shutdown 
is already having. Four Head Start Programs that offer preschool 
activities for 3,200 children in Florida, Connecticut, Alabama, and 
Mississippi have closed and officials said 11 other programs would be 
shut down by week's end if Federal funding is not restored. Does any 
sane person believe we should be shutting down Head Start Programs at a 
time when preschool education is so important? We all understand that.
  And it is so hard to come by. What we are telling parents today is 
next week you may not be able to bring your kids into a Head Start 
Program. How does that impact your employment? What do you do with your 
kid? Does anybody around here care about that?
  The United States is the only nation in the industrialized world that 
does not guarantee health care to all people. Today we have about 48 
million people with no health insurance. ObamaCare, to my mind, is not 
a solution to the problem but it is a step forward. We are talking 
about 20, maybe 25 million people who are in desperate need of health 
insurance being able to get that insurance; others who are paying more 
than they can afford perhaps getting insurance that is more affordable 
to them. We should be going farther in terms of health care, but for 
rightwing Republicans in the House of Representatives to be saying we 
are going to keep this government shut down until we deny millions of 
people the health care based on legislation that we passed is 
inexcusable. It is not acceptable.
  The point I think many of my colleagues made and everybody agrees 
with now--this is not in debate and the American people have to 
understand this--No. 1, the Senate passed a continuing resolution that 
in my view simply underfunds many of the programs out there. I am not 
happy about that bill. It should be much higher than that. It is not a 
good bill, but it was passed. Everybody understands that if Speaker 
Boehner chose to be the Speaker of the United States House of 
Representatives and not the Speaker of the Republican Party, and if he 
brought that bill that we passed here in the Senate on the floor this 
morning, there is no debate, they have the votes. The Democrats and 
moderate Republicans and maybe more would vote for that legislation and 
government could be reopened this afternoon. The Speaker there has an 
issue he has to deal with. He has to understand that he represents all 
this country and not just an extreme rightwing faction.
  I hope very much the Speaker will do the right thing, bring that to 
the floor, and reopen the government.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. BEGICH. Madam President, I want to follow up briefly first on the 
comments of Senator Sanders. We have a continuing resolution over 
there. The annualized cut is $70 billion. Usually when you compromise, 
one side gives a little, the other side gives a little. On this 
continuing resolution that passed out of this body, we took their 
numbers. Compromise means you take a little bit from both sides. We 
took 100 percent the numbers from the House, a $70 billion annualized 
cut. That is what we took. So to people who keep saying we are not 
negotiating, we did. As a matter of fact, we went much farther than 
many of us wanted. We did it because we wanted to keep the government 
open.
  So let's not get fooled by some of the political speeches they are 
making on the floor or over there, outside in the courtyard. We met 
their annualized reductions--they wanted $70 billion--with this 
continuing resolution. When they sent bills over here we have voted on 
them. They have not prevailed on their side, but we have voted on them.
  We sent the bill over there. It is sitting. We know by public 
statements by many Republicans and Democrats over there, they are ready 
to vote on this bill, a clean CR, continuing resolution, to keep the 
government open.
  What is amazing about this is we are debating this. What we should be 
getting back to--I know the chairman of the Senate Appropriations 
Committee, Senator Mikulski, would--as a member of the Appropriations 
Committee we would like to get back to appropriations, annual bills. 
Then we would not be in this start-and-stop deal that I think the 
American people are fed up with, this manufactured crisis that a few 
over in the House used to set us up in a situation where we create more

[[Page 15125]]

uncertainty in the family, more uncertainty with small businesses, more 
uncertainty with individuals in the Federal Government on furlough. 
Eighty percent of my staff is on furlough. Every day they are on 
furlough I donate my salary. I am doing my part because we should not 
be exempt from this situation. But at the same time we have to 
recognize the impact it is having to our economy.
  I get it; they are passionate about their view on the Affordable 
Health Care Act. They do not like it, some of them over there. Some of 
them also said we should work to fix it. I proposed multiple solutions 
and ideas how we can move forward on that. But to hold up the economy, 
hold up the budget over this issue is ridiculous. I don't like No Child 
Left Behind. I hate it. For Alaska it doesn't work. It destroyed many 
efforts in our rural communities. But to hold up the government over 
that? I am going to work to fix it, and if I can't fix it I am going to 
vote against the reauthorization. That is the right that we have here. 
But they are playing, as I called it last night, Russian roulette 
economics, and the American people are on the back end. It is shameful.
  We have to get back to doing what we should be doing, annualized 
appropriations bills, create certainty in our economy, create certainty 
in our government, focus on this economy that has moved, for 4 or 5 
years now, from this recession, a great recession. It is a slow climb 
out, but it is in the right direction. Let's keep it moving in that 
direction with the right kind of policies.
  In my State, winter is setting in. The Low-Income Housing Assistance 
Program is critical for Alaskans who are living in areas where their 
income is not able to purchase the energy they need to supply their 
house with winter heat, and they depend on the Low-Income Housing 
Assistance Program. It is not about some fluff program or some luxury 
program. It is for them life or death. If you cannot heat your home in 
Alaska when it is 30 below, you may not survive. It is that simple.
  I said earlier I think the Members on the other side clearly 
understand that we have to get the government running, and there are 
Members on both sides who are ready to do that over there if the 
Speaker would just put it on the table so people could vote on it. If 
it fails, we go back to negotiations. My bet is it will not fail. 
Because it passed here. People forget the cloture vote here, the vote 
to move the bill forward here in the Senate passed 99 to 0. I am not 
sure when that happened recently around this place, but we did it--
after great passionate speeches by some, but we did it. We debated it, 
we moved the bill over because it was the right thing to do. Again, 
reminding people, we met the House numbers. We didn't lift our numbers 
up or down, we went all the way down to their number--$70 billion in 
cuts in annualized savings--annualized cuts to the Federal budget on 
this 6-week or so continuing resolution.
  In Anchorage--a columnist just wrote about it--we estimate about 
13,000 Federal workers are in some form impacted by this, laid off or 
impacted because they are working longer hours with no pay.
  I want to detail a couple of examples in Alaska where it is 
impacting. Take this Federal worker who has now been furloughed. They 
are in the midst of remodeling their home. I got this call. Everything 
stopped. The contractors who are expecting to get paid are not getting 
paid. The contractor working for the employee who was remodeling their 
home--that will not happen because of the uncertainty. His comment was, 
I thought, pretty clear: Life doesn't stop just because Congress says 
you can't come to work anymore.
  Life continues, and these costs pile up.
  In my State, the Bering Sea crab fishery--many people see this on the 
TV show the ``Deadliest Catch''--is worth about $80 million a year. The 
amount of crab they can catch is determined by NOAA Fisheries and the 
State of Alaska.
  Crab season starts October 15. If they do not have these quotas set, 
then making sure that the process is safe and the product is exactly 
what people expect when they get it on their plate to eat or at the 
grocery store--the problem is those employees are furloughed, so the 
quota will not be set. As a result, the permits they need to catch the 
crab will not happen, and the end result is a multimillion-dollar hit--
and not to some government employee.
  I heard people criticize the bureaucrats. Well, not only are 1 
million or so employees furloughed across this country, but now it is 
affecting second and third options. In this case it is the crab 
industry, which will affect people all over this country and people all 
over the world. Again, we have delay after delay.
  Alaska receives about $1.2 billion from the Federal payroll every 
single year. A lengthy disruption will have an incredible fiscal impact 
to our State and will trickle out because these folks travel. I see my 
colleague from Washington State. We have lots of people who go to 
Seattle, WA. They may not take that trip and spend in that economy 
because they are afraid of what might happen with this stop-and-go 
situation.
  We are now about to move forward--after decades of waiting--on the 
National Petroleum Reserve for oil and gas exploration. What does it 
take? It is a Federal Reserve so it takes Federal permits. Without the 
Federal permits, it cannot happen or it gets delayed, and it is costly.
  When we look at the issues and the calls I have received, it is all 
the way from an elder in the Arctic Circle who said: Please, get the 
people back to work. It has a direct impact, not only on Alaskans, but 
on people all across this country.
  There has been a lot of great debate. Yesterday, I saw a press 
conference given by a small group of the minority over there who said 
they were concerned about the National Institutes of Health. I am 
concerned about the National Institutes of Health. I can tell you story 
after story of how those medicines are critical for young people and 
adults. What they failed to mention was the billions they have already 
cut. They forgot that little detail. Amnesia is like a prerequisite for 
some Members around here, and they forgot that little detail. It's 
amazing to me.
  I will mention again--because I believe the public has not heard this 
enough because they say over there that we are not negotiating--we have 
negotiated with them. We have taken their numbers and have gone down by 
$70 billion in annualized cuts. We have taken them for this continuing 
resolution. Every time they sent something over here, we voted on it. 
They may not have liked the vote outcome, but we voted on it.
  We sent one continuing resolution over there. We also have the farm 
bill, the immigration bill, and the WRDA bill. It has not piled up over 
there because they have not taken action. They would rather play party 
politics and figure out what elections they can win or lose rather than 
focus on what is important for the American people, and for my 
constituency, specifically, in Alaska that I represent.
  I hope we end this debate, get on with business, and re-open the 
government. Let's negotiate. They have some ideas to fix the health 
care act. I am happy to talk with them. I have several bills I have 
introduced, but I never have heard from them over there. As a matter of 
fact, I know they mentioned my name over there quite a bit. I have seen 
it on TV. The House somehow recognizes that I have some influence, and 
I do in some ways. If they want to have a conversation, I'm game. Pick 
up the phone or walk across the Capitol.
  Let's be real: The continuing resolution is about managing our budget 
and putting people back to work so we can keep this economy moving and 
get on with the big issues that we have to deal with. If they want to 
fix the health care act, I am happy to sit down with Members. If they 
want to move the immigration bill, I am happy to work with folks. We 
can go through the list.
  Let's not hold the American people hostage for a simple situation. If 
they were to put it on the floor, it would pass. I would bet on it.

[[Page 15126]]

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Murphy). The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, yesterday we had a hearing in the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee, as the Presiding Officer knows. We had 
testimony by Secretary Sherman as to the enforcement of sanctions 
against Iran in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon 
state, which would be a game changer.
  During the course of that hearing, it came out that as a result of 
the government shutdown, we are not as effective as we could be. There 
is always more that can be done in working with other countries, and 
the shutdown is affecting our full preparedness for enforcing the 
sanctions internationally against Iran.
  One of my colleagues started to challenge the representative from the 
State Department as to why they couldn't do more. Of course, it was the 
Treasury Department's budget that was primarily affecting the attention 
to this. The Secretary assured us that we are enforcing our sanctions.
  Senator Kaine made the observation--and the right observation--don't 
blame the administration; blame the Congress. It is the Congress that 
has the responsibility to make sure the government is functioning with 
all cylinders. This tea party shutdown is jeopardizing our national 
security. It is not putting us where we should be as far as taking care 
of the needs of the people of this country.
  I was on the floor a couple of days ago, and I quoted from the 
Baltimore Sun as to the responsibility for the shutdown, and I'm going 
to quote a little bit more from that article. It said:

       It would be tempting, of course, to write that this 
     impasse--the inability to agree on the continuing resolution 
     to fund government past the end of the fiscal year--was the 
     fault of Democrats and Republicans alike. But that would be 
     like blaming the hostages for causing the perpetrator to put 
     a gun to their heads.
       As President Obama noted, he and congressional Democrats 
     put forward no agenda other than keeping government operating 
     temporarily at the current levels.

  I want to review how we got here on October 1. It was 6 months ago 
that the Senate passed the budget. It was different than the House 
budget. Then, we, the Democrats said: Let's go to conference. That is 
what we should do, negotiate a budget, so that when it comes to October 
1, we have a budget in place to fund government at the levels we agreed 
to--Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans refused to go to 
conference.
  Fast forward to October 1. We didn't have a budget, and, therefore, 
it was necessary to pass a continuing resolution. That is what you do. 
When we can't pass a budget, we keep government operating at the 
current levels until we can agree on a budget. So that is what we 
decided to do, but we went further. The majority leader met with the 
Speaker of the House, and rather than negotiating about what level we 
thought should be in the continuing resolution--what the Democrats and 
the Republicans thought--we went along with the lower number. We 
negotiated the continuing resolution at the lower level, and that is 
what we passed.
  The Republicans in the House decided they would not go for that, and 
they attached their changes in the health care system as a condition to 
passing a continuing resolution. Make no mistake about it; it is a tea 
party shutdown.
  Now the Republicans are saying to us: Why aren't we negotiating? 
Well, let me quote from this morning's editorial in the Baltimore Sun. 
I think this morning's editorial really captures where we are as far as 
negotiations. The headline says:

       There is no room to ``negotiate'' when extremists take the 
     federal government hostage--and threaten to do the same to 
     the economy.
       How can the tea partiers in the House expect to be offered 
     anything for doing the equivalent of strapping C-4 and a 
     detonator to their chests and holding the government hostage?

  The editorial goes on to say:

       Reward these tactics and you'll only see more of it in 
     Congress. And that's critically important given that the 
     stakes are about to rise. Should Republicans engage in 
     similar behavior with the debt ceiling, they risk not only 
     the health of the U.S. economy but the global economy. To 
     default on the debt--to refuse to pay bills already incurred 
     by the federal government--has the potential to pull the 
     nation back into recession and put thousands, if not 
     millions, of people out of work.

  It is very clear: We have compromised, and the tea party Republicans 
have shut down government. We can't negotiate with a gun to our head. 
It reminds me of a football team that played a game and didn't like the 
results, so they say: Let's just play that game all over.
  Last Sunday the Baltimore Ravens didn't play a very good game. They 
lost. They didn't say: Let's play that game over. They are going to be 
here this weekend playing again and trying to improve their record.
  I heard one of my colleagues use another sports analogy. He said we 
could do a mulligan on ObamaCare. We are the big leagues. There are no 
mulligans at the U.S. Open. There are no mulligans in golf. Let's use 
the regular order.
  Yes, we want to negotiate a budget for the next year, but we can't do 
it with a gun at our head and say: Open government and pay our bills.
  Then the Republicans are saying: Well, let's do this piecemeal. Why 
don't we just take up small provisions.
  This is another quote from this morning's Baltimore Sun:

       Even the little fixes the GOP is offering is outrageous if 
     they slow down the return of a fully-funded government. 
     Reopening parks would be great, but what about cancer 
     patients denied treatment? And for every National Institutes 
     of Health reopened, what about the funding for inspectors 
     that are making sure our food isn't tainted, or intelligence 
     officers monitoring the next al-Qaida attack, or FDA 
     scientists reviewing the next miracle drug? It's impossible 
     to even keep track of all of the hardships the shutdown has 
     created, and why do so when the solution is at hand?

  This shutdown is hard on our country. My colleagues have talked about 
it. It has affected our welfare, it has put our Nation at risk, and it 
has hurt our economy--including my own State of Maryland. Senator 
Mikulski is here, and she will be speaking as chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee. The State of Maryland loses $15 million every 
day in our State economy.
  We literally have over 100,000 workers who are on furlough and not 
getting paid, and it is costing the taxpayers money. The last shutdown 
in 1995 cost $2 billion. What a waste of taxpayers' resources.
  Let us put an end to this tea party shutdown. Let us also assure 
those who are on furlough that they will get paid. I have introduced 
legislation in this regard. I believe the House is going to be passing 
that legislation. Let's make it clear that our Federal workers--who 
have endured 3 years of pay freezes, furloughs under sequestration, and 
have been asked to do more with less--will be made whole when this 
shutdown ends.
  Let's put an end to the shutdown and make sure we pay our bills. 
Let's meet together to work out a budget for the coming year, as we 
should.
  The tragedy here is that the votes are in the House of 
Representatives to pass the Senate continuing resolution. If Speaker 
Boehner would just vote on the resolution we sent over, the shutdown 
would end and we could get on with the business of this Nation.
  I yield the floor
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I intended to give remarks and then 
promulgate a series of unanimous consent requests. However, the 
majority leader requested, for purposes of scheduling, that I begin 
with the unanimous consent requests, which I am happy to do to 
accommodate his schedule. I ask that at the conclusion of these 
unanimous consent requests, I be given 20 minutes to speak to lay out 
the reasons why I believe the majority should cede to these unanimous 
consent requests.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.

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