[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 15271]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. BENISHEK asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BENISHEK. Mr. Speaker, how have we ended up here in a government 
shutdown nobody wanted? The answer is simple: it's because the Senate 
has refused to even come to the negotiating table on a spending 
agreement.
  The House has passed four measures that would have kept the 
government open and operating, but they were all ignored by the Senate. 
First, we voted to keep the government open and to fund the President's 
health care bill, but they ignored that. Second, we voted to keep the 
government open and only delay the health care bill for 1 year. They 
ignored that. Then we voted to keep the government open and simply make 
the rules for the health care exchanges the same for all Americans. 
They ignored that. Lastly, we just asked the Senate to talk to us. They 
ignored that.
  The Obama administration has given exceptions to their allies: big 
businesses and some unions. Why shouldn't the American people be given 
the same kind of treatment?
  The Senate should come to the bargaining table today and end this 
shutdown today.

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