[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15411]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TIME TO SHOW LEADERSHIP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Messer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, Irish leader Henry Boyle once said:

       The most important trip you can make in life is meeting 
     people halfway.

  Unfortunately, in this debate, the President and Harry Reid's latest 
offers are way short of halfway. They won't even come to the 
negotiating table.
  During this shutdown, the Republicans in the House have passed nine 
bills to fund and reopen vital functions of government. Let me go 
through some of them for you:
  Twenty-five of my Democratic colleagues voted with House Republicans 
to fund pediatric cancer research. Twenty-three of my Democrats 
colleagues voted with Republicans to reopen national parks, memorials, 
and monuments;

                              {time}  1115

  Thirty-five of my Democratic colleagues voted with Republicans, 
honoring our promise to give veterans the benefits they have earned;
  Thirty-six of my Democratic colleagues voted with Republicans to pay 
our National Guard and Army Reserve personnel;
  Twenty-three of my Democratic colleagues voted with Republicans to 
make sure funds are available to provide disaster relief; and
  One hundred eighty-nine of my Democratic colleagues voted with House 
Republicans to provide backpay for furloughed Federal employees.
  Each of these are reasonable proposals, yet Harry Reid insists that 
virtually all of them will not be considered in the Senate, and the 
President has threatened a veto.
  Let me repeat. House Republicans have passed bills to fund pediatric 
cancer research, reopen national parks, provide benefits to veterans, 
pay salaries for our National Guard, fund disaster relief programs and 
other vital services. Dozens of my Democratic colleagues have voted for 
each of these bills, yet the President and Harry Reid won't budge.
  The American people are disappointed in this shutdown--after all, 
this is not the way government is supposed to work--but the American 
people are also figuring this out. This shutdown can end if Harry Reid 
and President Obama meet House Republicans at the negotiating table--
but their chairs sit empty.
  The American people don't want the President's health care law, but 
they are ready for this shutdown to end. It's time for both parties to 
listen to the American people, work out our differences, and find a 
commonsense way forward.

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