[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15416]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            ``CRUZ CONTROL''

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I deeply regret that the 
Republicans have shut down the government. They have shut the whole 
thing down. Their 2-year-old plan to shut down the government over the 
Affordable Care Act is as harmful as it is fruitless.
  However, all is not lost. The Republican shutdown can end today if 
the Speaker would simply disengage the ``Cruz control'' and hold a vote 
on a clean bill. This is day 8 of the government shutdown. With the 
debt ceiling vote looming, this is the time for action, not talk.
  You can't negotiate with a Republican Party stuck on ``Cruz control'' 
on something so basic as a clean bill to reopen our government. 
Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues have determined that fealty to 
extreme Tea Party groups is more important than the needs of the people 
they represent.
  It's time to end the stubborn, unreasonable, and mean-spirited 
obsession with killing the Affordable Care Act. The Republican shutdown 
can end today if only the Speaker would allow a vote.

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