[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15879-15880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE TIME FOR SOLUTIONS IS NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the time for solutions is now. The American 
people expect their elected leaders to come to the table, work 
together, and put people above politics.
  Today is the 15th day the Federal Government has been shut down, the 
15th day national parks and memorials have been closed to the American 
people, the 15th day the NIH, WIC, and Head Start have not had the 
funding they were counting on.
  Today is also 2 days shy of the deadline when America might reach its 
$16.7 trillion debt limit. House Republicans, as we have for weeks, 
will continue to offer bipartisan common ground to reopen government 
and protect America's credit rating.
  More than 70 Senators are on record as opposing ObamaCare's medical 
device tax. Let's put that tax on hold and reopen government.
  It is not very fair that Members of Congress receive special help to 
pay for ObamaCare that isn't available to others. Let's remove the 
special treatment and reopen government.
  It is not right that the American people are on the hook to provide 
health care subsidies to individuals whose incomes might not even 
qualify. Let's demand accountability for taxpayer dollars and reopen 
government.
  Since the shutdown began, bipartisan majorities in the House of 
Representatives have voted to reopen government services and spare 
North Carolinians from Washington's dysfunction. We voted to open our 
parks and memorials because their closures are punitive, and they 
should never be disrespected by a theater of barricades.
  We agree National Institutes of Health clinical trials should 
continue, so we voted to fund NIH. Similarly, we voted to ensure pay 
for all veterans and to restore FEMA, the FDA, Head Start, and the WIC 
program, among others; but most of our proposals to get government 
functioning again face

[[Page 15880]]

Senate inaction and White House veto threats.
  The our-way-or-the-highway mind-set must stop. The challenges we face 
as a Nation require bipartisan solutions. Both parties need to work 
together to reopen government and manage our debt.
  House Republicans remain committed to responsible, bipartisan 
solutions to end the shutdown and defend our credit rating. We hope our 
counterparts in the Senate are as well.

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