[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14329]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we have only 7 legislative days left until 
another unnecessary, costly, and entirely preventable government 
shutdown.
  We need to negotiate an agreement to replace the sequester with a 
responsible alternative. Because Republicans have refused to start 
these negotiations, I have talked to Mrs. Lowey, the ranking member on 
the Appropriations Committee, and I have talked to Mr. Van Hollen, the 
ranking member on the Budget Committee, and I have talked to Mr. 
McCarthy, but we have had no discussions on how to keep the government 
open just 8 legislative days from now.
  If the government were to shut down, as it did in 2013, it would cost 
our economy billions of dollars and put our national security at risk. 
Hundreds of thousands of public service workers would be furloughed, 
and millions of people would be cut off from critical programs and 
services.
  Many Republicans are urging their leadership not to risk a shutdown. 
Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania said, ``I don't think we 
need to do a replay of 2013. It would be an enormous tactical and 
strategic blunder.'' Indiana Senator Dan Coats, a conservative 
Republican, called a shutdown a failed tactic for political purposes 
that is not going to succeed.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to stop threatening a shutdown--not 
all of them, but some of them--and to, instead, take action to keep the 
government open as we work to reach an agreement on a budget that 
replaces the sequester and funds our Nation's priorities responsibly.

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