[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14795]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1600
           CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS: FEDERAL SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honor to serve here 
in the United States Congress, but we sully that honor when we waste 
the American people's time with misplaced priorities and manufactured 
crises.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress has one fundamental responsibility: funding the 
Federal Government. But unfortunately, Republicans in Congress insist 
on undermining these responsibilities at virtually every turn.
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans already insist on maintaining reckless 
sequester funding that chokes services for working and middle class 
Americans, seniors, veterans, and children. Instead of passing 
Republican budgets that meet the ever-changing needs of our Nation, 
Republicans choose to kick the can down the road through continuing 
resolutions that waste precious time and shortchange the American 
people.
  But if sequestration and continuing resolutions weren't already bad 
enough, now we are facing a complete Federal shutdown because 
Republicans insist on holding Federal funds for women's health care 
hostage. Congress has just 4 legislative days remaining to pass a 
funding bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are fed up with this brinksmanship. 
It is time for us to run the country like adults.
  Let's remember why this is happening: Republicans have pledged to 
shut down the entire Federal Government because of objections to 
abortion services by Planned Parenthood. Never mind that not a single 
cent of Federal money funds abortions by Planned Parenthood. Never mind 
that Planned Parenthood provides health care and education to more than 
2.6 million Americans--both men and women--each year. Never mind that 
97 percent of Planned Parenthood's health services are unrelated to 
abortions. Republicans would rather ignore these truths and instead 
rely on a series of distorted videos secretly filmed by discredited and 
shady antiabortion activists.
  So instead of using this time to talk about creating jobs, building 
infrastructure, reducing college debt, and reauthorizing the Voting 
Rights Act, I am forced to stand here on the House floor to remind the 
American people about the dangers we face with yet another Republican 
shutdown.
  Here are a few ways that this shutdown would harm the American 
people:
  A shutdown would close more than 400 national parks and monuments. It 
would increase backlogs for veterans' pensions, compensation, and 
disability claims. It would delay tax refunds and Federal home loan 
applications; prohibit the National Institutes of Health from accepting 
new patients; shut down E-Verify screening for businesses to limit 
hiring undocumented workers; shutter Head Start programs for low-income 
families and children; and close Federal courts.
  The impact of a 2015 shutdown is hard to quantify, but we don't have 
to look too far back to estimate the potential impact. In 2013, 
Republicans shut the government down for 16 days in a failed attempt to 
defund the Affordable Care Act. That shutdown furloughed 850,000 
Federal workers for a total of 6.6 million days. The 2013 shutdown cost 
$2 billion in lost productivity. Standard & Poor's estimated that the 
shutdown cost the U.S. economy $24 billion and stalled the creation of 
more than 100,000 private sector jobs, and $4.4 billion in tax returns 
were delayed. Small businesses and private lenders had to delay loans 
due to lack of access to Federal Social Security number and income 
verification tools.
  Knowing what we know, Mr. Speaker, it is inconceivable that we could 
walk into this type of catastrophe by choice. That must be why the 
Speaker of the House, in 2013, called that shutdown a ``very 
predictable disaster.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would much rather be predicting solutions than 
disasters. That is why I look forward to working with my colleagues in 
the Congressional Progressive Caucus to stave off this irresponsible 
and dangerous shutdown. Again, this is the one thing our constituents 
sent us to Washington for: to fund the government. This is our job.
  I implore my anti-women's health colleagues to set aside their 
partisan bickering and work with us to keep this government open.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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