Date: 2013-10-04
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I again rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying resolution. I oppose this rule because it is not a serious effort to end the government shutdown engineered by House Republicans by cherrypicking some programs to fund while leaving unfunded other programs critical to our nation and its future. Both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader REID have made it crystal clear that they will not accept this gameplaying because the piecemeal strategy now being pursued by House Republicans is not an honest or serious option to reopen the government and will not end the impacts of this shutdown that extend across our country. Mr. Speaker. USA Today said it best and I quote: House Republicans who forced the government closure offered to reopen some of the most popular programs. such as the Department of Veterans Affairs. on a piecemeal basis. Its like seizing a school bus full of kids then offering to release the cutest ones. The mounting toll will increasingly expose the shutdowns foolishness. The sooner the Republicans free all their hostages. the better. Initially. our friends across the aisle were content to take the whole nation hostage by refusing to fund the government unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded. That effort failed. Undaunted. House Republicans tried again. The effort failed again. This past Monday. the House Republicans refused for the third time to take up and vote on the clean CR passed by the Senate last week. and which the President has stated publicly on several occasions he would sign. Instead House Republicans voted to shut down the government. Now faced with strong public backlashmore than 70% of Americans disapproving of the government shutdown engineered by the House Republicans. the majority is trying to extricate themselves from this debacle by bringing to the floor and passing "miniCRs" providing minimal funding for the following programs that enjoy strong and broad public support: (1) Nutrition Assistance for LowIncome Women and Children Act (H.J. Res. 75). (2) Nuclear Weapon Security & NonProliferation Act. (H.J. Res. 76). (3) Food and Drug Safety Act (H.J. Res. 77). (4) Preserving Our Intelligence Capabilities Act (H.J. Res. 78). (5). Border Safety & Security Act (H.J. Res. 79). (6) American Indian and Alaska Native. Health. Education. and Safety Act (H.J. Res. 80). (7) National Weather Monitoring Act (H.J. Res. 82). (8) Impact Aid for Local Schools Act (H.J. Res. 83). (9) Head Start for LowIncome Children Act (H.J. Res. 84). (10) National Emergency and Disaster Recovery Act (H.J. Res. 85). and H.R. 3223Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act . Mr. Speaker. these ploys are a cynical waste of time giving false hope to innocent Americans who depend on the services provided by these programs. But House Republicans know they have no chance whatsoever of becoming law. The Senate will not pass them and the President would veto these piecemeal measures if they made it to his desk. All we are doing is wasting time when we should be helping people. We need to pass the clean CR approved by the Senate so we can keep our promises to our veterans. as well as the doctors. nurses. and hospital workers who take care of our wounded and healthy warriors. We need to pass the clean CR approved by the Senate so we can fund our engineers and technicians who maintain all of our critical military equipment to keep our troops safe and take care of national security infrastructure. We need to pass the clean CR approved by the Senate so we can fund our IT security folks who protect us from cyberattacks. and our astronauts who risk their lives to push the technical boundaries of knowledge for all mankind. These exceptional Americans. and the people who depend on them and benefit from their work. do not deserve to have been locked out of their workplaces since Tuesday. These exceptional Americans deserve a Congress that does its job and keeps America open for business. For these reasons and Tore. I oppose this rule and the underlying amendments it makes in order and urge my colleagues to join me in urging the passage of H.J. Res. 59 as amended by the Senate so that the federal government will reopen for business to serve the American people and end the disruption in the lives of 800.000 dedicated workers who take pride in the greatest jobs in the world: serving the American people. The material previously referred to by Ms. SLAUGHTER is as follows: