Corrine Brown

Ms. BROWN of Florida

Ms. BROWN of Florida. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. BROWN of Florida. I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, could you please tell me how much time remains on each side.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. I thank the Speaker. At this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank Chairman Miller for organizing this tribute to Chairman Young. In closing, I often say when you are born, you get a birth certificate; and when you die, you are going to get a death certificate; and that little dash in between is what you have done to make this a better place. I don't know anyone who has done more than Chairman Bill Young. It has just been my honor having had the opportunity to serve with him. His leadership for the Florida delegation--I mean, we have gone through some tough times. But I can tell you, he has always been a gentleman. When I first began, I said that one of my favorite sayings is to let the work I have done speak for me. Clearly he has done his work, and as Paul said, he has fought a good fight, and he has kept the faith. He has done his job. It has been left up to us to continue his great work. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BROWN of Florida

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Last weekend, I left. I went to Florida. Many people in church came up to me, and they wanted to know about this. These are not Federal employees; they are contract employees. So, therefore, they do service for the Federal Government, but they will not get paid; is that correct?

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Lockheed Martin indicated that they are going to lay off over 3,000 employees. There are many companies that do work with the Federal Government, but because the Federal Government is shut down, they are going to furlough their employees, and they are not going to be paid.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. We had the Secretary of the VA come to our committee. He indicated that by the 1st of November, if he did not have his appropriations, over 5,000 veterans and their families and their spouses would not get their benefits in the mail.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. The list goes on and on. For example, we have furloughed most of the HUD employees, so we are going to have more homeless veterans. The list goes on and on. Cemeteries. We have furloughed cemetery employees. The other issue is, if we default on Thursday, then the Social Security payments will not be made. These people in this House of Representatives want to operate by management. For example, yesterday, I heard over the news the number of cows that had died--or had been killed--because of a storm. We came back the next day and did the farm bill. Because everyone has been furloughed, they can't even provide the assistance they usually provide. We are going to tackle this, but there is a whole array of services that we are not picking up. For example, when you look at the number of, let's say, people who work at the universities, their checks say the universities, but they are really working for national foundations or the Mayo Clinic.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Or on Alzheimer's research. So all of this work is brought to a halt for no good reason.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. The sad issue here in the House is that the minority has no rights.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. In the Veterans' Committee, members kept alluding to the Senate, the Senate, the Senate. Let's be clear, the Senate passed the bill, and I thank God for the Senate. They passed the bill and took the House number, which was unacceptable to all Democrats, unacceptable, took those low numbers in order to pass a continuing resolution so we could have discussions. But what happened to the House? They are missing in action because there is no leadership on the Republican side.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Would you repeat that again, sir.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Sir, are you saying that the Democrats in the House held their nose and voted for the Republican irresponsible numbers?

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Say it again. Say it again. We lost on the compromise.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Sir, a conversation. Can we have a conversation. Can you repeat what you just said again. A conversation. You mean to tell me that the Speaker had a negotiation with the House and with the Senate on the Republican's low levels? That it was unacceptable to the Democrats in the House, we held our nose and voted, would be willing to vote for it if they bring it up in order to move forward and get a conversation going?

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we just want a conversation.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Sir, just one other question. I want to know how many times did the Republicans pass their bad bill in the House and then send it over to the Senate, and they think that the Senate is supposed to pick up their bad bill? How many times did they pass it-- 44?

Ms. BROWN of Florida. No, I am talking about on the health repeal.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. No, I think it was 44.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. If the gentlewoman would yield, we have agreed. We have compromised. We have had a conversation. We have agreed to put our politics aside and do what is in the best interest of the United States of America. It is unfortunate that we have people that serve in the House of Representatives, what is supposed to be the people's House, and they do not care about the people of the United States of America. They only care about their petty politics.

Ms. BROWN of Florida. I think I have said everything I need to say, but I do want to say one thing jokingly. I went home last weekend, and I was looking for some snake oil since they said that Cruz had given the House Republicans snake oil. I couldn't find any snake oil, but I did find some holy oil, and I asked my pastors to pray for us because we need all the prayer we can get. It is shameful. The Republican Party, particularly in the House of Representatives, continues to hold the nation hostage in a futile attempt to defund Obamacare. I am so deeply disappointed that Republicans, especially those tea party Republicans in the House, continue to keep the government closed by appealing to the most extreme members of their Party by refusing to pass a clean funding bill to keep the government working. Speaker Boehner's Republican Shutdown Must Stop Republican recalcitrance has once again brought about a manufactured crisis designed to promote right wing ideology at the expense of the needs of all Americans. Instead of working together to develop a budget that will work for Americans, Republicans let extremists and ideologues drive their agenda and drive us all into a national crisis. Why did Republicans so carelessly shut down our government? Because they continue to be obsessed with eliminating the Affordable Care Act. The Republican crusade against providing affordable access to health care for all Americans knows no bounds, and it has become apparent that they are even willing to sacrifice the basic functions of the U.S. government just to prove a point. Even though millions of Americans were clamoring to sign up for insurance benefits on just the first day the exchanges opened up to the public. Members of Congress are elected to make sure our government functions, and Americans have had enough with this Republican led shutdown. There is a solution to this problem. The Senate passed CR would fund the government for an additional six weeks, and all Speaker Boehner has to do is bring that bill up for a vote to end this stalemate. In fact according to some reports, there are enough votes to pass a clean CR now. This short term bill to fund the government already represents a compromise, after a negotiation, by Democrats and is the level requested by Speaker Boehner. But Republicans cannot take ``yes'' for an answer. They are continuing to play more games by pushing a piecemeal approach to resolving this shutdown. This will not work. As USA Today put it, it's like seizing a school bus full of kids then offering to release the cutest ones. The Senate will not pass these bills, because they do nothing to address the real problem--that we need to fund the whole government. Instead of working together to do our jobs and resolve these critical issues, Republicans have taken a decidedly different approach, one that they seem to have been looking forward to for some time--to make another desperate attempt to stop the Affordable Care Act. In fact, as one of their chief spokespeople, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann put it, ``We're very excited. It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it.'' Republicans seem not to care too much about the consequences of a shutdown, even though the consequences are significant. Thousands of federal employees have been furloughed. National parks are shuttered. Loans to small businesses, farmers and families trying to purchase homes have been shelved. Lifesaving scientific research at NIH is halted. People waiting for travel visas and passports will be even further delayed. Those who need assistance to get back on their feet like recipients of the Women Infants and Children program (WIC) are struggling to find other means to get by. Veterans and their families applying for hard-earned benefits are waiting indefinitely for their fair due. But the plan is in place, the Republican slash and burn approach to governance continues, and they have shown that they are willing to put it all on the line to appease the extreme right wing of their party. As if their work to dismantle the programs Americans rely on like Head Start and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) wasn't clear enough when they pushed the sequester through, they have now chosen to just stop our government from functioning. The cavalier attitude on display by House Republicans makes it clear that the Majority is more interested in ideology than action. Their government shutdown could be the most damaging thing to hit our economy since the budget sequestration they imposed on Americans. Rather than passing a jobs plan to get Americans back to work, help rebuild our economy and create good jobs with good benefits, the GOP has gotten what they really wanted all along--shutting the doors of the government of the United States. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Ms. BROWN of Florida

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss how the Republican self-imposed government shutdown is affecting our Nation's veterans. Just yesterday, VA Secretary Shinseki testified in the Veterans Affairs' Committee, and he put several points straight ahead. If the shutdown continues, there will be over 3.8 million veterans who will not receive disability compensation payments. That means they will not get their checks in the mail by November 1. 315,000 veterans and over 200,000 surviving spouses or dependents will not see their pension payments. Education payments to more than half a million veterans using the GI Bill will end. It is really very shameful that the Republicans are doing this to our veterans--over $6 billion in benefits. Nearly 5 million veterans and their families will not receive their pension payments. Shame on the Republican House of Representatives. The Independent Budget, A Budget for Veterans by Veterans, October 3, 2013. House Speaker John Boehner, Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Reid, Leader Pelosi and Leader McConnell: On behalf of The Independent Budget--co-authored by AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars--we would like to express our tremendous disappointment that Congress' inability to pass a full annual budget has led to a government shutdown. Your failure is already causing real harm to the brave men and women who have served and sacrificed for this nation. The current government shutdown has stopped work on the more than 250,000 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claims that are awaiting adjudication; compensation, pension and education benefits are in jeopardy of not being paid; Vocational Rehabilitation offices are working with reduced staffs; and the Department of Labor's VETS programs and federal employment OneStops are closed. These are real impacts on veterans, many of whom are struggling to transition back into civilian life. Furthermore, funding the operations of the VA through short-term continuing resolutions (CRs) or other stop-gap measures are not acceptable solutions. Typically, short term CRs don't take into account the effects of inflation or increased demand for VA benefits and services. CRs also prevent VA from starting or expanding critical programs and disrupt or delay vital new research and construction projects. As the leaders of Congress, we call on you to immediately take all actions necessary to give final approval to legislation providing the full year's FY 2014 appropriation for all veterans programs. Our organizations and the millions of veterans we represent will no longer tolerate Congress leveraging veterans' health and wellbeing to achieve unrelated political ends. In order to prevent future disruptions to veterans' programs, we also urge you to approve legislation that would extend advance appropriations to all VA discretionary and mandatory appropriations accounts. Advance appropriations have shielded VA health care from most of the harmful effects of the current government shutdown as well as prior continuing resolutions. Now Congress must provide the same protections to all remaining discretionary and mandatorily funded veterans programs, including disability compensation processing and payments. There are currently bills pending in both the House (H.R. 813) and the Senate (S. 932) that could be quickly amended and approved to achieve this goal. Both government shutdowns and continuing resolutions represent failures in leadership. Congress' obligation to veterans does not start in the eleventh hour of a national crisis; you have an obligation to pass a timely, sufficient budget for all veterans programs, benefits and services. On behalf of our organizations and all of America's veterans, their families and survivors, we call on you to work together to immediately approve a full year's appropriation for all veterans programs, and subsequently to approve pending legislation to extend advance appropriations to all VA discretionary and mandatory funding. Anything less is unacceptable to the men and women who have served this nation in uniform. Sincerely, Stewart M. Hickey, National Executive Director, AMVETS. Garry J. Augustine, Executive Director, Disabled American Veterans. Homer S. Townsend, Jr., Executive Director, Paralyzed Veterans of America. Robert E. Wallace, Executive Director, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Ms. BROWN of Florida

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today on the House floor, instead of putting an end to the damaging Republican Government Shutdown by passing a clean funding compromise passed by the Senate, the House Republican leadership has chosen to take a different path to vote on more political ploys. They are doing this by continuing to offer mini- versions of appropriations bills in a cynical effort to give themselves political cover for causing this shutdown in the first place. These bills are political gimmicks, not a responsible approach to governing. Republicans have shut down the government and are damaging our economy and the middle class. And today the House is considering the following five GOP piecemeal bills, which only fund selected pieces of the government--National Institutes of Health, local funds for the DC, the National Parks, certain funding for Reserve/Guard, and part of the VA. Like my colleagues in the Democratic Caucus, I wholeheartedly support veterans, our National Guard and Reserve, the District of Columbia, important medical research and our national parks. However, these bills leave out many of the crucial services relied on by the American people such as Head Start programs, veterans' cemeteries, small business loans, education for our children to equipping and training our troops to building housing for military families to getting decisions on veterans disability claims, among many others. Instead of opening up a few government functions, the House of Representatives should re-open the entire government. The harmful impacts of a shutdown extend across government, affecting services that are critical to small businesses, women, children, seniors, and others across the Nation. The American people have seen enough, and the time has come for Republicans to abandon their reckless and irresponsible agenda and join Democrats to honor America's commitments to provide vital services our citizens pay for with their hard earned tax dollars. I urge Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, and the Republican Party to end its shutdown by working with Democrats to pass a clean funding bill and end this charade immediately.

Ms. BROWN of Florida

Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, let's be clear: God has blessed us with the best veterans in the world. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The veterans understand that if they vote for this bill, it is a $6 billion cut to veterans services. So what are you cutting? The National Cemetery Administration, the office in charge of construction of VA facilities, Office of Inspector General, grants to the States for veterans homes, grants to the State cemeteries. All four veterans organizations said that there is a problem in the House of Representatives' lack of leadership. Bring a clean CR to the floor. Let's vote it up. You are not fooling anybody. This is a Republican right-wing part that is bringing this terrible instance to this country. There's no reason. Bring up a clean CR. A clean CR. I am appalled that the House is considering this bill that only partially funds the Department of Veterans Affairs. To take one small portion of the budget to help those men and women who have sacrificed so much and use it as a club to hammer the American people over the head while you argue about the Republican Government Shutdown. This bill cuts $6B from the bill the House passed earlier this year for a full year funding of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is unconscionable. This is what this bill does not fund: the National Cemetery Administration, the office in charge of construction of VA facilities, Office of Inspector General, Grants to state veterans homes, Grants to state cemeteries. The Four Organizations that write the Independent Budget each year, AMVETS, DAV, PVA and VFW, sent a letter today to all the leaders of the Congress. They said that ``Both government shutdowns and continuing resolutions represent failures in leadership.'' They went on to say that anything less than passing a full appropriations bill ``is unacceptable to the men and women who have served this nation in uniform.'' Pass a clean CR and let's get back to the business of governing this country.