Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. In reclaiming my time, that's a leap. I'm talking steps. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlelady from North Carolina (Mrs. Ellmers), a former nurse.

Mr. KINGSTON. In reclaiming my time, I will say this to my friend: a long journey begins with small steps. If we can just take a few, small bipartisan steps together, I think it would change the entire tone of this debate, and I say that with sincerity.

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from California.

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me say to my distinguished friend from California that I would like to move the CDC and would ask him to cosponsor that legislation if we could do similar to the CDC what we are doing to the NIH, because I agree with you in that I think it's very important.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton). (Mr. BARTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 73, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 370, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 73) making continuing appropriations for the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. In 1977, the government shut down three separate times--once for 8 days, a second time for 8 days, and another time for 12 days. The Democrats controlled the House, the Democrats controlled the Senate, and there was a Democrat in the White House. Indeed, over the history of the last 25 years, there have been a number of government shutdowns until the Senate, the House, and the White House sat down and negotiated. That's all we're saying tonight is, you know what, we understand we don't control government, but we are willing to negotiate. It is time for cooler heads to prevail in the U.S. Senate. It's time for the U.S. Senate to have some adult leadership and sit down with House leadership and hammer out the differences. That's why we're here right now, while the Senate, I believe, has already gone home. I guess the President is no longer playing golf. But we are ready to negotiate.

Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that we are here tonight to keep the government open. I keep hearing that we want to shut the government down. And yet this is actually our third attempt to send something to the U.S. Senate to give them an opportunity to negotiate with us. And why are we here talking about a continuing resolution to begin with? We're here because this year, the House Appropriations Committee, with my colleagues on the other side, has passed five separate appropriations bills. There are 12 in total. Unfortunately, during the time period that we've passed five, the Senate has passed zero. Last year, the House passed seven and the Senate passed one. After a while, you see there's a pattern. The Senate doesn't want to work on regular order. The Senate really does prefer continuing resolutions because then they can pull stunts like the one Harry Reid is doing now. You know, Mr. Speaker, where were they yesterday? Where were they this weekend? The Senate adjourned. Where was the President? He was playing golf. He was so concerned about the government being shut down. Now, what is the issue with ObamaCare? The Speaker at the time, Ms. Pelosi, said we need to pass the bill so we can find out what's in it. Now, that bill has grown to 7.5 feet in height, and we are reading what's in it. But two things we know that it does not accomplish is it does not decrease the cost of health care, and it does not increase the accessibility. Those were the two major objectives. Those were the selling points. Health care is one-sixth of the economy. Therefore, I think it's the right thing to fight over. This is something that affects every American. We know already that premiums have skyrocketed under ObamaCare and that they will only grow worse. We also know that many major companies and smaller companies are stopping providing insurance to their employees. Accessibility is going down as well. So ObamaCare has been a failure. Why is it that the Democrat Party believes in it so bad? Even when it fails, they can't let go. I don't think it's a bad thing to say, hey, you know what, we were wrong. We tried to decrease the cost of health care, we tried to increase the accessibility, but we did not achieve that. Therefore, maybe Harry Reid should sit down with Speaker Boehner. Maybe the President of the United States can interrupt his negotiations with the Iranians and come and talk to the Americans, i.e., Republican Americans. I think it would be a good thing. Again, Mr. Speaker, this will be our third attempt to work with the Harry Reid Democrats to keep the government open. But I want to say this also to my friends on the other side of the aisle who have said they want to shut down the government. Let me mention, we had 17 shutdowns since 1976. And often one might say, well, that's when you had split government.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, if the Harry Reid Democrat Senate would pass the Defense appropriations bill, we would not be here tonight having this debate. With that, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman), the author of the bill, a retired marine-- although marines never retire.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time, I would only say this. It's hard to figure out what the United States is doing at all under Harry Reid's leadership.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I have our last speaker, who's going to close for us. Mr. Coffman is going to consume 3 minutes. So if the gentleman from Virginia wants to talk in 30 seconds, I will accommodate my friend. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes. I just want to remind everybody we're here not because of the House Republican Appropriations Committee but because of the Senate Democrat Appropriations Committee which, to date, has not passed one single bill. We've passed the Defense bill. We've passed Homeland Security. We passed Military Construction. What have Harry Reid and the Democrats, the Members of your party done? Zero. Not one bill. What did they do last year? We passed seven appropriations bills. What did Harry Reid and the Democrats do in the Senate? They passed one. That's why we're here debating the continuing resolution. It is not our desire to be here on this. We would rather have regular order. Indeed, we have worked hard for regular order. But, Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of representing Moody Air Force Base; the Townsend Bombing Range; the 224th Signal Group in Brunswick, Georgia; the 165th Air Wing in Savannah, Georgia; the Combat Readiness Training Center in Savannah, Georgia; Fort Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia; Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, George; Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary's, Georgia; and members of the 48th Brigade all over my district. I have marines. I have three Coast Guard stations. On their behalf, we cannot let their pay be interrupted. The things that these fighting men and women in uniform are doing for the United States of America should be off the table. That's why we're here in support of this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert), a coauthor of this legislation for many years.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time we have left?

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to clarify one thing. Under the current President, the national debt now is 100 percent of the GDP. For every $1 we spend, 42 cents is borrowed. That's bad enough, but now the President offers no reform to bend the spending curve whatsoever. Instead, he pushes forward a failed health care policy that has a price tag of $1.7 trillion. It does not decrease the cost of medicine, and it does not increase the access to medicine, which were the two primary objectives which we heard over and over again by the other party. That's why we're here tonight. This is one- sixth of the economy. And yet we hear the same dogma over and over again. That's why this debate is taking place. We have passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded so that these civilian employees and all other government employees that we hear so much about can continue to receive their paychecks. But Harry Reid and the Senate does not want to keep the government open because they're insisting on supporting a $1.7 trillion addition to the national debt, a health care policy which increases the cost of medicine and decreases the access. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), an Active Duty member of the United States Army who has the rank of colonel.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), the Representative of the Warner Robins Air Force Base and a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?