Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Lexington, Kentucky (Mr. Barr), my neighbor.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. We've heard time and again tonight from the other side that this debate and vote is about shutting down the government. Pardon me. I thought we were voting on a continuing resolution. What do you think a continuing resolution is? It's to continue the government. Those on the other side also want to say that we're defunding ObamaCare. We're not. We did that in the first bill we sent over to the Senate. The Senate rejected that and sent it back. Now this side of the aisle is offering a peaceable offer. People all over this country are telling all of us how much they are worried about this ObamaCare that they're having to contend with starting this Monday. They're saying, Please, give us a break. Give us some time to adjust to this. Even the President admitted that the law was not for prime time for the business community, and he gave businesses an extra year. He's excused so many other people that we don't even know about, and yet the individual mandate, the requirement of the law that individuals must comply with, he will not yield on. That's what this bill does. It says let's take a year off and let's work this thing, let's get the computers which are not working to work. Let's get the computers working right. Let's get the staff in the field. Let's get people out there who can sign people up. That takes time, Mr. Speaker. That's what this bill is all about. It says delay for just 1 year the individual mandate, which is really all that's left that's still in force. Let's take a year and perfect, if you can, this bill for the individual. To say that what we're after tonight is to shut down the government is just not so. This is a continuing resolution. This continues the government. Like it or not, that's what it does. So I urge a ``yes'' vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Might I inquire of the time remaining, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), who is the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the MilCon and VA.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent), who is the vice chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Meadows).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), the distinguished chairman of the Labor-HHS Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the time remaining.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), a very important member of the Ways and Means Committee of the House.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 366, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 59) making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. 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 the further consideration of H.J. Res. 59.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to move forward with H.J. Res. 59, the continuing resolution that will keep the doors of the government open after the end of the fiscal year on Monday. It's unfortunate that yet again we are in this situation facing yet another shutdown showdown with no solution to our many fiscal problems in sight. Funding the government with a continuing resolution should not be plan A, plan B, or even plan Z. But our challenges are many, our timeline is short, so passing this CR today is absolutely essential. The House passed a version of this bill last Friday. The Senate amended it and sent it back to us to consider once again. The motion before us agrees to the Senate amendments with two further amendments: one delaying ObamaCare for a year, and one repealing the medical device tax. Included in each amendment are three changes that I've requested. The first changes the date back to the House-passed end date of the CR of December 15 to give us more time to pass the fiscal year 2014 appropriations bills. I've been flexible on this issue from the very beginning, but this longer timeframe will help us avoid the potential need for another CR in the interim. The second change would make a technical change to an anomaly for the Eisenhower Commission added by the Senate. This change will simply continue the status quo of a hold on that project. Finally, the third will add a new anomaly to extend the authority for the United States to issue special immigrant visas for the length of this CR. This authority is necessary to ensure that the visas continue for Iraqis who assisted the U.S. during the war, many of whom put their lives on the line to do so. It's become clear that since this CR was first introduced that this new provision has wide bipartisan support. Mr. Speaker, one of our primary jobs as Members of Congress is to provide our people with important programs and services only the Federal Government can provide and to ensure that these services are available. This bill does that. However, it's also our responsibility to address the Nation's fiscal challenges head-on with a realistic and pragmatic approach that will allow for attainable solutions. With the debt ceiling looming, a fragile economy in recovery, and the threat of additional, draconian sequestration cuts that will gut our national defense, it's essential that we come together to find common ground. One side cannot do it alone, and inaction or failure on these crucial issues could lead to disastrous results for our people and our Nation for years to come. Let me take a moment now to remind us all of just a few of the consequences if the government were to shut down: our troops will not be paid and national security will be put at risk; our borders will weaken; our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly and our veterans, may not get the assistance they rely upon; our businesses, facing great uncertainty, will take a hit; our economy will suffer. We must act responsibly to keep our government open and our country on stable economic footing. Now and in the near future, we must also act as productive partners to keep the Nation safe, provide our people with essential services, rein in unsustainable entitlement programs, and secure a responsible and realistic Federal budget. And we must remember that we do this not just for ourselves and our districts, but we do it for the Nation as a whole. I hope that today-- with the countdown to shutdown clocks ticking away--my colleagues will understand that funding the government is one of those essential duties, and I ask you to vote ``yes'' on this continuing resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.