Louise Slaughter

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I'll tell you, I feel such a combination of both sadness and anger that it makes it really difficult for me to express it. On the one hand, the chaos and the lurching from crisis to crisis that this Congress has continually gone through leaves me not just perplexed but absolutely bewildered. At the same time, I think what overrides everything for me tonight is a sense of terrible sadness that all of us here who have sworn to protect and defend the United States of America have completely given up on that idea. Because the majority has moved so assiduously towards this moment, this is on them. This government shutdown belongs to them for the rest of their lives. And now, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you that the great country of the United States, the beacon of light for almost everybody in the world, the defender of all the people in the world is out of a government now. The most important institution of government anywhere ever devised is now closed. And I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Thank you very much. I appreciate my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman from Massachusetts did a very good job of refuting what we heard in the talking points, but let me add just one or two things to it. We've always known that if people say an untruth often enough, loud enough, that they begin to believe it themselves. But we still hope that the country out there at large will not. Let me just put it this way as succinctly as I can. The same group that's fighting today also fought the Social Security law and the Medicare law. They hated it all. They didn't want any of that done, and I don't believe that the American people now are feeling very good about giving up either one of those. Their fear right now is that when this bill goes into effect--not until January--all the awful things you have heard about are not even in effect yet because this bill is not in effect--that it is going to be a success, and they are going to have a lot of explaining to do. Now, a report just released that I heard about yesterday showed that only 1 percent of businesses in the United States of America have made any changes at all. And, indeed, small business gets great benefits providing health care in tax rebates. Now, the most important thing I want to say--because the contrast to what we're doing here today is so glaring. When we did the health care bill--and every President since Teddy Roosevelt has tried to--when we did it, it went through the committee process in both Houses, and everybody had a chance. Every committee in the House and in the Senate contains both Republicans and Democrats who proposed amendments. Some of them were accepted. In fact, one of the ones we are working with now is to try to make some sense out of the one that was added by Senator Grassley over in the Senate, a Republican. The idea that we rammed this thing through in the middle of the night and nobody had ever seen it is absurd. Everybody knew about it. The whole thing was transparent. The committee meetings were all open, and everybody had a chance. Never in the world have we ever seen people fight so hard to do away with a piece of legislation that is a legitimate law. And what do they do with the rest of it? They have dropped the entire process of governing the House of Representatives. We have, over this year, seen not a piece of work get down. Appropriations bills in the House and Senate, none. Absolutely none. So we are having to do a continuing resolution because we have no budget. A budget was passed in the House; a budget was passed in the Senate. The Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused what is normal process, to sit down and confer over that budget and give us a budget. Since January of 2011, 42 votes have been held here to defund or to undermine the historic law. They have repeatedly failed to complete the most basic of congressional functions, which is passing the appropriations legislation to keep the government open. In fact, what their mantra is: Do we need to create jobs in America? Well, let's repeal ObamaCare. Do we need to balance our budget? Well, let's repeal ObamaCare. We need to keep the government open; oh, my goodness, let's repeal ObamaCare--the answer to everything and the cure for absolutely nothing. And now their legislative malpractice--and I don't know of anything else that you can call it--has led us to the brink of a major crisis. Reading just this morning from Frank Keating, the former Republican Governor of Oklahoma: What in the world is going on here? What in the world do we think we're doing? As they begin to see the consequences of their action, they're doubling down, putting forth a list of demands that even the greediest child on Christmas morning would be put to shame. In exchange for averting government shutdown and a global economic crisis, the House majority considers making the following demands: A 1-year delay of the individual mandate, which would gut the health care law; the implementation of Congressman Ryan's tax reform plan, which does away with Medicare, by the way, despite the fact that voters, as my colleague said, rejected his draconian vision as he ran for Vice President last year; and the repeal of Dodd-Frank.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. The repeal of Dodd-Frank so that we can go back to an era of unregulated Wall Street banks; and they want to construct the Keystone pipeline. None of this has anything in the world to do with what is facing us today. They want to do away with all of the environmental regulations. The list goes on and on. It is time for this temper tantrum to end and for cooler heads to prevail. There must be some cooler heads here on the other side. With time running out, the majority has to act to keep this government open and try to get this economy on track. The American people must be spared from the consequences of a majority that cannot find the will or the ability to legislate.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. What we have before us today is not a solution; it's another attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act. As written, this dangerous proposal has no chance of becoming law. It is not only a political nonstarter but a bad Federal policy. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, a repeal of the medical device tax alone would add $30 billion to the Federal deficit. However, finding a solution to the crisis before us may not be the majority's top priority. Based upon news reports from earlier in the day, it seems that far from responsible governing, the majority is concerned with simply keeping their political house of cards from falling down. According to POLITICO, Majority Leader Eric Cantor said: We've had enough disunity in our party. The headlines are Republicans fighting Republicans. This will unite us. By now, the majority's inability to find consensus within its own ranks is well known. It started almost as soon as they assumed power, as extremists within their own party refused to provide relief aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy for more than 3 months. Divisions within the majority also led to the first ever expiration of the Violence Against Women Act in over 20 years; most recently, a failure on the House floor to pass a bipartisan farm bill, which had never happened before. The bill had been 5 years in the making, and they couldn't get it done. Unable to find consensus on even the most noncontroversial bills, the majority has held more than 41 votes on the one issue that unites them. If we are to believe the majority leader, the one issue that unites them is to try to kill the health care bill for Americans. Now, polls have shown that the American people want action on everything from strengthening gun laws to passing immigration reform. Yet, instead of addressing any of these issues, the majority has tried any way they can to repeal, defund, undermine, delay, whatever, the historic health care law. And remember that Presidents--most of them since the time of Teddy Roosevelt--have tried to achieve health care. Frustration has reached a boiling point within the majority's ranks. Republican Senator John McCain has declared parts of his own party ``whacko birds'' and said: Many in this group didn't come to power to get things done. They came to power to keep things from getting done. Well said, Senator. By now, the majority is well aware that a 1-year delay in the Affordable Care Act threatens access to secure and affordable health care for millions of Americans and that my Democrat colleagues and I refuse to take away health care for American families just because the majority is unable and unwilling to find common ground. And oh, by the way, we've done nothing about the business of the House. We're doing this resolution, in the first place, because the appropriations bills were not dealt with. In fact, the whole process has changed here. What used to be the committee process and then go to Rules and then go to the floor has changed; you just go directly to Rules. I would sure like to see the old days come back. The fact of the matter is this bill will be dead on arrival once it's sent to the Senate. Senator Reid has made that abundantly clear all day long. For the majority to continue to bring it forward shows that today's proposal is nothing more than an attempt to seek political cover as Republicans shut the government down. Today, Senator Harry Reid said: The American people will not be extorted by Tea Party anarchists. To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the 1-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax. After weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one. As if this weren't enough, the process that has led us here has trampled upon the majority's promises of an open and transparent House. Unlike the process that led to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, today's legislation was written behind closed doors, leaving out almost half of the Members of the House of Representatives, the Democrat Party. There was absolutely no input at all from members of the minority, and that is definitely unlike the health care act, which went through the full committee process. This afternoon, the majority met in the basement of the Capitol. After a secretive, closed-door meeting, they emerged with this partisan legislation in hand and told us to take it or leave it. Mr. Speaker, every single one of us was elected by our fellow citizens and told to do our part in building a more prosperous country. With the closed, secretive, and partisan process that the majority has repeatedly pursued, they are shutting out half the Chamber and half of our country from participating in a democratic process. In closing, the majority has every right to pursue their legislative priorities, no matter how misguided we may feel they are, but they do not have the right to take the Nation hostage nor threaten the full faith and credit of the United States in order to get their way. Let me be clear: a vote for this rule and a vote for this bill are affirmative votes for a government shutdown, because everyone here knows there will be no adequate time for any more ping-ponging. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and the underlying legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my distinguished colleague on the Rules Committee.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), my distinguished colleague on the Rules Committee.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), a most distinguished colleague on the Rules Committee.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Edwards).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. I understand that the gentleman is prepared to close. With that, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule and ``no'' on this bill because--no question about it--a ``yes'' vote on either one of them is a vote for the shutdown in the House. The Senate will not take this up--we are absolutely certain of it--and we are on the road to a shutdown. The Republican Party insists on doing that. Do not help them. Vote ``no.'' I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, if the House of Representatives fails to act, the government will shut down on October 1. A government shutdown would result in the furlough of hundreds of thousands of government employees, stop the flow of Social Security checks, and hold up Medicare benefits for our seniors. In short, there are very real and very significant consequences to what we do here today. Given the stakes, one could reasonably expect the majority to avoid extremism and partisanship and allow this Chamber to keep the government open. But this bill doesn't do that. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening here today. Unable to pass 8 of 12 annual appropriations bill, the majority has been forced to resort to a continuing resolution--and this CR should have been clean, as the CR is in the Senate. But today's proposal includes a self-executing amendment to defund the Affordable Care Act and put medical decisions back into the hands of the insurance companies. And that will not go through the Senate. So we will, once again, go to the very brink of disaster, hoping that we can pull out of it while letting most Americans hang by their thumbs, wondering what we're going to do. As the newspaper The Hill wrote this morning, today's proposal makes ``shutdowns more likely'' because the Affordable Care Act will never be repealed as long as President Obama is in office and the Democrats control the Senate. The fact of the matter is the Affordable Care Act is already delivering on its promise of lower health care costs and more secure health care. States are just 11 days away from opening online health care exchanges, where individuals will be able to compare health plans and purchase an insurance plan that fits their needs. In many cases, these exchanges will allow individuals to purchase health insurance cheaper than ever before. In my home State of New York, premiums for some insurance plans have already dropped by 50 percent. This week, Secretary Sebelius announced that many monthly premiums will be less than $100. Perhaps most importantly--not something I'm sure everybody knows--the Affordable Care Act flips the script and takes the power out of insurance companies' hands. Instead of having lifetime and annual caps on what the insurance company will spend on your health care, the Affordable Care Act enforces limits on what you will have to pay out- of-pocket for your health care. Does everybody know that? Because when your constituents find it out, they're going to be bummed out at you for trying to kill it. For example, in 2015, those covered under a group health insurance plan will not have to pay more than $6,350 out of their pocket for medical procedures and medicine. That is such a gift. People will no longer have to go bankrupt to pay health bills. That is going to be covered from that point on. Once you've reached that limit, your insurer is going to pick the rest of it up. My constituents don't want to lose that. It's a landmark change and just one of many reasons why the majority's attempt at repeal will never become law. Today's legislation falls short when it comes to ending the devastating cuts within what we call the sequester. The sequester has been one of the most devastating policies ever implemented in the history of the United States. Just today, the head of the FBI said that the idea of having to get rid of 300 employees and putting all of his employees on 10-day furlough makes it almost impossible for him to run the FBI. Because of the sequester, tens of thousands of cancer screenings have been canceled at public health clinics right now, more than $1.6 billion has been cut from the National Institutes of Health, and more than 70,000 children have been kicked out of Head Start. And over the next 12 months the CBO estimates that 1.6 million jobs will be lost because of the economic drag caused by the sequester. Last night, the Budget Committee ranking member, Chris Van Hollen, came to the Rules Committee and requested to have a vote on the House floor in order to end the sequester. That was the eighth time that his request has been denied by the Rules Committee. Given the chance for bipartisan cooperation and to rid ourselves of this plague that is so worrying and causing such devastation, the majority simply walked away. Finally, today's legislation also includes a proposal to protect some bondholders, including China, from any economic fallout that would occur if the majority refuses to lift the Nation's debt. This legislation has no place in a continuing resolution. Furthermore, it should never have been considered, for the faith and credit of the United States should never be in doubt. Mr. Speaker, every Member of this House is sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to ``promote the general welfare.'' And that's a far cry from what we're doing here today, not only in this bill but in the one that preceded this, where we're cutting $40 billion out of food that will affect, as you heard before, veterans, the elderly, Meals on Wheels, and school nutrition. It's not what we are and not what we do. Everybody knows, though, that what is happening here today is what every mother knows. When a child has a tantrum--and a tantrum is being had here over health care--you slap a pacifier in the mouth. That's exactly what trying to redo the health care bill is--it's a temporary tantrum retarder so that we can get by today. There is no real plan. It's just how will we get by today. After the majority passes this bill, the Senate will take the legislation. With a pure majority, they can remove the partisan attacks within it and they will send us back a clean CR if they can get 60 votes, which we will have to pass or chaos will ensue. By the time we get around to all this--which we could be doing today--we're on the edge of a cliff. In the meantime, the majority's refusal to work on a balanced plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and to invest in our future, which is such an important thing that's been neglected, and stop the brain drain being caused by the sequester is hurting our economy and threatens a government shutdown. With time running out, the decision to play politics has dire consequences. Think about it for just a moment. We've gotten reports about substandard bridges and roads and the neglect of the railway. We could put all those people to work that would be needed just to rebuild those, and spend some money on ourselves, instead of $2 billion a week on the wars, as we did in Iraq for 10 years. So I urge my colleagues to vote against today's rule and the underlying legislation so we can consider bipartisan solutions instead of games. I can promise you that our side stands ready and willing. We have nothing to do with any of this today. No Democrats were involved. We want to be a part of it as well. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS.