the health care this is not governing, it is bullying. we have to talk about what our strategy is to move forward. i am asking the republican ondership to put the bill the floor, a direct bill they came from the senate, and let members of congress vote for the bill. do you want to shut the government down or do you want to move forward and do the thing that is right for our country? to make what we can sure you get that vote. i have talked to many republicans on the other side and they are not happy. thank you for being here. [applause] >> now we will hear from the former chair of the fairfax county board.

>> thank you for being here. thank you to the men and women who serve our public. this is not only about the men and women who serve their country every day in the civilian work force and military, it is about the people we serve. we are their public servants. let's be very clear about the shut down. get three bytes of the apple in our constitutional system. you pass a bill or you defeated. you can challenge it in court. they lost that round out the supreme court. and then you can take it to the ballot box. it is over. let us not hold the american people by defunding their government hostage.

nobody is going to agree to anything when a gun is that there had and that is precisely -- when a gun is that their heads and that is precisely what the republicans are doing. it will affect the lives of ordinary americans in every corner of this great country. for.is what we are here we are committed to turning that around. we are inviting republicans who understand the consequences of join us in to passing a clean funding bill so we can get back to work. thank you for being here today. [applause] the son of a very distinguished senator -- >> thank you. i want to thank the federal employees who have become gate

goats for this dysfunction -- this dysfunction of the republican party. in 2003, a republican president and a republican congress passed a drug prescription benefit bill. a lot of democrats had problems with that bill. when the democrats took over the congress in 2006, we did not dedicate ourselves to overturning that bill. it was the law of the land and we did not shut down the government in order to get our way. we tried to make it better. we sat down across the aisle and we made improvements. that is the way the process is supposed to work. that is how a democracy works. i want to reiterate what jerry just said, it each federal employee touches thousands of lives with the work that they do.

is not just an insult and a it is a disservice and an insult to the american public. that is why we have -- we beseech the republican house majority, the leadership, to put a clean continuing resolution on the floor of the house. that is the rational thing to do. that is the responsible thing to do. that is the democratic thing to do. if they do that, it will pass and we can put our government back to work. [applause] >> we will hear from a successful businessman in the private sector who has been elected of the freshman class of congress, john delaney.

>> if you care about people, you treat them with dignity and respect. if you want to increase human potential, allow people to live the lives they deserve, and get the most out of an organization, you do things to improve their self-esteem. what we are presiding over today is a rejection of those ideas. in that regard, it is a terrible day for america. it is a tragic day for federal workers, and it is a sad day in terms of its commentary on human nature. to do this, to close the , to affect 800,000 human beings and their families and the people they serve every day in our community, to disregard the fact that someone

is going to go home and not be able to take care of a basic need they were right on the edge of being a handle. to do that for the reasons that overturn ane, to completely unrelated piece of legislation and to the extent there was any question that there might be some principle behind this, to try to take away health care from a relatively small and targeted population of people that work very hard to serve this country is a very sad statement on human nature. that weeful and i agree can get beyond this and we can make it a better day for america and we can have a stronger expression of our values about

human beings and dignity and improving self-esteem and complementing and supporting people who we are stewards of and we can have a better statement of human nature and we can move on from this terrible moment. if we want to work on hard issues, which we have to do, if we want to have tough conversations, which we have to do, let's not sacrifice 800,000 people to do it. thank you. [applause] we will entertain any questions you might have of anybody behind the podium. >> by doing this as a suspension, do you suspect the republicans are trying to lay a trap to get democrats to not support this? >> i think many of us feel the republicans do not have the coverage to back up the way they

have voted by shutting down the government. they hear from their constituents the consequences of what they have done and they are trying to fix it. as soon as they try to fix the national parks and the smithsonian and the holocaust other agencies and other constituents will say, what about me? you exempted them, how about us? we have to work our way throughout the entire federal government. i do not know what our position will be as a caucus. it is not going to end with today. they will have to keep doing

five or six agencies every day until the government is open. that is not the way to run a business. we do not know what the position of the caucus is going to be. we had a bill that exempted people in uniform. down.umed a shut now we have a shut down and they are trying to patch the consequences of it. doesis poor policy and it not work in the long run and they will find as they open the gate a little bit, other constituents will say we need this agency open. i think it is a poor strategy. >> do we have any other questions for the other members? will they bring their

retroactive pay bills to the floor? toi suspect he is waiting see how many people get on it. it is bipartisan. inhave dozens of members every few minutes, another member signs onto it. they realize contrary to tradition, this may not be automatic reimbursing federal employees and they understand how unfair that would be. >> we came out this week to talk about our budget. >> [inaudible] >> we are already suffering from budget constraints and short staffs. we lost two staff members this year alone. we are required to go to work

with the threat of not being paid. what do we tell people when we get back to our hometown? >> tell them there is no excuse for what has happened. >> [inaudible] >> did they make those signs? well done. >> this is a question we hear time and again. why can't you explain to them the value to the people in their districts? it goes back to the same thing over and over again. why don't they understand the value? >> some members have been elected on a platform that the government does not work. once elected, they set about

trying to prove it. answer --nk the framed the answer. if you have the view that government adds no value, that ell, asent does nothing whil a subsidiary of that, you do not value federal workers. that is the essence of the problem. people like myself and people like jim, we see federal workers because are districts are blessed to have so many federal workers, so many high-quality individuals. many members do not see it and they have a very different view of government and it is tragic. i would hope that for even people who have a different view as to the role of government,

which is a legitimate discussion, it even for people who do not have very many federal workers in their district, i would hope they would come back to the comments i made earlier. it is one of our jobs as representatives, try to do things and take steps to raise human self-esteem, raise people's aspiration, make people feel good, give them a sense of dignity. tearing down individuals, even if they do not agree in the role of government, i am hopeful they will open up their hearts. this is a question of people's hearts. these are human beings with lives and families and dreams and hopes and challenges and treating them this way is bad leadership, that examples for our young people and not the kind of society we want to be.

we talk about ourselves being exceptional. that term gets used in many contexts, but this is not exceptional behavior. >> inside the capitol, senate republican leaders said they fundingsh for parts parts of the federal government. like the house of representatives continues to try thentice the senate -- >> house of representatives continues to try to entice the senate into discussions about how to resolve the continuing resolution. we send over your request to go to conference. the majority leader has made it clear that he is not interested in talking.

the president is not interested in talking. we want to resolve this crisis and get the government-funded. that atetty clear to me this point, neither the senate nor the president have any interest in entering into any discussions about how to resolve this impasse. >> it has become president -- it has become clear that present obama and harry reid the government to shut down because they believe they have partisan political advantage to gain because of the shut down. the american people are smarter the that and they realize house and over four different proposals involving obamacare only to be met with the answer, obama care is the law of the land and you cannot touch it.

true.w that is not exemptions, waivers, and delays. night, the majority leader off theis own members plank when he had them vote against a special carveout provision for members of congress. the mm people -- the american people understand that the laws are supposed to apply to all of us. we would like to protect the whole of american people from this monstrosity known as obamacare. democratse senate have done is take their ball and gone home. period.not negotiate

message been the consistently. house republicans have sent proposals over here. at every turn, the answer has been no. i do not think the american people see that as a reasonable proposition. most americans are wondering if the president is willing to make special obamacare deals for everybody else. he has made special deals for the favored groups that he wants to help out, but there are middle-class americans who are wondering, where is our special deal? it does not have to be this way. the democrats can bring the ball back and start to negotiate. that is what the people across the country want to see us do. they have concerns about the effects that this bad law will have on them and on their families. we want to see a government that

is functional. it is a time for the democrats to bring the ball back and we can end this unnecessary shutdown and we can do it now. the obama health care exchanges open today and from reports around the country, it seems obamacare is off to a very rocky start. let's take a look at what the president promised as recently as last week. go to the exchanges, it will be cheaper than a monthly cell phone bill. the average is about $71 a month . it will be as easy to use as amazon.com. like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. beware.e, buyer there will be significant sticker shock on the people will be hang watch more, even with -- will be paying much more, even

with the subsidies. there will be real issues of security and identity theft and we will continue to see problems with the exchanges in terms of customer service delays and abilities to get this done. the president will need to be of cheaper than your cell phone bill, easier than amazon.com, or keeping your doctor. the american people will judge the president by this. the president's words to the american people will not be found to be true. as the health-care care bill goes into effect today, what we see is what happens when you put legislation on the books and violate all of the principles you should have when you pass legislation.

there was never any real chance to amend this. were 60 votes in the senate that passed a bill that nobody thought would be the law and suddenly, the 60th vote goes away and that is the only thing that can become law. the president can amend this all he wants to. he can decide that businesses do not have to provide health insurance to their employers -- employees and there is no penalty. the cost of that is $12 billion a year. still do pay the penalty. that was the last offer the sent sent over last night. give the same one-year

exemption to individuals so they do not have to pay a penalty if they do not have it. the $4 billion that we individualsthat would pay, apparently, that is unbelievably important that it be collected. the legislative part of the government has never really had the kind of opportunities you would want to have to modify, adjust, make this lot better. at the last minute, we see businesses treated one way and individuals and families treated another way and a system that is full of glitches. at means it is not working. -- that means it is not working. >> [inaudible] where is the tipping point? the world world

consequences too much to allow the government to not open again? tothe house will continue try to engage the senate and the white house. -- itstep they have taken is a reasonable effort to make some changes to a law that almost everybody despises. the house and over a proposals and a lot of those go to conference and that was rejected, too. the house is trying to be very reasonable. the house will continue to try to engage the majority leader and the president. >> let me follow-up. we saw yesterday a bipartisan effort to protect our military

from pay cuts during a government shut down. we will come to the floor this afternoon and deal with people toe veterans who are coming washington on honor flights to visit the world war ii memorial. there is no reason why these people should be punished as a result of the failure in congress. we will offer targeted proposals to mitigate some of the painful -- pain for people who are innocent bystanders. we will continue the conversation. >> [inaudible] >> it is pretty obvious, the

bill is back in the house. the house will decide what next. we will be seeking relief in the house and senate to certain impacts of where we are on various parts of the public. i am not in a position to answer hypotheticals. what impact does the shutdown have on the debt limit debate? >> they are getting close to each other, aren't they? i would still like to resolve the current issue before we move on to the debt ceiling. it is not exactly clear when that will be resolved. >> outside the capital, house republicans study committee called on the president and majority leader harry reid to negotiate with republicans to get the government-funded.

this is 15 minutes. i want to thank everybody for coming. last night, at about 1:00 in the morning, the house passed the fourth bill that we have passed over to the senate to keep the government-funded while in doing all of the special-interest exemptions in obamacare. ultimately, sending over a bill to form a conference committee. harry reid has refused to take action to keep government funded and. -- funded. harry reid chose to shut the government down. we have continued to put options on the table and we will stay

here and keep working, putting more options on the table to continue funding government while ending the sweetheart deals of obamacare. it is time for harry reid and his colleagues to start doing their job and start negotiating. is not a reasonable approach. most americans realize that we put ideas on the table and harry reid says i will not move an inch, this is not a tenable position. when two sides disagree, you have to start negotiating. we have put our team of negotiators in place and we are ready. we have a number of our colleagues here who have been involved in this fight. we need to end the special exemptions. legislation has brought -- it is important legislation to

ensure that members of congress live by the rules. >> it is great to be here with my colleagues. it is great to be here with all of my colleagues. i have two simple messages. we cannot come to a solution unless we are talking. all of us want to be talking. that is exactly why the house sent over four different proposals and that is why the house moved to go to conference and appoint conferees. you cannot come to a solution unless you are talking. simply join reid to that discussion, not to tell president obama, do not negotiate.

there will be no discussion and not to refuse to go to conference. the second thing all of us are doing today and beyond is to find areas of the government that we can absolutely agree on. present obama made a speech outlining some key priorities of his that he was fearful would be impacted in a shut down. we agree with all of those priorities. we are going to be passing or proposing to pass funding bills to address those starting with the v.a.. let's come together and agree where we can. is a second reasonable productive way to move forward. that is how we will move forward and i urge everybody to move forward in that spirit.

>> thank you, david. one of my colleagues in the fairness include obamacare, is marsha blackburn of tennessee. >> i want to thank all of you for taking the time to be out here today. we continue to work towards fairness. we know the president has made obamacarent delays in and has given 1200 special waivers. it is an issue of fairness for all americans. make certain we address these issues. we want to make certain that we address the out-of-control

federal spending. that is why we continue to say please meet us, work with us, talk with us, let's negotiate and get to the point where we can fund the federal government and do it in a way that is respectful of the american people. >> the senator who has been putting good solutions on the table is rand paul from kentucky. it was a always said dumb idea to shut down government. had we done our job and passed appropriations bills in the senate, we would not be here. i agree with what the house is talking about doing. let's pass some bills. we have a deadline and let's go ahead and do it. yesterday, we did pass funding for the soldiers.

it took us five minutes. make it very clear what is going on here. we are willing to talk to the president. we are willing to the knowledge that we will not get 100% of what we want, but the president --l have to acknowledge that we're looking for the president to talk to us. >> a great champion for fiscal , jim jordan of ohio. >> when you cut to the chase, it is about fairness, equal protection under the law for everybody, even this lady who was yelling at us right now. it will cut sought special favors for big business, special

favors for members of congress. all we're asking is a simple question. down and talk to us about the unfair treatment of obamacare so we can figure it out and we can treat all americans fairly. thank you. >> another leader in the fight is rhonda santos from florida. -- ron desantis from florida. so insistent on denying individual americans the same exemption from obamacare the administration has granted to big business and insurance companies that they would refuse to fund the basic functions of government.

-- i think all we are asking for is fairness. ourave an obligation to constituents to stand up for the rule of law and put washington at the back of the line for any relief and our constituents at the front of the line. >> one of my colleagues in the house who led to eliminate the corruption and the fraud that will be involved in the , diane black from tennessee. chairman.ou, mr. it is about fairness. hass about -- the president chosen and cherry picked what he liked about the law.

we should have fairness for everyone. not tosident decided apply equally. he delayed the employer mandate any also delayed a very important link of the that law and that was verification. those who apply for a subsidy would have their income verified. we will see a lot of fraud and abuse. the hard-working taxpayer is going to be paying for that. , wethe way down the line are asking for fairness. we want the senate to come to the table and talk about what is fair. we asked the senate and harry reid to come to the table. >> another colleague who has been fighting for fairness is from south carolina. you might want to tell harry

reid to into the shut down. >> you guys are worthless. >> the democrat leadership in the house had a press conference. at 1:00 last night, we gave them everything we wanted. he gave them a chance to sit down and they turned us down. -- we'ree ones who sit are the ones who want to sit down and chat. we send them a one-year delay and they turned us down. they shut down good and tomorrow if your folks would sit down and talk with us. [indiscernible] [crowd shouting]

>> we sent a number of options over to the senate. make sure the government gets funded. for whatever reason, harry reid has stuck his feet in the sand and says he does not want to negotiate at all. we are here to work and get this taken care of. >> repealing the medical device tax are supposed to add to the deficit. tax alone has run thousands of jobs out of america. if you want to talk about the actual tax that is killing jobs have there is no better poster child than the medical device tax. it is a gift to foreign countries.

if you look at the millions of dollars we are losing every day because of the jobs that have left our country, it is a job killer and a revenue loser for the federal government. >> are you saying that it would pay for itself? not just a special few. that would save billions of dollars to the american taxpayer and ensure fairness. we would make sure all americans comply with the same set of laws. does the rnc support this new plan that republican leadership put forward today to turn on the government in small pieces at a time? you sought unanimous vote in

the house a few nights ago to make sure our troops are funded. i was really glad the senate took that up and passed it. it shows you that we can work together and get things done. harry reid has to get off this attitude that it is harry's way or the highway. >> how do you see this unfolding in the next few days? >> we are here working. the house has been working. we have house negotiators already appointed. >> i do not have a crystal ball.

there could be a conference to talk about the cr. we are not agree if talking. we are ready to talk. spendings individual bills in those areas where we clearly agree. we started with our troops and we can go way beyond that. i do not have a crystal ball, but those are immediate positive steps forward. >> [inaudible] what has changed now that you're ready to go to conference now? the reason we are it -- -- at this impasse is because the senate has refused to appoint conferees. harry reid did not want to answer for the fact that president obama is giving over 1000 waivers to friends who have

access to the white house. american people realize that if congress passes laws, everybody should live by those laws. we need to end the sweetheart deals. we are ready to do our job. harry reid needs to do his. [applause] >> president obama is calling on house republicans to reopen the federal government and stop their efforts to delay or defund the federal health care law. he also noted that tuesday was the first day americans could enroll in health insurance exchanges under the health care law. this is 20 minutes.

good morning, everybody. night, can last everybody hear me? night, for thet first time in 17 years, the republicans in congress chose to shut down the federal government. one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government shut down major parts of the government all because they did not like one law. this republican shut down did not have to happen.

i want every american to understand why it did happen. in the house of representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the affordable care act. they have shut down and government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of americans. they demanded ransom just for doing their job. many representatives, including an increasing number of republicans, have made it clear that had they been allowed to take a simple up or down vote on keeping the government open, enough votes from both parties would've kept the american people -- the american governor -- the government open. we do know a couple of things.

the last time republican shut down the government in 1996, it hurts our economy. 1996, our economy is still recovering from the worst recession in generations. certain services and benefits to american seniors and business owners and veterans depend on us to put on hold. certain offices, along with every national park and monument, must be closed. last night, i signed legislation to make sure our one point 4 million active-duty military are paid to the shut down, -- 1.4 million active-duty military are .aid to the shut down longer the shut down continues, the worse the effects will be. more families will be hurt, more businesses will be harmed.

once again, i urge house republicans to reopen the the servicesestart americans depend on and allow the public servants who have been sent home to return to work. only happen when republicans realize they do not get to hold the whole economy hostage over ideological demands. i am prepared to work with democrats and republicans to do the things we need to do to grow the economy and create jobs and get our fiscal house in order over the long run. the shutdown is not about deficits or budgets. our deficits are falling at the .astest rates in 50 years we have cut them in half since i took office. many of the demands the republicans are making would raise our deficits.

the shutdown is not about deficits or budgets, it is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who do not have it. it is about rolling back the affordable care act. anything else, seems to be what the republican party stands for these days. i know it is strange that one party would make keeping people uninsured the centerpiece of their agenda, but that is what it is. what is stranger still is that shutting down our government does not accomplish their stated goal. the affordable care act passed the house, pass the senate, it was a central issue in last year's election. it is settled and it is here to stay. because of its funding sources, it is not impacted by a government shutdown. these americans are here with me

today because even though the government is closed, they're a big part of the affordable care act and it is open for business. them,em, millions like this is an historic day for good reason. it has been a long time coming. americans who have been forced to go without insurance can now healthcare.gov. people have six months to sign up. --ple love the opportunity people have the opportunity to get affordable coverage they desperately need. the 85% ofone of americans who are anyhow health insurance, you do not need to do a thing. you are already benefiting from new protections and benefits. the 15% of americans who do not have health insurance, this

opportunity is life-changing. let me tell folks a few stories represented here today. amanda left her job in new york to take care of her parents. she had temporary insurance that covered her multiple sclerosis. when it expired, insurance would not cover her. she paid $1200 a month. starting today, she can be covered for much less because you can -- they cannot use your medical history to charge you more than anybody else. nancy pays all of her medical bills out of pocket and put some on her credit card. nancy says they talk about those who fall through the cracks, i

fell through cracks 10 years ago and i have been stuck there ever since. starting today, nancy can get coverage just like everybody else. six months ago, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she cannot afford insurance. she has not received treatment yet. at theghter is a student university of maryland as is -- and is considering dropping out of school to help pay her moms else. starting today, she can get coverage without forcing her daughter to give up on her dreams. of hard-working americans sounds familiar to you? starting today, you and your coworkers can get covered, too. .isit health care.gov

just like you would shop for a tv on amazon. clear descriptions of what each plan covers and what it will cost. more choices, more competition, and in many cases, lower prices. most americans will find they can get covered for $100 or less . check it out for yourself and show it to your family and your friends. there is a hotline where you can apply over the phone and get help with the application. youust get questions that have answered by real people in 150 different languages. 1800318-2596.

show your family and friends how to use it and we can get america covered once and for all so that the struggle that these folks have gone through and millions around the country have gone addressed.ally get let me remind people why i think this is so important. cancer, you are 70% more likely to live another five years if you have insurance and if you don't. that is what it means to have health insurance. set aside the issue of security and finances. this is life or death stuff. tens of thousands of americans die each year because they do not have health insurance.

millions of others live with the fear that they will get -- go broke if they get sick. we will free millions of americans from that fear. of youngmillions adults have been able to stay on their parents plans until they turn 26. millions of families received rebates from insurance companies . this law means more choice and competition for millions of americans. this means we are finally addressing the biggest drivers of our long-term deficit. a stronger economy. made apublicans have whole bunch of predictions about this law but have not come true. there are no death panels. costs have not skyrocketed. are the three years

three lowest rates of health spending growth on record. this law has not destroyed our economy. our businesses have created 7.5 million new jobs. our manufacturers are growing at .he fastest rate in 2.5 years what is weighing on the economy is not the affordable care act, but the constant series of crises and the unwillingness to pass a reasonable budget by a faction of the republican party. in thel be some glitches sign-up process along the way that we will fix. there weret that

times this morning that the site has been running slowly. more than one million people visited the site before 7:00 in the morning. userswere five times more in the marketplace this morning than had ever been on medicare.gov at one time. that gives you a sense of how important this is to millions of americans around the country. that is a good thing. we will be speeding things up to handle all of this demand that exceeds anything we had expected. consider that just a few weeks a newpple rolled out mobile operating system. within days, they found a glitch and they fixed it. i do not remember any one suggesting that apple should or ipods or iphones

threatening to shutdown the company. i will work with anybody who has a serious idea to make the affordable care act work better. as long as i am president hama i will not give into reckless demands to deny -- as long as i am president, i will not give into reckless demands to deny people affordable health insurance. these are the americans you would hurt if you were allowed to dismantle the law. the now finally have opportunity for basic security and peace of mind. that you would make a condition for reopening the government that i make sure

these folks do not have health care, that does not make any sense. it does not make any sense. closing point. this shutdown threatens our economy in a time when millions of americans are still looking for work and businesses are starting to get some traction. the timing is not good. a lot of the republicans in the house ran for office two years ago promising to shut down the government. apparently, they have now gotten their wish. is they have shut down a whole bunch of governments, but the affordable care act is still open for business. this may be why you have many republican governors, senators, and reasonable congressman who are telling the extreme right of their party to knock it off.

pass a budget and move on. i want to underscore the fact that congress does not have to just end this shutdown, congress has to stop governing by crisis. they have to break this habit. it is a drag on the economy. it is not worthy of this country. the most important things congress has to do is to raise what is called the debt ceiling. it is important to understand what this is. this is a routine vote. it does not cost taxpayers a single dime. it does not grow our deficits by a single dime. all it does is authorize the treasury to pay the bills on what congress has already spent.

that.about if you buy a car and you have a car loan, you do not save money by not paying your car note. you are just a deadbeat. if you buy a house, you do not save money by not authorizing ,ourself to pay the mortgage you will just be foreclosed on your home. that is what this is about. , it is what they are supposed to do. this is not a concession to me. this is what congress is supposed to do as a routine matter. and they should not wait until the last minute to do it.

many of you remember back in 2011, our economy staggered, our credit rating was downgraded for the first time. if they go through that this time and forced the united states to default on its obligations, it would be far more dangerous than a government shutdown. it would be an economic shutdown. i will speak more on this in the coming days. will not negotiate over congress's responsibility to pay bills it is already racked up. i will not allow anybody to a lout -- i was not allowe anyone to do drag the good name of the united states of america for the mud -- through the mud. there are whole bunch of things i would like to see passed

through congress. saying, iut there will let america default unless congress does something they do not want to do. that is not how adults operate. that is not our government should operate. that is true whether there is a democrat in this office for a republican in this office. theres not matter whether is a democratic house of representatives or a republican- controlled house of representatives. that are certain rules everybody abides by because we do not want to hurt other people just be as just -- just because we have a political disagreement. pass a budget. thehe government -- end government shutdown. pay your bills.

do not wait, do not delay, do not put our people through this any longer. i am more than happy to work with them on all kinds of issues. i want to get back to work on the things that the american people sent us here to work on, creating new jobs and new security for our middle class. we are better than this. certainly the american people are a lot better than this. i believe that what we have accomplished for amanda and millions ofns of their fellow citizens on this day proves that even when the odds are long and the obstacles are many, we are and always will be a country that can do great things together. thank you and god bless you. tank you for the great work you are doing and thank you kathleen sebelius for the outstanding work she is doing

making sure millions can get health insurance. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] click some of our viewers have sent tweets regarding c-span and the government shutdown. amanda asks --

eric asks -- for those viewers and others who have asked, c-span is privately funded and your c-span services from your cable or satellite providers. >> this house really is florence's house saw the little things in this house am a stained-glass windows, the leaded glass by the front door, s,rquet floors, rookwood tile that is all florence. she is bringing the influence of her life into this marriage and into this house. this really is a very personal

space for them. >> watch our program on florence harding and -- on our website c- on 7 p.m.r on c-span eastern. we look at grace coolidge. >> in a few moments, house debate on proposals to send -- fund veterans programs and national parks. in less than two hours, war about the shutdown in front of tuesday's briefings with members of congress -- more about the shutdown in front of tuesday's briefings with members of congress. on the next "washington journal," we will discuss the effect the shutdown is having on the economy. we will be joined by two members of the house financial services committee. representative jim hines republican michigan bill highs in your -- bill h

uizenga. liveington journal" is every day at 7 a.m. eastern. >> cowboys mean a great deal to montana. our largest industry is agriculture. the raising of livestock is a huge part of that. still to this day you still need a man or woman or young person that can get on a horse, take care of the livestock whether it is bringing them into polo cap for taking them to a new pastor orringing them into a calf taking them to a new pastor. what you sell in the fall is pounds of beef. great can do that is take

care of the cattle. when the cowboy culture began and this man or woman or person who is called the cowboy had to live in all the elements. they lived and worked outdoors and so they had to dress daysdingly, and in the old , they really just had animal skins to use much like the natives. there were no modern textiles to .epel water or rain or snow so they would cover their bodies with leather apparel. these are called chaps, derived forrom the spanish word. more cowboys and cattle from big sky country as otb and american history tv look at the history and literary life of billings, montana. this weekend, saturday at noon eastern on c-span2 and sunday at

5 p.m. on c-span3. then the first day of government shutdown, house republican leaders route three bills to the floor to fund parts of the government. including spending for veterans, and the national parks, and continuing operations for the district of columbia. werebrought -- they brought up under suspension of the rules, a procedure that requires a two thirds majority to pass. all three bills received a super majority, more than two thirds needed to be approved. over the next hour and 45 minutes, debate on the bills regarding veterans and national parks.

>> the chair recognizes the gentleman from idaho. that may include tabular material on the same. >> the gentleman from idaho is recognized for 15 minutes. >> i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of this legislation to fund the operations of the national part service, the u.s. holocaust museum and the national gallery of art. shutdown isnt already being felt across the country and in our nations capital. as of this morning all park

service units in the united states, 19 smithsonian museums and galleries including the national zoo, the holocaust museum and the museum of art were close to the public. this legislation would reopen these national treasures to the american public. the american people woke up this morning to the headlines that read, the capital of the free world closed till further notice created is no surprise that the government shutdown has had an impact on real people and on the economy. on our national mall, tourists raced from one museum to another try to see as many sites as they could with the government shutdown looming. it is estimated the local economy could lose up to $200 million a day with the national zoo in the smithsonian museum and national gallery of art and other popular attractions close to the public. this does not begin to measure the national and international impact of these closures. in the case of the national park service, 21,300 and 79 employees across the country where

furloughed today. this is an impact on real people. families who made lance to visit yosemite or yellowstone or the statue of liberty found these sites and others shattered today. this is an impact on real people. i heard on the news about a group of world war ii veterans who arrived at the world war ii memorial and washington, d.c. today and found that the site had been barricaded. that did not stop them from entering the memorial built to honor their sacrifice. this is a commonsense bill and i encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it and i reserve the balance of my time.

>> we love the national park system. smithsonian. were so proud of what the smithsonian offers the american people. , you cannott museum youribe what happens to emotionally when you walk through the holocaust museum. notwithstanding how immensely valuable these three institutions are to this country , and how proud this congress is of those institutions. i have to rise to oppose this legislation.

because it is not the way to do business. down theof shutting whole government and then when reaction from our constituents, we pick and choose. we open up a few. whenhappens tomorrow? social security administration comes to us and says, what about the 16,000 employees we just furloughed? these other folks got an exemption, how about us? it is going to happen every day until thegency republican majority in the house realizes that every federal agency is therefore purpose and it is a purpose that serves the needs of the merrick and people. here we are. hours in even been 24

the house majority is feeling the heat. the heat has spread to the people responsible. reopening the entire federal government which is exactly what we should be doing, the majority rushes to the floor . they reopen just for entities. becauset mention that it so goes without having been said. we all shares her -- experiences

of walking through the national gallery. really anything comparable throughout the world except for perhaps in the louvre and a few museums but are we proud of it and of course it should be open. of course the smithsonian should be open. it caught -- of course the holocaust museum should be open. of course our national parks should be there to serve the american people. , we opened these at least, our federal employees will have a place to visit while the rest of the federal government is shut down but it is so unfair to the rest of the government to pick and choose a very few agencies which has no thatimpact on the budget is the issue here we are having to deal with. marginal amount of money but it is an active -- act of desperation.

it is evidence of how politically bankrupt this position of shutting down the government has become. degenerating down to picking winners and losers among federal workers. just so as to dissipate the political heat, you would allow workers at the smithsonian and national gallery and holocaust museum and only those employees directly involved in the operation of our national arc system to return to work. so even in the case of the national parks, thousands of national park service employees that are involved in the historic preservation and national recreation programs and in construction remain furloughed. but what about the 10,200 furloughed employees in the bureau of land management, i do not have so many, i have one. i do not have anywhere near as much of a presence as my good friend from idaho has. the 7750 furloughed employees of

the official wildlife services to this is hunting season. theseve to close down fish and wildlife refuges. at000 furloughed employees the social security administration. how about the medical researchers at the national institutes of health, when nih comes to us and tells us what they're doing in terms of cancer research, research on alzheimer's and the like. what do we tell them, we will expedite and pick you up and we will take care of you next? is that anyway to run this government? how about the centers for disease control, the immunization program workers? as much as be valued the park ranger and museum workers who obviously have earned their value as well? this bill is a band-aid on a shutdown that is disrupting the work of all federal workers and the american people to rely upon the federal government to do its

job. but for them to do it's job we have to do our job. these exemptions are not doing our job. picking and choosing what federal activities we are going to allow it to operate and which will remain shut down. it is going to prove itself to be a politically incorrect as well is a morally bankrupt position. it is not fair to send 800,000 people home not knowing whether they're going to be able to pay their mortgage, take care of their children, sitting at home and they want to be serving the american people. .t is time to stop the games the republican leadership needs to let its hostages go and get on with the real business of governing. let us vote on a clean cr and reopen the government. ,f we could vote on a clean cr

and if a majority was all we needed which is what the ,ounding fathers anticipated that democracy would row, it would pass in the senate and pass in the house and it would be done -- we would be done with this kabuki exercise. this stuff is beneath us. i reserve the balance of my time. >> before yield i would like to respond. the gentleman from virginia is correct. this is no way to run the government. i would remind the gentleman from virginia that we did pass resolution after resolution to keep the government operating. unfortunately that was rejected by the body on the other side. i suspect that you might have a different take on why that was done. we said let's go to conference and try to work out our differences, they would not even do that. they rejected that. is it fair to punish those people, those families that have a plan for months, sometimes years to bring the families to washington, d.c., the saved and put aside money so they could come out here to show the american people or to go to the

national park to punish them question mark this opens it and keeps it open so they can enjoy those things that you and i both love and there is absolutely no reason to punish them and with that i would yield to the honorable chairman. the gentleman has his own time. i would yield to the chairman of the full appropriations committee, the honorable hal rogers from kentucky. >> i rise to support this bill. i could not believe my ears when the jonah who just spoke said he opposed to the opening of these

icons for mertens to visit. -- americans to visit. i cannot believe he would oppose that. city draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country, all over the world. in fact every year to turn these visitors away from the highlights of this country is unbeaten fitting of a capital city. ourover the country, national parks reserve our richard national heritage and serve as a reminder to all of us of our history and the vast beauty that makes this nation great. this is a portion of the claim continuing resolution i introduced several weeks ago. this is a piece of it. with that in mind i certainly endorse this path forward. to keep these programs, parks, memorials, and facilities operational, this bill provides funding at the current annual

rate of approximately $3.2 billion. this is $2.4 billion for the national parks. 700 $75 million for the smithsonian museums, and $48 million for the all cost museum. while this bill helps provide stability in this segment of the federal government, our jobs are far from done. we cannot just fund the government in bits and pieces forever. and acting a full year of appropriations that reflect current needs should be at the top of our priority list. this bill keeps us on that path to achieving that goal but is not the end of the line. speaker, on the side of the aisle, we have offered now three or four opportunities for the u.s. senate to avoid shutdown. they have rejected all of them out of hand.

dead on arrival, they said. that would keep the government operating, keep employees at work and keep all our national activities going on. we are noty say going to talk with you. .ven discussion we have appointed conferees to confer with the senate. the senate refuses to appoint negotiators, conferees to sidess with the house bipartisanally, and bicameral he ofbicamerally, a way out this rut. when abraham of lincoln was practicing law back in illinois. a young man came before the court accused of killing his

.arents his plea for mercy was that he was an orphan. i would hope the u.s. senate would act. it is up to them. the bill that we passed last would the amendment authorize the appointment of countries which the house did in the senate has simply refused. refuse to even talk. i thought that was what congress was all about was negotiating, working across the aisle, working with each other, working with the other body, to find some common path that we could all agree upon, send the bill to the president for his signature. you cannot operate unless one side refuses to talk. i urge the senate to act.

i urge everyone to support this bill. idaho gentleman from reserves. >> i would say to my very good friend from kentucky, that is a wonderful analogy because this bill is an orphan that you are separating from the parent bill where it belongs. how much time do we have available? >> the gel men from virginia has 12 and a quarter minutes remaining trade >> i will yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from texas. >> the gel men from taxes is recognized for two minutes. texas istleman from recognized for two minutes. -- 45 of 77 workers have been sent home because of this shutdown nonsense. i would like to have them back at work, but what about the 90% of the small business administration field employees across town who have been sent home?

susannah called me this morning, agentse of the processing small-business loans to tell me that this sba shutdown is jeopardizing four of her small businesses that could in two214 texas jobs and cases, the delay may cost a small business person to lose a purchase contract in earnest money. this latest republican shutdown nonsense discriminates against small businesses and to some of those some -- small businesses, that discrimination may be fatal . what if a worker is killed this afternoon in a construction accident? shattered doors of the occupational health and safety will be there to ensure that another worker does not experience the same fate? of course, the shutdown caucus is happy, gleeful, delighted that they have been able to shut down 94% of the environmental

protection administration. their only troubled they did not get the other six percent because they do not believe in protecting with effective safeguards the quality of the air we breathe and the water that we drink. instead of shutting down this whole government, this resolution says let's just have a little dismemberment. through all of this reckless republican maneuvering, it is not only the united states that cannot pay its bills, but it is so many of our families who are out there wondering how they're going to make the next truck payment or the next rent or mortgage payment. shutdown, the republican shutdown caucus before it strangles america the way it has strangled the house republican. i yield back. from virginiaan reserves. the gentleman from idaho is recognized. >> i yield two minutes to the chairman of the natural resources committee. >> the gel men from washington is recognized for two minutes. >> i think the derailment for

yielding. thank the gentleman for yielding. nobody here wanted our down to oneo shut of the consequences is that millions of americans have been literally barricaded from entering our parks, morels, and monuments. while it is understandable that some services be eliminated in some parts, it is unfortunate that this administration has taken the necessary steps of closing off additional monuments in public places. it appears to me the obama administration is choosing to make this shutdown as painful as possible by unnecessarily preventing public access to open air spaces and monuments. these are spaces that are normally open twice for hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. these are places not doors or gates. entering our parks, morels, and monuments. while it is understandable that some services be eliminated in some parts, it is unfortunate that this administration has

taken the necessary stepsthe obs going out of their way to erect barricades and have people manning them in order to keep people out of these monuments. mr. speaker, that is flat out wrong created is terribly wasteful. just today on our monument, world war ii veterans who bravely fought to defend and protect our country encountered armed national park police and metal barricades when they tried to visit their memorial. the world war ii memorial. these are veterans but they were undeterred. shortsighted citizens by the interior department officials could not stop them from completing the visit to their memorial. congratulate them for going in, as a matter fact. targeted bill will allow the landmarks to reopen to the public, welcoming back tourists and families to these public lands that are critically important to so many local economies. mr. speaker, the house is acted multiple times, and has been

said, to fund the government but now it is time for the senate to act. i support this legislation and yield back my time. x the derailment from idaho reserves. the gentleman from regina is recognized -- from virginia is recognized. >> i would like to yield two minutes to the very distinguished ranking member of and humanmy health, services appropriations committee as well as the steering policystealin committee. >> i rise in opposition to this purely political proposal. the government of the united states is shutdown. hundreds of thousands of federal employees are for load. ar country is bleeding from thousand self-inflicted cuts and this majority is trying to play political games rather than work to resolve the crisis. because the majority has decided to shut the government down, all

three of the priorities that we are voting on today, the veterans affairs department, the national park service, the bc government, are in immediate need of funding, but so are countless other priorities that are not part of these proposals. right now, nearly 9 million mothers and children are losing out on infant formula and nutrition support. food banks are being forced to curtail their activity. the fdaety efforts at are being compromised. families cannot get home loans them a small businesses cannot get sba loans. 73% of the national institutes of health has been for load. by medical research that saves lives is on hold. the center for disease control has been forced to halt its tracking of influencing cases right at the start of the flu season. scientific research at nasa and the national science foundation is stalled. federal economic reports used by businesses and investors are not

, and released environmental reviews are not being processed. the government is shutdown and families all across america are being affected in countless different ways. i took the subway that takes us from our offices to the capital. the driver of that subway said to me, do you see what they are doing? i believe in opening up the park service and the d.c. service but who cares about me? i do not know if i'm going to get paid. do you know what kind of stress that has put me and my family and all i could do was reach him i hand him but i will tell him the republican majority just does not care. just does not care and it is timeservice and the d.c. servict who cares about me? i to get real. reopen the entire government. stop this irresponsible charade. i urge all of my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

idaho isntleman from recognized trade >> i yield to my friend from california. >> the gentleman is recognized for how long? one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the little towns around yosemite national park depend on tourism economies. still reeling from the yosemite rimfire that brought tourism to a near standstill last month. the national park service this morning ordered all visitors out of the park due to the government shutdown, causing lodges and concessionaires to lay off employees and close create a local merchant tried to deliver $10,000 of perishable seafood to the park and was turned away. still reeling from the yosemite rimfire that brought tourism to a near standstill last month.

the national park service their back pay when the impasse is over. the one-two punch of theunlike , these folks do not get rimfire , now the closure of yosemite national park, makes us one of the most economically some are seasons -- depressed summer seasons on record. i hope they will at least take any on the gateway communities of our national parks that depend on tourism for their livelihoods and expeditiously pass this bill. i yield back. >> the gentleman from virginia is recognized trade >> i would like to yield a minute and a half to the very distinguished ranking member of the ways and means committee. >> the gentleman will suspend. the chair will receive a message. >> a message from the senate. >> i have been directed by the senate that the senate has agreed to the house minute of the senate amendment and request a conference on hr 2642 cited as the [indiscernible]

>> the gentleman from michigan is recognized for a minute and a half. i think it is deeply disturbing. someone comes here and talks , that is important but the park? how about the children, how about the kids who need a care, -- day care, there are several billion spent on child care and day care in this country. you're shutting it down erie it -- down. you talk about parks but what about health research that needs of people in your districts where there is a park? reality.rying to evade

the reality is that you have to let all the hostages go. every single one of them. this republican shutdown is a what you so here's need to do. face up to it. ring up the senate bill. -- bring up the senate bill. let the majority work its will. the only reason you do not do it is because parts of your caucus is being held hostage. bring it up, most of us do crowds will vote for it. and more and more republicans will vote for it. and will and this shutdown. no more talk about parks. let's get over with this shutdown. i yield two minutes for the

gentleman from montana. thank you, mr. speaker. i stand in strong support for the legislation that will reopen our national parks in this country and i speak as the fifth generation montana and -- montanan. know not only to the parks represent an important part of our economy but our heritage. we are listening to phone calls coming in from constituents across my state. the undue hardships the committee surrounding glacier and yellowstone national parks are facing due to washington d.c.'s failures. as a fifth generation montanan, i have great memories of visiting national parks. faithful.

on watching mountain goats morgan pass. communities are being directly affected by these parks being shut down. they depend on the sparks were tourism, for economic growth, for jobs erie it i am grateful that i raised these concerns to therning leadership of the house and we are responding to these problems and resolving them. a little less talk and a lot more action is what is needed. i am glad we are moving to open the national parks. i urge congress to provide the funding needed to keep our national park dates open. i yield back my time. >> i would like to yield a minute and a half to the ranking member of the natural resources

committee. >> thank you. republicans just figured out that their irresponsible activities of shutting down the government for political purposes have led to some unpopular things like closing the national parks. they saw it on television so they're going to try to put a band-aid on a national parks. what about the other natural resource agencies, what about emma what about all of our -- wildlifee preserves, what about the u.s. forest service campgrounds, blm campgrounds. i just met with the chief of the forest service. he is suspending all activity for emergency recovery and repairs. anything from restoration and on other fires and he has suspended any activities on any other possible salvage trade what about someone who just turned 65

and wants to go 66. they can get their social security benefit. they cannot process it. what about someone who is due for treatment at the nih? they are dying of cancer. they're not taking anymore patients. on aant to put a band-aid, few things, that sounds good. you are unbelievably irresponsible politically motivated and shenanigans here about a full closing down of the government which is having a real impact to accomplish and you could not accomplish and then last election. wherenot have a system one half of one branch of the government gets to dictate to the senate and the president of the united states and the courts and that is what you're trying to do. >> the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from idaho is recognized. hasgentleman from idaho eight half minutes remaining.

>> we have no more speakers. if the gentleman from virginia has more speakers. >> ok. ellison.r from mr. chair of the progressive caucus. minnesotatleman from is recognized for 15 seconds. >> this [indiscernible] is a wrong thing. what about the folks in my star tribunethe hundreds turned away from social security office. hundreds turned away, what about them? we could reopen the government right now if we put this senate cr on the pass. open up the government. every bit of it. >> the gentleman from idaho is recognized. onwe could put the senate cr the floor, we could open in of the senate would put the house it.-- cr and address

great pleasure that i yield one minute to the very distinguished minority leader from california. >> thank you. i thank you for yielding and your leadership as well as that of the distinguished chair of the committee for his leadership and supporting our natural resources in our country. the senate did pass the house cr on more than one occasion and sent it back here. except what they had on it has accepted your number. , number that even mr. rogers our distinguished chairman says does not adequately support government and its purposes helping the american people. but nonetheless in the spirit of going to conference, they accepted your number as do i. i said over and over again to

the speaker and on the floor of the house, including this morning my that we make an explicit proposal to you that we accept your cr number and look forward to going to conference on that number. it has been accepted. you have not taken yes for an answer. to undo thewant affordable care act. that was the part of your proposal that was unacceptable and that is exactly what we are doing right now. this is not about the parks. they're using the parks is upon. this is about defunding the affordable care act. of peoplehen millions are logging in to find out how they can enroll. it is really a remarkable, canoric day where people receive the promise of our founders of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. toealthier life, the liberty

produce -- pursue their happiness without -- and following their passion whether it is to be in congress or to be a photographer, an artist, to start their own business, to be self-employed, to change jobs, the entrepreneurial spirit will be unleashed on our country. it is a great day. and so here we are back on the floor of the house trying to oncein the back window to again go down a path to defund the affordable care act. it is not going to happen. well we can all sing the praises of our leadership, our chairman, and our ranking number on their support of parks while cutting them off from other services of the interior department, that is curious. it is not about the parks. it is about the affordable care act. urge your colleagues to see this for what it is.

it is pathetic. it is not responsible. it is beneath the dignity, i keep saying that but we keep getting further anything the dignity. of whatever responsibilities are in this house so let us reject this because they took hostages by shutting down the government and now they are releasing one hostage at a time. now it is the parks, later it is veterans. our veterans fought for our country and society, we already passed an appropriations bill --t covers our veterans that in that respect. our veterans need more than what is in the bill. they depend on other services of the united states government. we are honoring our veterans, let us do so in a way that honors with a fought for and

honors what they need beyond veterans benefits. not want toyou do take a vote on the district of columbia because i do not know how many people over there will vote to support the district of columbia. certainly it should be treated like any other entity create we would all be in an up or if our states were treated the way this congress treats the district of columbia. do not use them as upon, either. this is all subterfuge. this is a waste of time. it is not going anyplace, thank heaven. but what it is is not about what they are talking about, parks, veterans, or district of columbia. it is about the affordable care act. one at a time we will do our cherry picking so at the end of can isolate the

affordable care act. we are not going to let that happen. and let's just deal with our colleagues with some level of integrity as to what this is about. and that is why tempting and as their camaraderie of opening up government may be, if they are throwing us crumbs while they take the pie someplace else, so i urge a no vote on all three of these suspensions. >> the gentleman from virginia reserves. >> i would like to remind the gentlelady, my friend from california that there is a process and it is called when the house and senate disagree on something they ask for a conference in the go to conference and try to work that out but my good friends on the other side of the rotunda chose to say we do not even want to talk about it. we do not care what you want. we do not want to talk about it and so they are not willing to

go to conference. >> will the gentleman yield? would.t think you is belowt knwo if it the dignity of this house to celebrate at the world war ii memorial our -- to make sure that it is open so they can enjoy. that is all this bill is trying to do. i would yield two minutes to our good friend from california. rise in support of the world war ii veterans who sent a clear message that they would not be offset of their own memorial. because of the senate democrats unwillingness to negotiate on a deal, the national park service was ordered to close many of our nations monuments. including the national world war ii memorial. these are not regularly closed for any purpose, they remain

open 24 hours a day. the government went out of their way to ensure americans could not access their own memorial. not to be deterred, a group of veterans on and honor flight from mississippi showed their resolve that made them america's greatest generation. moving barricade aside so they could appreciate the memorial that commemorates their generation's here was a man sacrifices. american, especially in america's heroes should not be punished because senate democrats refused to come to the table and do their job. negotiating a solution to fund the government. the bill you for us would open america's national monuments and parks that we as americans can continue to honor our heroes in the manner that they have earned . mr. speaker, i asked my colleague to join me in honoring the world war ii veterans who made headlines today and a dozen more honor flights that will visit the national world war ii memorial this week i passing the

bill before us and ensuring that the memorial will be open to welcome our nations heroes. i yield back. >> i would like to yield one minute. and extend my remarks. >> i think everyone here would like to be sure that those world war ii veterans can see the memorial. the way to do it is to put the senate bill on the floor and pass it right now which is what would happen. strikes 12, the government shutdown would be over. if the majority persists with this charade, here's what will happen. i am skeptical that this bill will pass but if it does, it will go to the senate and they

start all over again on their mystical magical senate procedures and maybe it goes somewhere and maybe it does not. maybe someone filibusters, maybe it does not. if you are serious about opening up the monuments and the nih, opening up nasa, all the things that you say you want to do, put the senate bill on the floor and that the majority work its will. passl know that bill will and to the american people we say about the pain of this government shutdown, this too shall pass. >> the gentleman yield back the balance of his time. the gentleman from idaho reserves the balance of his time. >> i would like to yield one minute to the distinguished from massachusetts,

mr. mcgovern. >> where 17 hours into the republican shutdown of the nation's government and the republican majority has come up with yet another bit of meaningless political theater. this is showbiz -- show business wrapped in skin. let me read to my colleagues part of a memo that was sent out either republican leadership earlier today. today the house will begin a strategy of passing limited and targeted funding bills with the goals of being on the offensive democraticaway the talking points. republican goal is not to and the government shutdown. the goal is to come to the table. their goal is to write another press release. i love national parks. i support them fully and i want full funding for these parks above the awful sequester levels but what about the cancer trials at nih? what about the low income mothers who has been cut off from wic? we used to give them trail maxes kidsxes as a snack but my always wanted to pick out the m&ms. that is what the republican majority has been used to. --

reduced to. i hope the republican jordy will grow out. we can do this the right way. we can class a see -- a clean cr. it is time for them to put on their grown-up pants and do their job. >> the gentleman from idaho reserves create >> there are millions of visitors every year to the bureau of land management and yet the entire blm is closed down because of the shutdown. i would like to yield 30 seconds to the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee. >> thank you. wes than 12 hours from where were last night, maybe a little longer. you discovered shutting down the government is not as funny as you thought it was when you came from the meeting in the basement. everybody laughing and talking about how giddy you were about it. thise tell you that all of

has been about trying to kill the health care will. i wanted put on the record. if this morning the exchange opened in the state of new york, in front ofople those computers. we are off to a smashing start. i think you guys are going to have some explaining to do. thank you. >> the derailment from ohio has six minutes remaining. the gentleman from virginia has 36 seconds remaining. idahontleman from reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. >> even after we exempt national parks, 81% of the entire interior department would be furloughed. secondslike to yield 30 to the gentleman from colorado. >> thank you and i think the ranking member. two hours ago one of my constituents showed up in person

at my district office in lakewood. she was frantic and in tears. she just received her furlough notice last night. she is a federal employee who has been furloughed three days and march. she is a single mother of a grandmother of a two-year-old, both of whom live with her. she works hard and goes to work everyday day and cannot understand why she has to pay the price for these political shenanigans. aiken assure you she is not celebrating like i saw some of my friends on the republican side last night. we have got to defeat this piecemeal. we have real people who are hurt by this shutdown and we need to take care of it right now and get the cr on the floor. >> the general men from idaho is recognized trade >> i would urge my colleagues to support this legislation. in spite of the democratic majority leader on the other side of the rotunda's thatown plan, the fact is every republican wants the government to stay open.

we passed several bills over the senate and ask them to take it up and it would have cap the government operating. at last we said you will not go for our plans, let's go to conference and talk about it but they would not even do that. they would not even the -- go to conference. it was shut it down. that is what they wanted. the only people talking about shutting down the government were the friends on the other side of the aisle. republicans did not want to shut the government down. what we're trying to do is open up parts of the government and see if we can get some consent on that. i would have thought my friends from virginia that loves the national parks like i do and loves the smithsonian and nosing port and seven to this area would have been persuaded by the $200 million in revenue that comes in because of the mall and the tourists who come here but apparently that is not good enough. you need to quit holding the national parks, the smithsonian,

the holocaust museum, and others hostage to your desire. to shut down the government. that is what is going on here. you think we are holding the ,ffordable health care hostage you are holding our national parks hostage. we have got millions of people that have sat down and made plans to visit their national parks. they have math been planning for six months or several years to save their money to visit washington, d.c. or to go to yosemite or glacier national park or the grand canyon. if you have never been there you need to go to them. all of a sudden they cannot go. do you find it strange that as mr. hastings said during his debate, the world war ii memorial is open to the public am a there are no doors, there are no gates. you could walk through that at or time there are not -- day night. it is just on the mall but when the government was shut down,

the obama administration decided to put a barricade around it. so that you could not even walk through it. veteransorld war ii planning to come here tomorrow now asking, they are 85 years or older. canng the airline if they refund their tickets and get them at another time. if they do it another time a lot of those people will not be with us. they're coming here because they want to visit their memorial. but the obama administration has put barricades around it. does that sound too like they are trying to make this as painful as they possibly could? i think so. all we're trying to do is reopen the national parks, the smithsonian, the national gallery of art, the holocaust museum because they are important to the people who want to come here. are the other institutions that were mentioned important, you bet they are. we would like to open every single one of them.

we will keep trying in spite of the opposition from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. >> with my friend yield since i have no time left western mark -- left? be happy to yield. >> i think my very good friend. as my friend understand, the reason why the memorial was closed down was for security reasons so no one could damage it because there are no employees able to protect it. i asked sincerely because you know better than i about the revenue, $1 billion that is raised from the bureau of land management. you talk about the hundreds of millions that come in, blm is completely furloughed. we are losing revenue. this is not the way to run the government business or to operate the interior department.

>> this is not the way to run the government. absolutely not the way to run the government. everyone on this side of the aisle agrees with that. but the fact is we have a difference between the house and the senate. what do you do when you have a difference between a house in the senate? should it have been done two months ago, it was not. we are where we are today and now we need to sit down and work out the differences between the house and the senate. we suspect we have a difference of opinion. >> i suspect we have an agreement that what we need to do is pass a clean cr and that fixes the whole problem so we do not have to do these little bills one after the other that will keep coming. that is what we need. >> i would encourage all the members to support this to keep our national parks open so that the families and their children can enjoy these national parks and we will work on the rest of the government trying to make

sure we get it open and get around this democratic shutdown of the government. i yield back the balance of my time and urge this bill's passage. >> on the first day of the government shutdown, house republican leaders brought three bills to the floor to some parts of the government including spending for veterans. the national parks, and continuing operations for the district of columbia. they were brought up under suspension of the rules, a procedure that requires a two thirds majority to pass. all three bills received a simple majority but not the two thirds needed to be approved. over the next hour, debate on the bill regarding veterans.

resolution 72, joint resolution making continuing appropriations for veterans benefits for fiscal year 2014 and for other purposes. from texas andn the gentleman from georgia, each will control 20 minutes.

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[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] that is the way the process is supposed to work. that is how a democracy works. i want to reiterate what jerry just said, it each federal employee, each of these federal employees touches thousands of lives with the work that they do. this is not just an insult and a disservice, it is a disservice and an insult to the american ublic. that is why we have got to

beseech the republican house majority, the leadership, to put a clean continuing resolution on the floor of the house. that is the rational thing to do. that is the responsible thing to do. that is the democratic thing to do. if they do that, it will pass and we can put our government back to work. thank you. [applause] >> we will hear from a successful businessman in the rivate sector who has been elected president of the freshman class of congress, john delaney. >> if you care about people, you treat them with dignity and respect. if you want to increase human potential, allow people to live the lives they deserve, and get the most out of an organization, you do things to improve their self-esteem.

what we are presiding over today is a rejection of those ideas. in that regard, it is a terrible day for america. it is a tragic day for federal workers, and it is a sad day in terms of its commentary on human nature. to do this, to close the government, to affect 800,000 human beings and their families and the people they serve every day in our community, to disregard the fact that someone is going to go home and not be able to take care of a basic need they were right on the edge of being a handle. or that a mom and a dad will go home and sit down with a small child and explain to them why they are not working and how it is going to affect their lives. to do that for the reasons that this was done, to overturn a completely unrelated piece of

legislation and to the extent there was any question that there might be some principle behind this, to try to take away health care from a relatively small and targeted population of people that work very hard to serve this country is a very sad statement on human nature. i am hopeful and i agree that we can get beyond this and we can make it a better day for america and we can have a stronger expression of our values about human beings and dignity and improving self-esteem and complementing and supporting people who we are stewards of and we can have a better statement of human nature and we can move on from this terrible moment. if we want to work on hard issues, which we have to do, if we want to have tough conversations, which we have to

do, let's not sacrifice 800,000 people to do it. thank you. [applause] >> we will entertain any questions you might have of anybody behind the podium. >> by doing this as a suspension, requiring a 2/3 vote, do you suspect the republicans are trying to lay a trap to get democrats to not support this? and then say, see, they didn't support this? >> i think many of us feel the republicans do not have the courage to back up the way that they have voted by shutting down the government. they hear from their constituents the consequences of what they have done and they are trying to fix it. as soon as they try to fix the national parks and the smithsonian and the holocaust museum and the like, which i understand are going to be the

suspensions today, then other agencies and other constituents will say, what about me? you exempted them, how about us? and then tell their story. the fact is we have to work our way throughout the entire federal government. realizing how important each aspect of the government is to people's lives. i do not know what our position will be as a caucus. if they start unraveling the consequences of their vote, they are going to find it is not going to end with today. they will have to keep doing five or six agencies every day until the government is open. that is not the way to run a business. we do not know what the position of the caucus is going to be. obviously, we had a bill that exempted people in uniform. we voted unanimously for that. the problem with that is that it assumed a shutdown. now we have a shut down and they

are trying to patch the onsequences of it. the fact is that is poor policy and it does not work in the long run and they will find as they open the gate a little bit, other constituents will say we need his agency open. that federal service made available to us. i think it is a poor strategy on their part. but we'll see what plays itself out. >> do we have any other questions for the other members? >> will they bring their retroactive pay bills to the floor? >> no, we don't. i suspect he is waiting to see how many people get on it. it is bipartisan. we have several republicans on it and we have dozens of members in every few minutes, another member signs onto it. they realize contrary to tradition, this may not be

automatic reimbursing federal employees and they understand ow unfair that would be. >> we came out this week to talk bout our budget. >> are you in john sar bane's district? >> we are already suffering from budget constraints and short staffs. we lost two staff members this ear alone. we are required to go to work with the threat of not being paid. what do we tell people when we get back to our hometown? >> tell them there is no excuse for what has happened. we need to get a congress that is more responsible and less dysfunctional. >> i'm sure your children and

you know that you are not alone. >> no. >> did they make those signs? >> yes. >> well done. >> can you talk about the disconnect between members of congress and the support of federal employees? this is a question we hear time and time again. why can't you explain to them the value to the people in their districts? it goes back to the same thing over and over again. why don't they understand the value? >> some members have been elected on a platform that the government does not work. once elected, they set about trying to prove it. let me have john delaney address that. >> jim framed the answer. if you have the view that government adds no value, that government does nothing well, as a subsidiary of that, you do not value federal workers. that is the essence of the problem.

people like myself and people like jim, we see federal workers because are districts are blessed to have so many federal workers, so many high-quality individuals. many members do not see it and they have a very different view of government and it is tragic. i would hope that for even people who have a different view as to the role of government, which is a legitimate discussion, it even for people who do not have very many federal workers in their district, i would hope they would come back to the comments i made earlier. it is one of our jobs as representatives, try to do things and take steps to raise human self-esteem, raise people's aspiration, make people feel good, give them a sense of

dignity. that's how we improve society. tearing down individuals, even if they do not agree in the role of government, i am hopeful they will open up their hearts. this is a question of people's hearts. these are human beings with lives and families and dreams and hopes and challenges and reating them this way is bad leadership, bad examples for our young people and it is not the kind of society we want to be. we talk about ourselves being exceptional. that term gets used in many contexts, but this is not exceptional behavior. this is very low standard behavior. >> any other questions? we're going to let you go if there are not. thank you all for being here. [applause] >> inside the capitol, senate republican leaders said they

would push for funding parts of the federal government. a strategy that the house took up later in the day. this is 10 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. the house of representatives the ues to try to entice democratic majority into some discussions about how we might resolve the continuing esolution. including, as you know, last night, sending over a request to go to conference. majority leader's made it clear he's not interested in talking. the president apparently reiterated this morning he's not interested in talking. we'd like to figure out how to resolve this crisis and get the government funded and move forward with the people's business. but it's pretty clear to me, at least at this point that neither the senate democratic majority nor the president of the united states have any interest hatsoever in entering into any discussions about how to resolve

this impasse. >> it's become clear that president obama and harry reid wanted the government to shut down because they believe they have partisan political advantage to gain by the shutdown. but the american people are smarter than that and they realize that the house has sent over not one, not two, not three, but four different proposals involve og ba macare -- obamacare, only to be met with the answer that, well or ba macare is the law of the land and you can't touch it. it's perfect. working exactly just the way we intended. when we know that's not true based upon the president's own exceptions, by granting exemptions, waivers and delays but he gives delatos employers but not individuals. and last night, the majority leader walked his own members, including those running in red states in 2014, off the proverbial plank when he had them vote against a special carveout provision for members

of congress. the american people understand that the laws are supposed to apply to all of us and there shouldn't be a few who are excepted from the operation of those laws. of course we'd like to protect the whole american people from this monstrosity known as obamacare. >> it appears that what the senate democrats have done is take their ball go and home. -- go and home. what the senate democrats have done is take their ball and go home. they said we're not going to negotiate, period, starting with the -- when the request came over from the house today to go to conference, the democrats here in the senate said absolutely no. and that's been the message consistently. house republicans have repeatedly sent proposals over here, modified the proposals, sent them back, not once, not twice, not three time bus four times and at every turn the answer has been no. i don't think the american people see that as a reasonable proposition.

in fact, i think most americans are wondering if the president's willing to make special obamacare deals for everybody else, what about us? he's made special deals for the favored groups that he wants to help out but there are an awful lot of middle class americans wondering where is our special deal? and it doesn't have to be this way. the democrats can bring the ball back and start to negotiate and we can resolve that. that's certainly i think what the people across the country want to see us do. they have grave reservations and concerns about the effects that this bad law is going to have on them and on their families and they want to see a government that's up and operational and functional. it really is a time for the democrats to bring the ball back. we can end this unnecessary shutdown and do it now. >> the obama health care exchanges open today and from reports around the country, it seems that obamacare is off to a very rocky start. let's take a look at what the president promised as recently

as last week he said, go to the exchanges, compare for yourself, it will be cheaper than a monthly cell phone bill. the average for that is about $71 a month he also said it will be as easy to use as amazon.com and of course he's been say regular petedly if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. my advice to the american people is, buyer beware. there's going to be significant sticker shock. people will be paying much more even with the subsidies than they would otherwise. we're going to find it very difficult for people to necessarily keep the doctor that they have if they like that octor. there are going to be real issues of security and identity theft and we're going to continue to see problems with the exchanges in terms of customer service delays and ability to get this done. so i think the president is going to need to be kept to his word, held to his word, of

cheaper than your cell phone bill, easier than shopping on amazon.com, keeping your doctor if you like your doctor. the american people will judge the president by this and sadly, the president's words to the american people will not be ound to be true. >> as the president's health care bill goes into effect today, i think what we see is what happens when you put legislation on the books and violate all of the principles that you should have when you pass legislation. remember, there was never any real chance to amend this. that's why you're seeing so much desire here at the last minute, let's make this change, let's make that change. there's 60 votes in the senate that passed a bill that nobody thought would be the law and then suddenly that 60th vote goes away and that's the only thing that can become law. now aparaphernalialy the president can amend this all he wants to. he can decide that businesses

don't have to provide health insurance to employees and there's no penalty. and the cost of that if you look at the estimated penalties is $12 billion a year. and individuals, most of them would get their health insurance from the businesses they work for and they no longer have to provide it during that first year, individuals still do pay the penalty. if we're going to exempt businesses from having to provide insurance, let's give the one-year exemmings to individuals so they don't have to pay a penalty if they don't have it. the $4 billion that we anticipated, the law anticipated that individuals would pay, apparently that is unbelievablely important that that be collected. the $12 billion, not so important. the fact is that the legislative part of the government has never really had the kind of

opportunities you would want to , to to modify, to adjust make this law better. at the last minute, we see businesses treated one way and individuals and families treated another way and a system that is full of glitches. glitches means it is not working. i don't think those glitches get any better over the next few weeks. >> senator mcconnell, where is the tipping point? when is the world world consequences too much to allow the government to not open again? >> the house will continue to try to engage the senate and the white house. in working this out. every step they have taken -- it is a reasonable effort to make some changes to a law that almost everybody despises. all those have been rejected.

then the house sent over a proposal and a lot of those go to conference and that was rejected, too. the house is trying to be very reasonable. and see if we can get to an outcome. i can't answer the hypothetical about what happens next, but the house is going to continue to try to engage the majority leader and the president. even though they repeatedly say there is nothing to talk about. >> let me follow-up. we saw yesterday a bipartisan effort to protect our military from pay cuts during a government shutdown. we will come to the floor this afternoon and deal with people like veterans who are coming to washington on honor flights to visit the world war ii memorial. there is no reason why these people should be punished as a result of the failure in congress.

we're going to go down and offer targeted proposals to try and mitigate some of the pain for people who are in essence innocent bystanders in this. we want to continue the conversation and continue to make these proposals. hopefully our friends across the aisle will engage with us. >>[inaudible] more and more of your members are saying we don't have any more -- >> well, i think it is pretty obvious, the bill is back in the house. the house will decide what next. arise senator cornyn just pointed out, we will be seeking relief in the house and senate to certain impacts of where we are on various parts of the public. i am not in a position to answer hypotheticals about where we go from here.

let's see what the house's next move is. >> what impact does the shutdown have on the debt limit debate? >> they are getting close to each other, aren't they? i would still like to resolve the current issue before we move n to the debt ceiling. it is not exactly clear when that will be resolved. hanks. >> outside the capital, house republicans study committee called on the president and majority leader harry reid to negotiate with republicans to get the government-funded. his is 15 minutes. >> i want to thank everybody for coming. last night, at about 1:00 in the morning, the house passed the

fourth bill that we have passed over to the senate to keep the government-funded while in doing all of the special-interest exemptions in obamacare. as we continued to send those pieceses of legislationlast night, ultimately, sending over and over a bill to form a conference committee. harry reid has refused to take action to keep government funded . harry reid chose to shut the government down. we have continued to put options on the table and we will stay here and keep working, putting more options on the table to continue funding government while ending the sweetheart deals of obamacare. it is time for harry reid and his colleagues to start doing their job and start negotiating.

the harry's way or the highway approach is not a reasonable approach. most americans realize that we put ideas on the table and harry reid says i will not move an inch, this is not a tenable position that he can hold. ultimately when two sides disagree, you have to start negotiating. we have put our team of negotiators in place and we are ready. we have a number of our colleagues here who have been nvolved in this fight. we want to introduce senator vittor. i think the legislation that he has brought forward is important legislation to ensure that members of congress live by the rules that they file. >> it is great to be here with my colleagues.

it is great to be here with all of my colleagues. i have two simple messages. we cannot come to a solution unless we are talking. all of us want to be talking. that is exactly why the house sent over four different proposals and that is why the house moved to go to conference and appoint conferees. you cannot come to a solution unless you are talking. i urge harry reid to simply join that discussion, not to tell president obama, as he did, do do not negotiate. not to continue to take the floor and say there will be no discussion and not refuse to go to conference. the second thing all of us are doing today and beyond is to fund areas of the government

that we can absolutely agree on. present obama made a speech outlining some key priorities of his that he was fearful would be impacted in a shutdown. we agree with all of those priorities he mentioned in his speech. we are going to be passing or proposing to pass funding bills to address those starting with the v.a. let's come together and agree where we can. including all of those key priorities that president obama mentioned in his speech like starting with the v.a. i think that is a second reasonable productive way to move forward. that is how we will move forward and i urge everybody to move forward in that spirit. >> thank you, david. ne of my colleagues in the house who brought an amendment forward that passed just a few nights ago, to include fairness in obamacare, is marsha

blackburn of tennessee. >> i want to thank all of you for taking the time to be out here today. we continue to work towards fairness. for all americans. know the president has made 19 different -- 19 different delays in obamacare and his given 1,200 special waivers. and today as the exchanges have opened and have had glitch after glitch after glitch, we are saying it is an issue of fairness for all americans to make certain that we address these issues. we also are wanting to make certain that we address the out of control federal spending and that is why we continue to say please meet us, work with us, talk with us, let's negotiate and get to the point where we can fund the federal government

and do it in a way that is respectful of the american people. >> thank you, marsha. a senator who has been putting good solutions on the table is rand paul from kentucky. >> i've always said it was a dumb idea to shut down government but you have to realize, why are we here? because we're not passing individual appropriations bills. had we done our job, passed appropriations bills in the senate, we haven't brought up any of them. if we'd done our job we wouldn't be here. government would still be going on. i agree with what the house is talking about doing, let's pass some bills. people say, this isn't the time to do it -- when are we going to do it? we've got a deadline, let's go ahead and do it. let's start funding government. yesterday we did pass funding for the soldiers. passed unanimously. took us five minutes. wouldn't it be great if we do that for the rest of our appropriations bills? but make it very clear what's going on here. we are willing to talk to the president, we are willing to acknowledge we're not going to

get 100% of what we want, but the president has to acknowledge that negotiation and compromise means him coming off of saying, i get whatever i want, it's my way or the highway. so we're looking for the president to come and talk to us, we're willing to talk. >> a great champion for fiscal responsibility who has been working really hard on solutions, my predecessor as chairman of the republican study committee, jim jordan of ohio. >> thank you, chairman. when you cut to the chase, like marsha said it's about fairness. it's about equal protection under the law for everybody. even this lady yelling at us right now deserves equal treatment and fair treatment. right now this bill cuts out special favors for big business, special favors, special treatment for members of congress. we just want to talk about fairness. all we're asking is a simple, simple question. mr. president, mr. reid, sit own and talk to us act the

-- about the unfair treatment of obamacare so we can figure it out and we can treat all americans fairly. that's what this is all about. thank you. >> thank you, jim. another leader in the fight for fairness to make sure that all members of congress have to live by the law that president obama signed is ron desantis of florida. >> thanks, steve. i really think it was unfortunate that the senate was so insistent on maintaining special treatment for members of congress and staff and so insistent on denying to individual americans the same exemption from obamacare that the administration has granted to big business and insurance companies that they would refuse to fund the basic functions of government. even though they've already agreed that the funding levels are acceptable. and so i think that all we're asking for is fairness, people will say that obamacare is the law but it is not being implemented as written. i think we have an obligation to

our constituents to stand up for the rule of law and obviously put washington at the back of the line for any relief and our constituents at the front of the line. thank you. >> thank you. one of my colleagues in the house who led to eliminate the corruption and fraud involved with the exchanges when the president wouldn't pass the law on income checks. harry reid refuses to root out that fraud and corruption. i want to welcome diane black of tennessee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as has been said, it is about fairness. it's about what the law is. and the president has chosen and cherry picked what he liked about the law. when those folks say we should abide by the law, you're right. we should have fairness for everyone. the president decided several planks of his law he decided not to apply equally. he delayed the employer mandate

and delayed another important plank of the law, verification so that those who apply for a subsidy would have their income verified. what we're going to see as a result of this is a lot of fraud and abuse. nd that means that the hard working taxpayer is going to be paying for that. so we're just asking, once again, all the way down the line, for fairness. that's what this is about. we want the senate to come to the table and talk about what is fair. and so we ask the senate and harry reid to come to the table. let's have that discussion. >> another colleague who has been fighting for fairness is mick mulvaney of south carolina. >> you might want to tell harry reid to end the shutdown. >> you guys are worthless! >> i'll speak to it. last night at 11:30, i don't know if you saw, the democrat leadership in the house had a press conference. they asked to go to conference. they asked to sit down and

talk. at 1:00 last night we gave them everything that they wanted. we gave them a chance to sit down and they turned us down. we are the ones who want to sit down and chat. we sent them a defunding of obamacare they turned us us down. sent them a one-year delay they turned us down. send them a one-year delay on the mandate and they turn us down. this shutdown could end tomorrow if your folks would sit down and talk with us. that's all we're asking. >> thank you for that. we'll open it up to any questions you w have. yes, ma'am? >> if obamacare is the issue, >> you might want to let this young lady ask her question. >> if obamacare is the issue, why have other things been added to the bill like medical device tax and keystone? >> four separate times we sent legislation to the senate to make sure government gets funded while addressing the problems in obamacare and ending sweetheart deals in the law. for whatever reason, harry reid

has stuck his feet in the sand and said he doesn't want to negotiate at all. that's not how democracy works. if you see the people here, these members of congress, we're here to work, we're here to get this taken care of so government can be funded while addressing problems of obamacare. yeah? >> repealing the medical device tax would add $30 billion to the deficit. you are supposed to be anti-deficit people. how would you offset the cost? >> if you look at the medical device tax, that one tax alone has run thousands of jobs out of america and actually increased the cost of healthcare for families. so if you want to talk about an actual tax that is killing jobs, there's no better poster child than the medical device tax as a tax that literally is a gift to foreign countries because all those jobs leaving the united states right now, we want to stop that job loss and bring those jobs back to the united states and bring the revenue back. if you look at the millions of

dollars we're losing every day because of the medical device tax it's a job killer and it's a revenue loser for the federal government. we need to bring the money back. >> are you saying it would pay for itself? >> what i'm say, if you look at what we're talking about in terms of delays in obamacare for all americans, not just the special few, that would save billions to the american taxpayer and ensure fairness, even more importantly the fact that we would make sure that all americans comply with the same set of laws, not just special carveouts if you have access to the white house. >> congressman, does the r.s.c. support the new plan republican leadership put forward involving the small c.r.'s to turn on government in small pieces at a time? >> you've seen strong support from r.s.c. members for all these efforts to keep government funding while addressing problems in obamacare as well as things we've been doing to fund essential services of government. you saw a unanimous vote in the house to make sure our troops are funded so they're not able

to be used as hostages in negotiations. i was glad that the senate finally took that up and passed it and president obama siped it -- signed it as well. it shows we can work together and pass things. harry reid needs to stop acting like it's harry's way or the highway. we have to sit down and negotiate if we're going to get this done. the senate needs to stop staling. >> how do you see this unfolding in the next few days? are you seeing an extending shutdown? >> we're here working, my colleagues are here working, if anyone wants to talk about harry reid's lack of deire to do his job and to get the negotiators in the same room. we have some. harry reid won't send any of his own. >> i would just reiterate two very productive things that could happen. there could be a conference to talk about the c.r. i don't think we're going to agree if we're not talking. we're ready to talk. so let's have a conference about that. second, let's pass individual spending bills in those areas

where we clearly agree. we started with our troops, we can go way beyond that. the next step could be the v.a. i don't have a crystal ball but again, those are immediate, positive steps forward that can happen now, today this hour. >> what's the difference, you didn't want to go to conference six months ago over the budget what's changed now that you're ready to go to conference now over a funding bill? >> first of all -- the reason that we're at this impasse right now is because the senate has refused to appoint conferees and sit down at a table to work out our differences. that's why you have a government shutdown. harry reid didn't want to answer for the fact that president obama has given over 1,000 waivers to friends who have access to the white house, yet he also wants to give those same waivers to members of congress who passed the law. american people realize that if congress passes laws, everybody ought to live by those laws, especially members of congress. we need to end the sweetheart deals and special exemses. i want to thank you all for

come, we're still here working. we're ready to do our job, harry reid needs to do his. thanks. [applause] >> president obama is calling on house republicans to reopen the federal government and stop their efforts to delay or defund the federal health care law. he also noted that tuesday was the first day americans could enroll in health insurance exchanges under the health care law. his is 20 minutes.

>> good morning, everybody. at midnight last night -- can everybody hear me? mic working? good morning, everybody. at midnight last night, for the first time in 17 years, the republicans in congress chose to shut down the federal government. let me be more specific. one faction of one branch of government shut down major parts of the government all because they didn't like one law. this republican shutdown did not have to happen. and i want every american to understand why it did happen. republicans in the house of representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the affordable care act.

they've shut down the federal government to deny health insurance to millions of americans. in other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job. and many representatives, including an increasing number of republicans, have made it clear that had they been allowed by speaker boehner to take a simple up or down vote on keeping the government open with no partisan strings attached, enough votes from both parties would have kept the american people's government open and operating. we may not know the full impact of this republican shutdown nor sometime. it may depend how long it lasts. we do know a couple things. we know the last time the republicans shut down the government in 1996 it hurt our economy. and unlike 1996, our economy's still recovering from the worst recession in generations. we know that certain services and benefits that america's

seniors and veterans and business owners depend on must be put on hold. certain offices, along with every national park and monument, must be closed. and while last night i signed legislation to make sure our 1.4 million active duty military are paid through the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of civilian workers, many still on the job, many forced to stay home, aren't being paid. even if they have families to support and local businesses that rely on them. and we know that the longer this shutdown continues the worst the effects will be. more families will be hurt. more businesses will be harmed. so once again, i urge house republicans to reopen the government, restart the services americans depend on and allow the public servants who have been sent home to return to work.

it's only going to happen when republicans realize they don't get to hold the entire economy hostage over ideological demands. i've said repeatedly, i'm prepared to work with democrats and republicans to do what we need to do, to grow the economy, create jobs, get our fiscal house in order over the long run. although i should add, this shutdown isn't about deficits or spending or budgets. after all, our deficits are falling at the fastest pace in 50 years. we've cut them in half since i took office. in fact, many of the demands the republicans are now making would actually raise our deficits. no, this shutdown is not about deficits or budgets. this shutdown is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don't have it. it's all about rolling back the affordable care act.

this, more than anything else, seems to be what the republican party stands for these days. i know it's strange that one party would make keeping people uninsured the centerpiece of their agenda. that apparently is what it is. and of course what's stranger still is that shutting down our government doesn't accomplish their stated goal. the affordable care act is a law that passed the house, it passed the senate, the supreme court ruled constitutional. it was a central issue in last year's election. it is settled. and it is here to stay. and because of its funding sources, it's not impacted by a government shutdown. and these americans are here with me today because even though the government is closed, a big part of the affordable care act is now open for business. and for them and millions like them, this is an historic day for a good reason. it's been a long time

coming. but today americans who have been forced to go without insurance can now visit health care.gov and enroll in affordable new plans that offer coverage and that starts today and people will have six months to sign up. so for the next six months people will have the opportunity in many cases for the first time in their lives to get affordable coverage that they desperately need. now, of course, if you're one of the 85% of americans who already have health insurance, you don't need to do a thing. you're already benefiting from new benefits and protections that have been in place for sometime under this law. but for the 15% of americans who don't have health insurance , this opportunity is life hanging. let me just tell folks a few stories that are represented here today. few years ago, amanda barrett,

left her job in new york to take care of her parents and she had temporary insurance that covered her multiple sclerosis and when it expired many insurance didn't cover her because she had m.s. and she was paying $1,200 an month. that is nowhere near affordable. starting today she can get covered for much less because today's new plans can't use your medical history to charge you more than anybody else. sky high premiums once forced nancy beagle to choose between paying her rent and her health insurance. she's been uninsured ever since. she pays all her medical bills out of pocket, puts some on her credit card making them even harder to pay. nancy says they talk about those who fall through the cracks. i fell through the cracks 10 years ago and i've been stuck there ever since. well, starting today, nancy can get coverage just like everybody else. renee edwards was laid off from her job one year ago. six months ago, she was

diagnosised with a brain tumor. she couldn't have health insurance on the individual market and she hasn't received treatment yet. her daughter, a student at the university of maryland, is considering dropping out of school to help pay her mom's bills. starting today, thanks to the affordable care act, she can get covered without forcing her daughter to give up on her dreams. so if these stories of hard working americans sound familiar to you, well, starting today you and your friends and your families and co-workers can get coverage too. just visit healthcare.gov and you can look at health insurance side by side just like you do with plane tickets on kayak. or a tv on amazon. you enter some basic information and you'll be presented with a list of affordable plans in your area with clear descriptions about what each plan covers and

what it will cost. you'll find more choices, more competition and in many cases lower prices. most uninsured americans will find that they can get covered for $100 or less. and you don't have to take my word for it. go on the website, healthcare.gov, check it out for yourselves and show it to your friends and family and help them get coverage just like mayors and community groups and companies are already panning out to do -- fanning out to do across the country and there is a hotline where you can apply over the phone and get help with the application. or just get questions answered by real people in 150 different languages. let me give you that number. the number's 1-800-318-2596. 1-800-318-2596. check out healthcare.gov. call that number. show your family and friend how to use it. we can get america covered once and for all because the struggle

that these folks have gone through and millions of folks around the country have gone through over the years finally get addressed. let me just remind people why i think this is so important. i heard a striking statistic yesterday. if you get cancer, you are 70% more likely to live another five years if you have insurance than if you don't. think about that. that is what it means to have health insurance. set aside the issues of security and finances and how you're impacted by that, the stress involved in not knowing whether or not you're going to have health care. this is life-or-death stuff. tens of thousands of americans die each year just because they don't have health insurance. millions more live with the fear that they'll go broke if they get sick. and today we begin to free millions of our fellow americans from that fear. already millions of young adults have been able to stay on their parents' plans until they turned

26. millions of seniors have already gotten a discount on their prescription medicines. already, millions of families actually received rebates from insurance companies who didn't spend enough on their health care so this law means more choice, more competition, lower costs for millions of americans. and this law doesn't mean economic security for our families. it means we're finally addressing the biggest drivers of our long-term deficits. it means a stronger economy. remember, most republicans have made a whole bunch of predictions about this law that haven't come true. there are no death panels. costs haven't skyrocketed. they're growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. the last three years since i signed the affordable care act into law is the slowest growth rate in record. and contrary to republican claims, this law hasn't destroyed our economy or the past 3 1/2 years our businesses

have created 7 1/2 million new jobs. just today, we learned that our manufacturers are growing at the fastest rate in 2 1/2 years they have factored in affordable care act. they don't think it's a problem. what's weighing on the economy is not the affordable care act, but the constant series of crises and the unwillingness to pass a reasonable budget by a faction of the republican party. now, like every new law, every new product rollout there will be some glitches in the signup process along the way that we will fix. i've been saying this from the start. for example, we found out that there have been times this morning where the site has been running more slowly than it normally will. the reason is because more than one million people visited healthcare.gov before 7:00 in the morning. to put that in context, there were five times more users in the marketplace this morning

than have ever been on medicare.gov at one time. that gives you a sense of how important this is for millions of americans around the country, and that's a good thing. and we're going to be speeding things up in the next few hours to handle all this demand that exceeds anything that we had xpected. consider that just a couple of weeks ago, apple rolled out a new mobile operating system and they found a glitch so they fixed it. i don't remember anybody suggesting that apple stop selling iphones or ipads or or threaten to shut down the company if they didn't. that's not how we do things in america. we don't root for failure. we get to work, we make things happen, we make them better, we keep going. so in that context, i'll work

with anybody who's got a serious idea to make the affordable care act work better. i've said that repeatedly. but as long as i am president i will not give into reckless plans by some in the republican party that will deny health insurance to millions of hardworking americans. i wanted republicans in congress to know, these are the americans you'd hurt if you were allowed to dismantle this law. americans like amanda, nancy and trenase who have the opportunity for basic security and peace of mind of health care, including members of congress. the notion that you'd make a condition for reopening the government that i make sure these folks don't have health care, that doesn't make any sense. it doesn't make any sense. now, let me make one closing point.

this republican shutdown threatens our economy when americans are looking for work and businesses are trying to get some traction. so the timing is not good. of course, a lot of the republicans in the house ran for office two years ago promising to shut down the government and so apparently they've now gotten their wish. but as i've said before, the irony that the house republicans will have to contend with is they've shut down a whole bunch of parts of the government but the affordable care act is still open for business. and this may be why you have many republican governors and senators and even a growing number of reasonable republican congressmen who are telling the extreme right of their party to knock it off, pass a budget. move on. and i want to underscore the fact that congress doesn't have to end this shutdown and reopen the government, congress generally has to stop governing by crisis.

they have to break this habit. it is a drag on the economy. it is not worthy of this country. for example, one of the most important things congress has to do in the next couple of weeks is to raise what's called the debt ceiling. and it's important to understand what this is. this is a routine vote. congress has taken this vote 45 times to raise the debt ceiling since ronald reagan took office. it doesn't cost taxpayers a single dime. it does not grow our deficits by a single time. it doesn't authorize anybody to spend any new money whatsoever. all it does is authorize the treasury to pay the bills on what congress has already spent. hink about that. if you buy a car and you have a car note, you do not save money

by not paying your car note, ou're just a deadbeat. if you buy a house, you don't ave money by not authorizing yourself to pay the mortgage, you're just going to be foreclosed on your home. his is what this is about. it is routine, it is what they're supposed to do. this is not a concession to me. this is not demand that's unreasonable that i'm making. this is what congress is supposed to do as a routine matter. and they shouldn't wait until the last minute to do it. many of you remember back in 2011, our economy staggered, our credit rating was downgraded for the first time. if they go through with it this time and force the united states to default on its obligations

for the first time in history, it would be far more dangerous than a government shutdown as bad as a shutdown is. it would be an economic shutdown. so i'll speak more on this in the coming days. but let me repeat, i will not negotiate over congress' responsibility to pay bills it's already racked up. i'm not going to allow anybody to drag the good name of the united states of america through the mud just to refight a settled election or extract ideological demands. nobody gets to hurt our economy and millions of hardworking families over a law you don't ike. there are a whole bunch of things i'd like to see pass hrough congress that the house republicans haven't passed yet. i'm not out there saying, i'm going to let america default unless congress does something that they don't want to do. that's not how adults operate.

certainly that's not how our government should operate. and that's true whether there's a democrat in this office or a republican in this office. doesn't matter if it's a democratic house of representatives or a republican-controlled house of representatives. there's certain rules that everybody abides by because we don't want to hurt other people just because we have a political isagreement. so my basic message to congress is this -- pass a budget, end a government shutdown, pay your bills, prevent an economic shutdown, don't wait, don't delay, don't put our economy or our people through this any longer. i'm more than happy to work with them on all kinds of issues. i want to get back to work on

the american people sent us here to work on, create jobs, security for the middle class. we're better than this. certainly the american people are a lot better than this. and i believe what we've accomplished for amanda, nancy, trenase and millions of americans on this day proves that even when the odds are long and the obstacles are many, we are and always will be a country that can do great things together. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. thank you, all of you, for the great work you're doing. thank you, kathleen sebelius, for the outstanding work she's doing making sure that millions of americans can get health insurance. thank you. >> if you can't negotiate, how can you get a solution? >> wouldn't the house and the

congress help -- >> i heard two things loud and clear. wunk one thing is the shutdown. he called it a republican shutdown. he made it clear that he is not ready to negotiate on this. >> some of our viewers have sent tweets regarding c-span and the government shutdown. i wonder if michelle is going to have to be the one to film president obama's address for

c-span. eric asks does c-span close down or is that considered essential too? i would check but no one knows what channel that is. and ron says so c-span is still on after harry reid's shutdown. i can't see how it is an essential part of the government. that or the t.s.a.. for those viewers and others who have asked, c-span is privately funded and your c-span service from your cable or satellite provider.

>> i would yield such time as i may consume. throughout human history, whenever there has been disagreement in ages past, it has been settled with armed conflict, but in civilized world we settle those disputes in an amicable way under the law. in this remarkable house chamber, we are surrounded by images of great lawmakers throughout human history.