alongside men and women in iraq, many were religious and many were not, but my purpose was to ensure they were able to express their first amendment rights however they wished. chaplains must be allowed and their contract counterparts must be allowed to provide religious services regardless of our nation's fiscal state. if the administration wants to play games and score points through unnecessary theatrics, so be it, but i will not stand by and let these games occur at the expense of basic rights of men and women in uniform. during this lapse in funding, active-duty chaplains are permitted to continue serving military personnel, however, there is a chronic shortage of active-duty chaplains, particular for catholic and jewish faiths. 25% of the military ascribed to the catholic faith, but yet priests make up only eight percent of the chaplains. that means 275,000 men and women in uniform are served by 200 34 active-duty priests.

thus, the need to have contract chaplains. due to the shortage, it is common for the government to employ chaplains via contract. with the government shutdown, contact members on the world wide aces are not permitted to work, not even permitted to volunteer, even if they are the only chaplain on base. as my friend from south carolina mentioned, the research is on basic freedoms being had around here and just within this area, at langley at the navy yard, at ft. belvoir, these are all areas in which these have artie been cut back, and that is a shame. i am grateful to my colleagues who joined me this morning in the house leadership for their commitment to ensuring that military chaplains are able to serve the men and women of our armed forces. if this body does not pass this legislation, the ability of military personnel will continue to be a great risk. i have my college to join me in protecting the first amendment rights of those who gave their lives to protect ours. and before i close, i agree that many times we have not communicated and we do not

communicate as many would want us to, but i also heard that timing was a problem here. and that we should have saw this coming. let me just say timing should never be a hindrance to this body protecting the first amendment rights of any of our citizens, and especially our military personnel. in fact, it should be our highest calling him a and that thing we run to the floor to discuss. should we have seen it coming? i tell you, what saddens me is i would have never believed that the administration or anyone else would deem protecting the constitutional right as nonessential. with that, i yield back. >> the gentleman from south carolina. >> i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from south carolina yield back his time

here the question is will the house agree to concurrent resolution 58? those of favor say aye. those opposed, no. 2/3 being in the affirmative -- >> mr. speaker, the chairman from south carolina. >> i request the yays and nays. all of those in favor will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen the yays and nays are ordered. further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. [gavel bangs] for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> pursuant to house resolution 371 i call up h.r. 3223, the federal employee retroactive fairness act and ask for its consideration. >> the clerk will report the

time. >> a bill to provide for the compensation of furloughed federal employees. >> pursuant to house resolution 371, the bill is considered read. the bill shall be debatable for 40 minutes, equally divided between the chair and the ranking minority committee of oversight and government reform. the gemini from ohio, and the gentleman from maryland police control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. turner. >> i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to advise and extend the remarks. >> so ordered. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> the house remains actively engaged in finding a solution to end the current impasse. the house has passed a number of common sense bills to fund our troops, continuing funding for

veterans benefits and allow the district of columbia to spend its own funds. the house has also past legislation --the administration is refusing to use the authority granted by the pay our military act, meaning 400,000 defense civilian employees remain at home unable to work. while we wait on the president and senate to reach across the aisle, it is important to provide needed certainty to federal employees who have been furloughed without pay. each and every one of us have federal employees, most of which take pride in helping make the country a better place. civilian defense personnel at wright patterson air force base, doctors and nurses at the veterans affairs medical center, and records management professionals at the national archives and countless other dedicated men and women throughout my community are employed by federal agencies and have been subject to furlough.

in the gulf coast, noaa employees help monitor major storms. in the aftermath of these natural disasters, workers are sent into hazardous conditions to restore broken communities. at nasa, employs up was figuratively and literally reach for the stars. they encourage future generations to not be bound by seemingly physical and intellectual barriers. our law law-enforcement agencies work tirelessly to investigate and capture those who seek to do harm to the homeland as well as our allies abroad, and the list goes on. h.r. 3223 ensures that civilian workers would receive retroactive pay for the duration of their shutdown regardless of their furlough status. federal workers who have been furloughed under a shutdown, have historically received their back pay. they are guaranteed their payroll resume once the president and senate democrats agreed to discussions that will

resolve this impasse. i urge support for this bill as we continue to work on legislation to reopen the critical operations of the federal government. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from maryland. the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. >> i rise in strong support of h.r. 3223, the federal employee retract up a fairness act. this legislation would provide backpay to 800,000 hard-working and dedicated federal employees furloughed as a result of the government shutdown we are enduring. today is day five of the shutdown created by the tea party extremists who are harming our country by holding a government hostage. placing our economy in jeopardy by waging an ideological war to overturn the law of the land and put insurance companies back in charge of health care decisions

for tens of millions of our fellow americans. our dedicated public servants ought to be at their duty stations serving the american people right now. they want to be working. they should be working, but instead, they are locked out because the house republicans leadership refuses to allow a vote on a clean bill to fund the government, a bill that would pass today. 17 years ago, federal workers were given back pay after newt gingrich's record 21 day shutdown in 1995 and 1996. it was the fair thing to do then, and it is the fair thing to do now. our federal employees have been under relentless and unfair attack in recent years, and have sacrificed much already.

they have contributed $100 billion to deficit reduction through the three-year pay freeze. new employees have seen their retirement benefits slashed. on top of that, mr. speaker, many have suffered through sequester -imposed furloughs. and now many families have seen their lives disrupted by this shutdown. the least we can do for our fellow citizens who work for this great country is to give them the reassurance of knowing that they wil receive back pay. being -- the piecemeal approach being pursued by the house republicans over its huge parts of the government and it tends to pick and choose those who will be paid and those who will not.

that is not an efficient or effective way to run the government. and the american people are sick of it, and they must be heard. h.r. 3223, and i give great credit to my colleagues mr. moran and mr. wolfe, a bipartisan group of great virginians, i applaud them, but 3223 would insure that all federal workers will be paid once this manufactured crisis is over. and the government is reopened. this is not their fault. and they should not suffer as a result. it is long past time for republicans to reopen the government. instead of disrupting the lives of our fellow citizens and wasting time and taxpayer money, house republican should reopen

the government today. not yesterday, right now. by simply bringing to the floor a measure that funds the entire government without taking away the health care of our fellow citizens. for these reasons, i urge my colleagues to join all of us in supporting h.r. 3223, and i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from ohio. >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolfe, the author of the bill we are considering today that would retroactively restore the pay to federal workers. >> i want to thank -- mr. turner and chairman rogers and his staff. i want to thank leader cantor and his staff and mr. moran and mr. cummings, and all of the staff who did this very, very

quickly. this was done during the reagan and clinton administrations. who are the federal employees? federal employees are the fbi agents that everyone-- they got a call and said that their loved one was kidnapped, the first person they would call would be an fbi agent, a federal employee. i was with mr. hoyer two weeks ago at the navy yard. the 12 people killed at the navy yard and those that were wounded, they were federal employees. when the cno talked about it, he said they are part of the fleet. the capitol hill policeman that we all got up the other day and gave a standing ovation, they are federal employees. the v.a. doctors that are working at walter reed working on young men and women who have lost limbs, who have served in afghanistan and iraq, they are federal employees. i i was with mr. hoyer down at

opm earlier this year when they had stars on the wall of 27 federal employees that died since 2012. and since that time, the number of stars have been added. i saw the movie "zero dark thirty." it was about catching bin laden. the woman who did that, had she been furloughed, should she not get paid? lastly, i remember being at the memorial service, if you saw the book and read the move, seven individuals died. i saw the young families that are mourning their parents, they are federal employees. 12000 cia employees have been furloughed, maybe missing that one communication from el shabab or al qaeda. i urge a strong vote for this.

>> the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentleman from maryland. >> i yield three minutes to the distinguish among from the state of maryland, mr. hoyer. >> the general it is recognized for three minutes. >> i want to thank the general and for yielding and i want to thank my colleague frank wolfe. there is no harder advocate, more effective advocate for federal employees. he and i have worked together for 32 years. on behalf of the interests of those people who work for the american people every day. to make them safe, healthier, more informed.

i want to thank myself, the majority leader, the majority leader, the ranking member, the gentleman who offers his support of this bill, and we are five days into a government shutdown caused by -- i'm not sure what. as a result, approximately 800,000 middle-class workers who serve the american people are furloughed without pay. all of us talk about working americans, how we want to make sure they have the jobs they need to support themselves and their family. federal employees have been asked to accept freezes for the past four years and have endured changes to retirement benefits as well as furloughs imposed by sequester. i'm glad to see the chairman of the appropriations committee on the floor. there have been no more stronger voice on the irrationality of the sequester them my friend from kentucky.

only my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can say with certainty when our federal government will be able to go back to work. but the american people are already noticing their absence, whether safeguarding our national parks, performing groundbreaking medical research at nih, overseen disaster relief efforts after a storm or wildfire, making sure nutrition assistance gets to children and seniors who need it or enforcing the laws that keep our communities safe, employees make a critical contribution to the country and communities and the american people they serve. we saw their selfless nature and devotion to country on display this thursday when, as the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolfe said, when u.s. capitol police personnel, federal employees that were deemed essential and were on the job without the promise of pay, protected all of us who worked in the capitol complex during a security incident. i am proud to represent 52,000 hard-working federal employees in my district. yet most of the federal employees are not in the washington metropolitan area. 80% of them are dispersed

throughout the country serving in every area in every community of our great land. many of whom serve in civilian defense roles at military institutions like indianhead and westerfield, but each one of you could name the facility in your district. one of them wrote to me to express frustration. he writes, "i'm quite tired of being punished when my only crime is supporting our great nation with my labor." may i have one additional minute? >> the general it is recognized for one minute. >> i want to thank my republican colleagues for recognizing that pain and bringing this bill to the floor. i hope all of us will support this bill. another constituent of mine works at pax river said, this, " these continue to work towards a solution that ends the furloughs." mr. speaker, we must reopen our government.

and we could do so today. this hour, but until the majority allows a vote on the bill to reopen the government, let us at least provide the dedicated, patriotic federal employees who want nothing more than to go back to work with the peace of mind that they will still be paid for their service. i want to thank mr. moran. he has been an extraordinary leader on behalf of federal employees. and congress and connolly. steve lynch, others on the republican side who have been aligned on that effort. we, the board of directors of the greatest enterprise on earth can take care of our employees and give them confidence that they deserve. i thank the speaker for the additional time.

and i yield back the balance of the time. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio. >> mr. speaker, i yield a man and a half to the detriment from kentucky, mr. rogers. -- i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from kentucky. >> this is a bipartisan bill, and i hope every member in this house will support it. i'm glad to see that at the very least the senate has plans to take up this bill. stop the presses. the senate is going to take up a bill, even if they will not consider most of our other bills. as we wait for the senate to

come to the negotiating table on shutting the site down down, our the shutdown down, our federal employees should not wait to find out whether they will be paid. this bill will provide backpay for those workers who have been furlough. the house has made great strides towards this end. as of yesterday, the house has approved 15 different options to fund the government, sent into the senate. sadly, the only response is allowed -- a loud snore. i hope this bill, which i know is a priority for my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, will encourage this congress to find that spirit of bipartisanship that seems to have evaporated over the last two weeks. it will demonstrate that we are able to let level heads prevail, and that we can unite in our responsibility to care for the hundreds of thousands of people who served this nation day in day out. i want to thank mr. wolf and mr. moran, two fine members of our appropriations committee, for bringing this bill to the floor, and i salute them, urge my colleagues to provide our workforce with some certainty for their futures, and pass this bill. >> the gentleman from the

maryland. >> i yield three minutes to mr. moran. >> the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. >> i thank my close friend from baltimore for yielding me the time. mr. speaker, this bill is truly bipartisan. we have 177 cosponsors, 32 republicans. it ensure all federal employees will be paid for the duration of the federal government shut down. the issue is fairness. it's just wrong for hundreds of thousands of federal employees not to know whether they are going to be able to make their mortgage payment, not to know whether they are going to be able to provide for their families. many of them live from paycheck to paycheck. and they are absolutely committed to paying their bills when they become due. but i'm sure that this experience has been shared by

many of our colleagues. they come to our offices. in fact, just two days ago, a women came in, and she started to, matter-of-factly explain the financial situation she had. she broke down sobbing. "i don't know how i can provide for my children if i do not get my paycheck." it was not her fault. she did not do anything wrong. it was not due to any kind of performance. she is a hard worker, she has got commendations, but we decided because we have not been able to fix the budget situation that we are going to allow this government to shut down. so she is collateral damage. it is wrong. 800,000 people are suffering. this would relieve their anxiety. that is why it is a simple matter of fairness, mr. speaker. now, of course, on the side of the aisle, we feel strongly if we could just bring up a simple

appropriations bill today, tomorrow, it would pass, because there are enough republicans that want to do that, combined with virtually all of the democrats, but whether that happens or not, when it happens, this bill does need to happen. now, it should be borne in mind, keeping these individuals at home is costing us $300 million a day in lost productivity. hundreds of federal workers have come to our office is asking us to do this, asking us more importantly to let them go back to their work. they are dedicated to their jobs. that is the underlying message let them get back to work. but in the meantime, let's get this past. let's bear in mind this bill is introduced in the context that over the last four years, the congress has frozen federal employees pay. we cut their pension benefits, and we furloughed thousands as a

result of the sequester. accumulated impact of these punitive measures will cost each federal employee an average of $50,000 over the budgeted period. i do not think that is fair. it is not right to punish a workforce of civil servants for whom we are the board of directors. so we are responsible for this. let's do the right thing. let's get a unanimous vote for this bill simply because it is the right thing to do. thank you, mr. speaker. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. guest: >> i yield two minutes to the donovan from utah, mr. bishop. >> mr. speaker, -- >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop. >> -- in july, the house passed the defense appropriations bill to fund the military, including illegally furloughed employees, in a bipartisan effort.

since july, the majority leader has yet to bring that bill to a vote. this summer we passed a bill to support -- although the attorneys are still arguing over what the word support means. but because of these examples, it is imperative that all federal employees are guaranteed they will receive the backpay that is due them. this will not cost the government extra. there is precedent. it is logical. our goal should be to start the government working. as we are looking within two weeks of this time of the debt ceiling, the issue of sequestration, entitlement reform, a senate that continues to demand the spend an extra $60 billion we do not have an obamacare, it is clear that the strategies of the past to not work. senator reid's position has one. we have nothing. and we will continue to have nothing until something new

breaks this logjam. if the senate were to engage in legitimate talks with really go she asian, that could break this logjam. so it clear the senate attitude is the key to ending the shut down. but until that happens, it is significant that all federal employees know that they will receive their funds, and they will not become innocent victims of the senate attitude of belligerents. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the german from maryland. >> i yield two minutes to the member of the committee from massachusetts. >> the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. >> i also want to thank mr. moran for his leadership and mr. wolfe is the lead sponsor, along with mr. cummings, mr. rogers, and mr. whitman. i know there are a lot of staffs that have been working hard on this bill. as the ranking member of the federal workforce subcommittee, i rise in strong support of the federal employee retroactive pay fairness act.

this bipartisan legislation will ensure that are more than 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed since october 1 will receive full back for the duration of a government shutdown. this legislation recognizes that our middle income federal employees are totally committed to serving the american people. to their great credit, our public servants have remained ready, willing, and able to perform their duties, even in the face of mandatory increases in their retirement costs, sequestration related furloughs, and as they face the likelihood of their fourth consecutive year of pay freeze imposed by this congress. given that these furloughed employees have already carry the huge burden working towards deficit reduction, it would be unjust to expect them to bear the additional cost and uncertainty of a shut down engineered by one extreme faction within the republican

party. not all,but one faction within that group, who are intent on disrupting government operations for the sake of political brinkmanship. i would also note that these federal employees nevertheless perform mission-critical agency functions. among these employees who had been sent home by the shut down our federal aviation safety monitors, the liturgical mission, disease surveillance personnel at the centers for disease control, and also food and safety inspectors at the fda, as well as nih researchers who are engaged in experimental clinical trials that are life- and-death matters for some. so it is therefore imperative that we also passed a clean, continuing resolution so that these federal workers can immediately return to their post.

again, i thank mr. moran and mr. wolfe, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia. >> thank you. i would like to recognize mr. wolfe and mr. moran, and for the leadership on both sides of the aisle. this is absolutely necessary. i rise in strong support of the federal employee retroactive pay fairness act. i'm proud to part of a bipartisan group of cosponsors to make sure this is something that is being done in the best interest of our great federal workforce. this bill should be called the pacer and yet, because that is exactly what it does. it provides certainty for our federal employees who, through no fault of their own, were told they were not allowed to come to work effective october 1. our nations dedicated civil servants have artie been asked to shoulder the burden of numerous efforts to reduce government spending -- have already been asked to shoulder

the burden of numerous efforts to reduce government spending. i have talked to many federal employees who are willing to do their part, but like everyone else, as i said, they do not expect to shoulder these cuts alone. these furloughs have dedicated have impact on people's lives, and the doctors and nurses who are responsible for taking care of the men and women who served our nation, on law-enforcement officers running down leads on terrorist threats and protecting our homeland, on firefighter stations at military installations around the globe, on our capitol police, who protect your congress and capitol and on the multitudes of other federal employees who do a great job serving their nation. the only thing they want is the ability to serve. and they have all done that in the greatest way possible. and for that, they have my deepest gratitude and sincere thanks. i know the deepest gratitude and sincere thanks of all members of this body. we deeply appreciate what they do for our nation. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and to work

together to get the work of the nation done. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman yield back the balance. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. >> i yield two minutes to the ranking member of our government ops subcommittee, mr. connolly. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, it's been an orwellian week in which black is white and white black. we have members that vote for the shut down who appeared surprised that that led to the closure of national parks, which did not stop some of them from berating park federal employees from enforcing the shut down. we have other members in this orwellian week, saying the shutdown is all about respect and we have got to get something out of this. we just do not know what it is. so finally, a moment of decency.

finally, we turn to the men and women who serve our country. 800,000 employees and we do something decent for them. we alleviate the angst of whether there will be a paycheck when we get around to reopening the government. one of those workers received the prestigious service to america medal in recognition of his exemplary leadership of the 6000 person team that conceived and executed nasa's incredible curiosity rover mars mission. america is on a legally fortunate to have -- is fortunate to have this outlook worker whose public service should be celebrated and appreciated and compensated. on october 1, dave was one of the nasa employees deemed nonessential and was furlough.

the irony was that dave had to consult the ethics office to see if he could go to his own awards ceremony because of the nonessential status. that is what we are reduced to. today's bill at least redresses one wrong in this otherwise orwellian exercise called the shutdown. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from nebraska. >> thank you, and i want to thank the gentleman from virginia for their efforts but also for coming up to me and asking me to be an early advocate of this very important bill. like them, i have many constituents that are utterly

employees that are looked -- for load -- furloughed right now. the legislation we are considering here today will make sure that the 800,000 federal employees are paid for the time lost or off work during this impasse. we worked last week in a bipartisan effort to make sure that our military would be paid, and including -- included in that bill was also very clear language that protected civilian dod workers from furlough. unfortunately, in a bizarre "what the definition of is is" discussion, they for load -- furloughed almost 60% to 70%. having a bill like this where we come together in a bipartisan

way, we can reduce some level of frustration. we can give some level of peace of mind to those employees that they will be reimbursed for their time lost. they will get paid. i want the dod today to put those civilian dod employees back to work, as is clearly in the law. there is historical precedent for this all the way back to ronald reagan times with tip o'neill and their six close downs, that the employees were paid to reimburse for their time off. so we should be for this effort. this is bipartisan. the president said he would sign this. i urge my colleagues to support this effort. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

i yield one minute to mr. van hollen from marilyn. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. >> thank you. no one should be made to suffer for actions that are no fault of their own, so i'm very pleased we are taking up this measure to ensure that dedicated federal workers, who are among the many innocent victims of this government shutdown, will be held harmless in the long run, but this important measure simply highlights the sheer folly of keeping the federal government shut down for one additional minute. these are public servants who are paid to do what they love to do -- to serve the public. so, for goodness sake, let them all get back to work for the public now. this bill, mr. speaker, does not say, "let's just pay the federal employees at fema." it does not say, "let's just pay the federal employees at the

national parks." it does not just say, "let's just pay the federal employees at the piecemeal, cherry picking agencies our republican colleagues have brought to the floor." let's open the entire federal government and do it now. mr. speaker, let us have a vote on that very simple proposition. >> the gentleman's time is expired. chair recognizes digital men from ohio. >> i yield one minute to the gentlelady from michigan. >> the chair recognizes the gentlelady from michigan. >> mr. speaker, i support this bill which will make sure that federal workers who are furloughed because of the shutdown are paid, but i would point out that the average salary of a federal worker is $78,500, so i do not understand how my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can decide which of the funding bills we have passed during this shutdown

are worthy of their support. this week, they said no to opening up our national memorials or opening up our national sparks -- national parks, but they say yes to federal workers, no to veterans benefits, no two women and babies on food assistance, no two children on cancer treatment, no to the national guard and reserve, but yes to other federal workers. clearly, it is time for both sides, mr. speaker, it down in a conference, to negotiate a compromise in a bipartisan manner, and to end this shutdown. i yield back. >> gentlelady yields back. the gentlemen from maryland. >> we on this side of the aisle said yes to opening the entire government. with that, i yield to my distinguished colleague from washington 45 seconds. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to strongly support this bill. for the last few years, federal

workers have borne the brunt of congress' failures to deal with long-term budget issues. going for years without a cost- of-living adjustment. facing furloughs from sequestration and now the uncertainty of are the reductions in pay because of the shutdown. enough is enough. this shutdown is having a big impact not just on dod workers and v.a. workers and others facing furloughs, but on our entire community. folks who will not be able to replace a car or make a home payment or go buy a new tv -- that affects our economy. that's why i support this bill and why i'm introducing legislation to provide back a -- back paid to workers to remunerate them for sequestration-related shutdowns as well. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> i yield one minute to the gentleman from colorado. >> chair recognizes digital men from colorado.

>> thank you. i rise in support of hr 2233, the federal employees retroactive pay fairness act. this is an issue of fairness. five days ago, the president signed my legislation, the pay our military act, but hours later, the dod comptroller sent an e-mail to all dod civilian employees who were included in the act, which is now law, that starting -- that there would be furloughs starting immediately, despite acknowledgment of the new law. last night, media sources reported that the secretary of defense had a change of heart. no doubt due to the multitude of letters he had received from me and my colleagues on this subject, and decided to bring these furloughed employees back to work. it would be a shame if the thousands of dod civilian employees who were needlessly

furloughed were not paid for time they could have spent working had the secretary given the same level of priority to this issue that he did to college football. thank you and i yield back. >> gentleman's time is expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. >> mr. speaker, i yield 45 seconds to my colleague from new mexico. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from new mexico. >> i rise in support of this bill, which is important to all the federal employees in new mexico. it ensures that furloughed employees will be made whole. it is also important for contract employees who work in national labs. it is fair that congress intends to inflate those workers who provide vital services to our nation. in the past, dod has shot -- sought to treat lab employees the same as federal employees. this sets precedent for how those employees will be treated. mr. speaker, i request unanimous consent to submit into the

record my letter to the secretary expressing congressional intent to inflate those workers who provide vital support to our nation and the effect of a shutdown -- >> without objection, and your time is expired. chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois. >> chair recognizes the tournament from illinois. >> i'm pleased to see that once again, this chamber is moving forward with yet another bill to fund our government. we are ensuring that all federal employees are paid so that families are not harmed during the shutdown. i was a federal employee for 16 years. i'm also proud to represent scott air force base in the metro east area of illinois. whether they are active duty, civilian, reserve, guard, or retired, we must take care of our military. the house is already acted to ensure that these men and women are paid, but unfortunately, this administration has chosen needlessly to furlough workers.

today, i stand with these hard- working men and women, and i also stand against this administration who always seems to find a way to make situations like this as painful as possible. we have been told to make things difficult for people as much as we can, said a park ranger this week to reporters. i had a similar experience a few months ago with an airport in my district that was at risk of losing their control tower. even though we told the administration how they could shift the money around. to solve this problem, we had to stand on this floor and pass a bill, and now that tower remains open. congress had to pass a bill and has to pass a bill now to stop this behavior, and i am offended by the punitive behavior of this white house then and today. mr. speaker, i stand with all military personnel, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman yield back the

balance of time. >> mr. speaker, i yield 45 seconds to mr. hinojosa, chairman of the congressional hispanic caucus. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of bipartisan bill hr 3223, the federal employee retroactive pay fairness act. 87% of americans expressed in a political poll on happiness -- unhappiness with the direction of washington in this shutdown. federal employees are just trying to do the job, support their families. they had no time to plan financially for this crisis brought on by the stubbornness of the republican party. it seems to me that by supporting this bill, we are not trying to give them a paid vacation. if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would bring a clean cr to the floor, they

could all be back to work on monday. these families are victims of the dysfunction of this congress. >> time is expired. chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the tillman from texas. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this bill to guarantee our federal workers are paid. they should not be the innocent ponds in the middle of a debate caused by us unable to work with the senate. we are ready, willing, and able to talk, but we need to ratchet down the rhetoric and little bit, make sure our employees get paid, make sure they get taking care of, and make sure that the people who work in the district i represent our secure and safe. we need to get this done. republicans are trying to lessen the impact by passing bill after bill.

we have passed something to fund most of the government, including obamacare with the exception of the individual mandate. we are ready, willing, and able to negotiate, and i call on the senate to speak with us to get this done. >> i remind the gentleman we could get it done today. with that, mr. speaker, i yield to my colleague from maryland, congresswoman edwards, 45 seconds. >> chair recognizes the congresswoman from maryland. >> i have unanimous -- i seek unanimous consent to revise my remarks. i rise in support of hr 3223, and i speak in support of tracy and laurel, who was in my district. she helps her mom out every month with her federal salary, and christopher and his wife, both of whom work at the

department of homeland security, and they are both on furlough. and dini, a single-parent. she has already been furloughed the summer and suffered mightily, so mr. speaker, i think this is the right thing to do, but let's keep in mind that the longer we stay out, and meeting the day to day needs of our federal workforce is really tough, and some of these people will really struggle even if they are guaranteed retroactive pay. time for us to get the entire government back to work. thank you, and i yield. >> chair recognizes the tillman from ohio. >> i gild one minute to the tillman from pennsylvania. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> this morning, i rise in strong support of the federal employee retroactive pay fairness act. federal workers in pennsylvania have reached out to my office concerned about the impact of this shutdown on their family budget. these workers serve their fellow

citizens. we recognize and set -- thank them for their service. the bill will retroactively pay his employees during the shutdown. federal workers should not be punished for the senate's will to come to the table and negotiate to end the shutdown -- the senate's old -- the senate toss refusal -- the senate's refusal to come to the table and negotiate to end the shutdown. >> i yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. >> thank you for yielding. i was walking on the floor moments ago, and my colleague on the other side said that this failure to pass the cr was punitive behavior of this white house.

i cannot allow that to go unanswered. the fact is there are 200 60 votes right now in this chamber to pass a clean bill -- >> the gentleman's time is expired. chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. >> my -- may i inquire as to whether the gentleman has additional speakers? >> we do not. >> very well, then we will close. mr. chairman, it is critical that the house passed hr 3223 to ensure that our dedicated federal employees are made whole and receive back pay once this shutdown comes to an end. federal employees have been the shutdown -- subject to relentless attacks. this bill is the least we should do. our hard-working public servants should not become collateral

damage in the political games and ideological wars that the republicans are waging, and i would hope we would have a unanimous vote because so many people are living from paycheck to paycheck and need our vote. i would suggest that we open up the government -- the entire government -- so that all our employees can get back to work. i yield back. >> the gentleman yield back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> the other side of the aisle would have us believe that this shutdown is somehow a republican engineered shutdown. they would have you believe it is a government only shutdown with republican leadership, and we know that is not the case. the government shut down when there's a failure of the democratic process to work and parties to negotiate in good faith. the president has absolutely shut that down with his refusal to negotiate. the government shut down when mr. reagan was in the white house.

the democrat-controlled congress shut the government down a total of eight times for 14 days. the democrat-controlled congress actually shut the government down for reagan for longer than it has been shutdown now. and again, under mr. clinton, of course, the house also shut the government down. in each of those instances, there was something different than what is now, and that is that there were negotiations going on. president reagan was negotiating with the house and senate. president clinton was negotiating with the house and senate, but this president said absolutely no negotiations. this president will negotiate with syria. he will negotiate with iran. he will even have secret negotiations with russia and the secret deals, but he will not negotiate with the legislature. he will not negotiate over the debt limit. he wants to take the country from $17 trillion to $19 trillion in debt -- no negotiation. and my community, there were 12,000 people that were furloughed.

the president will not negotiate. the president will not negotiate on funding the government. we have sent countless bills to the senate that would reopen national parks, that would fund the veterans, that would allow the washington, d.c., to spend its own funds, and harry reid heartlessly has said in response to these bills that would provide needless services, "why would we do that?" we know the president is paying playing politics because this house and senate passed pay our military act. the president signed it into law. i have two letters questioning why he would have furloughed 400,000 dod workers when he had signed the pay our military act. how do we know that they were playing politics by letting the department of defense employees go even though the president had full authority to fund them? because he is going to be calling them back. he is calling them back without any other passage of any other law. clearly, the president is

admitting that he has been playing politics with these furloughs, and it needs to stop. it also needs to stop so that our federal workers do not have to worry about their pay or the impact on their personal lives. they have child care expenses, house payments to make, kids that are in college, what and why the president refuses to negotiate while he's playing politics, they should not worry about whether they can make ends meet. i encourage my colleagues to support hr 3223 that would restore the pay to federal workers and make sure they have the support they need. i yield back my time. >> eric cantor and other house republicans boot reporters about the outcome. this is 10 minutes. >> good morning.

the house took another step to ease the pain of the federal shutdown, ensuring that for low of federal employees will get back pay. as you can see, we have also gotten word yesterday that the obama administration has been making it difficult if not impossible for chaplains to come and conduct services on government property during the shutdown. we thought that that really was an abuse of the shutdown and wanted to make sure that the fundamental constitutional right to practice your faith and religion would be upheld. as you saw again, nearly unanimous on the house floor. we are looking at an administration that seems to be unwilling to sit down an talk to us we have a majority leader this.

we wonder why he would want to put the american people in front of that and enforce the pain on them. we had 57 democrats that started bipartisan bills to relieve the plane. you have to ask yourself if it is so important to ease the pain for them, what about the best? what about the sick children that need access to clinical trials? is it not as important to ease the pain of the shutdown for them? is it just the federal employees they think is important. we can work this out.

we have thought that the shutdown has been brought about by the president's unwillingness to sit down and talk with members of congress on the hill. if you were to ask, this has been almost absent when it comes to working out our differences. we are going to stay focused on trying to ease the pain of this while we continue to ask both the president and senate majority leaders to sit down and talk. >> we never desired a shutdown. most americans do not realize that are final bill was to sit down and talk about our difference. earlier the president canceled his trip to asia.

we are here this weekend. this can all and bear all the president has to do is sit down along with the senate democrats only can move forward. let's recap what has gone on this week. on wednesday, the house passed opening the national parts, funding the nih. on thursday the house passed funding the guard and reserves, funding our veterans. friday we passed the national was ever in recovery act. friday nutrition assistant for low income women and children. today we made sure all the federal employees in the military was able to have service on sunday. the senate, wednesday, no roll call votes. thursday, no roll call votes. friday, no roll call votes.

they did adopt a national checkpoint. this has to stop. everyone hurts from the shutdown. whenever desired to shut down and we never asked to shut down. we continue to fund the government. now is the time for everyone to pick up the phone to work together and solve the problems. >> while senate democrats and the president refuse to negotiate with house republicans, we continue to do our work. the past 12 bills that fund critical parts of the federal government. we have just passed a bill that will take care of the 800,000 federal employees that were furloughed.

contrary to what the president and those in the white house believe, there are no winners when the federal government shuts down. the house is not want to shut down. we believe their " my way or the highway" mentality cannot be sustained. we look forward to working through our differences so that we can stop inflicting pain on hard-working americans. >> this is a great challenge we have. we really do not want to be here. we have to find a way to resolve our differences. it is important to say we have our negotiators. we are looking for the senate negotiators. they are not willing to sit down and negotiate. they are willing to assign next week as national chest week. they are willing to be able to say the will do with the trucker sleep apnea issues. i am amazed that after this conference passed unanimously, the senate has unanimously, and

the president signed instructions that our military and civilian contractors should be held harmless in this entire i am amazed that after this this conference passed unanimously, the senate has unanimously, and the president signed instructions that our military and civilian contractors should be held harmless in this entire shutdown that after a week we are still waiting for them to implement the law that was put into place a week ago. they are allowing us to have more and more pain specifically in the military. all of us agreed together that they would be held harmless entirely. it is very frustrating that we even have to pass something today for them to practice their religious faith. it is essential part of their life. for the administration to pull

back and say there are places where you will not have worship on a weekend is absolutely unacceptable. i am glad we passed that in the house today. hopefully the senate will take that up. this is something we have to do. make sure we are continuing to looking at the intent. >> zawahri q nor and the republicans who would pass a

-- >> -- >> wire are you ignoring republicans who would pass a clean cr? >> the republican position has continued to be no special treatment under the law. no special treatment under obamacare. our position has been that the administration continues to get special treatment to big business and special interest and have left working middle- class americans out. our position is to get in the same treatment. the republican position has been we do not think it is proper for members of congress to have special treatment under the law. i asked my friends in the media to look at the boats we have taken. 57 democrats have voted with us on a bipartisan way. to ease the pain of the shutdown. i would implore my friends in the media to ask harry reid why he did not bring up any of these bills. i think there is a majority of senators susan ward these hills to ease the pain -- senators to support these hills to ease the pain while we wait for the president to join us in these

discussions. >> what about this stuff that you do not find worthy? >> we have committed to fund the areas of government that we all agree on, which is a lot more than not. as you know, the disagreement is on the special treatment under obama care. our position is very simple. it is no special treatment under the law. it is to delay the individual mandate. why are middle-class americans subject to the tax and penalties but not big business? that is not fair. what we have seen is the senate refuse to take the bills up and try to vent their anger and impose that on the american oh. we are trying to ease the pain. there is a majority of senators who would say we really believe that sick children ought to have access to clinical trials. we believe that poor women and children should have the

assistance they need. we do not believe they should be put through this pain. i implore you to ask the majority leader why he is not taking these bills up. >> the majority of the senate wants to take the bills out. why would any house be able to get a vote on that? >> there has been no roll call votes in the senate. we are saying we have a lot in common. i think most american people do not tolerate the fact that this president has continued to insist that he is not going to talk. if you saw james baker's comments, he said it was an utter failure of presidential leadership for this president to sit on the sidelines to issue warnings and to stare at the markets and public about this. if something were to happen, he

could say "i told you so." that is not leadership. it is that unwillingness to sit down and talk to us that has brought about the shutdown. we will continue to the here this weekend and we are any indication that they are willing to sit down and talk with us so we can relieve the pain on the american will thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] earlier today, the associated press release that the pentagon -- they have ordered 400,000 workers back to work. the decision was made on the interpretation of the bill passed by congress and signed into law at the president shortly before the shutdown that allows pay.

this is an press writes the attorneys concluded that the law allows the pentagon and eliminate furloughs for employees whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well- being, cap -- and capability. bring public events affairs to you. we offer gavel to gavel coverage all as a public service a private industry. created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local provider. you can watch us in hd. leader nancyrity pelosi and other members of the leadership talking to reporters about the government shutdown. they talked about their

intentions to negotiate a long- term budget if the house were to pass a continuing resolution that would end the shutdown i funded the federal government through mid-november. this is 40 minutes. >> it is still morning. good morning, everyone. we have some news for you today. that is what we think we have every day. you do not always agree. today marks the fifth day of the government shutdown. this crisis could be over in hours if the republicans would just take "yes those quote for an answer -- "yes" for an answer instead of being the

party of "no." republicans have said no each time. to end the republican shut down 200 members have sounds their names to a letter reaffirming our commitment for a clean, continuing resolution. this has not been easy for our members. they are willing to do so. on the republican side, the republican members have come forward to say they're willing to vote to reopen government. right now enough republicans have publicly stated their support for a bill that could

bill that could pass and be on the president's desk today. we're asking them to bring up a vote to the floor for the republicans to show there is a bipartisan majority to end the republican government shutdown. if that were not newsworthy enough, 200 democrats have signed a letter and others that will vote with us do not philosophically sign letters, at the beginning the speaker said he wanted regular order. he said that all along. he wanted regular order. that means when the house passes a bill, which it did, and the senate passes a bill, which it has, then you go to conference. after that he said, why are you not appointing this to the

budget conference? his statement was under the rules if you appoint them, the minority has a right to offer motions to construct which become politically motivated bombs to throw on the house floor. to be frank with all of you, we are following what i would describe as a resident order. to be frank with him, the regular order is not how he defines it. under the rules, any member would have the privilege to bring up the senate position. in public and otherwise, they said his concern was a motion to instruct.

if you agree to pass a short- term bill and move the conference to the final budget discussion for this fiscal year, we will not offer any motion to instruct. this is news. please recognize it as such. the speaker said that is his concern. we want to take that concern off the table. today, we are giving republicans yet another opportunity to end their shutdown. the opportunity that the speaker has been asking for. we have accepted the number, as it am -- as unpleasant as it is for us to do, we have agreed to not offer motions to abstract and we have voted to pay the

federal employees for not working. why don't we pay them for working by opening government? we can have it open over the weekend in full force by monday. they want to work. the american people want government to be open. it is on -- in everyone's interest that they except our offer of 200 votes. all they need is a couple dozen republican votes. we have procedurally tried to accommodate and allayed their concerns. let's open government. give us a vote. >> thank you very much.

this is an important tool of the minority. and for that matter anyone else in the house. to tell the conference committee what they should do. the speaker has asked rest a concern about that. i think his concern is inconsistent with the transparency that the republicans want to bring to the house. notwithstanding that and how important this device is to the majority -- minority and majority, we are saying that we will not do that. he believes politics will play with this. we have no intention of doing this. we want to encourage them for

encouraging the speaker. that should not be and will not be a concern of them or a reason for them to delay going to conference on the budget. we are now in the fifth day of a shutdown. we have just voted to pay the employees as we should have. the american public wants their government open. the speaker needs to bring a bill to the floor. a letter indicates that clearly in my view there are enough people to pass on the government opening on the government funding bill. we will do so at the republican suggested number of dollars. there's no argument about dollars. democrats are ready to help end

the shutdown by voting for the senate's bill which put the people's government back to work here at republicans have voted seven times to block the senate bill to reopen government from the house floor. while i am pleased that the house just voted to restore pay, it is time to get them back to work as well. democrats have already compromise by the funding level. we are ready as we have been four months. many have said we need an agreement. mr. van hollen is going to outline the significant issues that need to be discussed. i will leave that to mr. van

hollen. i want to thank the leader for taking this initiative with which all of us agree. it is critical for our national security, economy, and for the confidence of the american people that we get their government back to work working for them as we discussed differences between the two parties in reaching compromise which is so essential in any democracy. let me yield to my friend the assistant leader. >> thank you for yielding. we have spent the better part of this week doing something which i do not believe should be the prerogative of the members of congress. we are picking winners and losers. that to me is very unfortunate. it is unfortunate because brian

carter, a name we have all gotten to know, may not be the face of what we're doing here this week but he is in fact the storyline. brian carter was seriously injured two days ago because he was protecting the members of congress, protecting us from elements we may not get a chance to know. unfortunately, brian was working, providing that protection for no pay. that is a storyline of what this is all about. i spoke with brian several times. he does not want us to be supporting him.

over his spouse and his siblings. we just voted to give him back pay when all of this comes to a close. what are we doing for his spouse and siblings? he does not feel comfortable thinking we are not providing educational needs and services to his children and grandchildren. congress ought not be in the business of picking winners and losers. certainly we ought not be doing things that pitt family against family. with that i would like to yield to the chair of our budget committee. >> thank you.

i want to start with the point that leader nancy pelosi made about the action that we took today in the house of representatives. i think we all agree that no one should be made to suffer for actions that are no fault of their own. it was totally appropriate that the house of representatives in that dedicated federal workers who are among the many innocent victims of the government shut down will be held harmless and the long run. that was the right thing to do. that highlights the sheer folly of the current government shut down. we want to make sure these people are paid. they want to get back to doing what they love which is working on behalf of the public. if we're going to be providing the pay as we should, we should have them come back to work which is why we have been all along saying we should go to reopen the federal government

and bring all the federal employees back to work. if you look at what republicans are doing, they're saying let's fund the natural -- national park service or fema. today their proposals that lets not get back pay. it did not say let's give that pay to folks at fema. it said let's make sure all federal employees are held harmless. let's get back pay to all federal employees. so why are they not bringing up a bill that allows all federal employees to get to work? it makes absolutely no sense at all. the american people are paying for these important services. we want to make sure every federal employee gets back to work to do their job. that is what federal employees want to be able to do. the way to do that is in a boat vote right now to and the

government shut down. as my colleagues have said ever since march we have been really clear that we have been clear of a negotiation on the budget. on three occasions we have called for a vote for the speaker to a point budget negotiators so they can negotiate with the senate. on all three occasions, speaker boehner and the republicans said no to negotiations on the budget. in the senate, harry reid and patty murray tried 18 times 12 point budget negotiators. -- to appoint budget negotiators. 18 times senator ted cruz and senator mike lee and the republican said no. senator mccain said it was irrational for them to say no. they said no. that is why we have not had any

budget conversations for months and months. as the leader said, we have been hearing this notion that democrats would exercise our rights to offer motions to instruct. a few weeks ago during a hearing, paul ryan said they will move forward with budget negotiations. this was news to all of us. the leaders said we are making news today by saying we will give up the right in order to do what we did from the beginning. the last point i want to make is what negotiations involve. presidentstatement.

-- what the president has been saying is that he will not negotiate away the full faith and credit of the united states. republicans cannot say they will only do what they should do in order to get their republican agenda through the house. that is not the way it works. we all share a responsibility. they have the budget that chairman ryan put forward. we think it is very harmful to the country. it squeezes many seniors on medicare. it cuts $7 billion over 10 years. that is their budget. what's our budget? we passed the budget. we have an important plan amid to reinvest in the country to get the economy going again. we have a jobs plan. what else does he call for?

replacing the sequester. in education, infrastructure it remains in place not just through november 15 but through this time this year. there will be up to 1.2 million fewer american jobs. their best estimate is that we will have 800 thousand. that wipes out the last four plus months of job growth in this country. that is a self-inflicted wound we cannot afford. we have a long-term plan to reduce the deficit. in a balanced way. the deficit right now has been cut in half. we know we have to make progress in the long-term deficit. we have a plan to do that.

we ask for shared responsibility. people are making millions and millions of dollars a year. our point is we want to have a budget negotiation. that whole republican wishlist, they do not get to force that down the countries fro to write threatening to default on our debts or to shut down the government. -- throat threatening to default on our debts or to shut down the government. you do not get the republican agenda in exchange for doing what every member should do anyway which is pay our nations bills on time. they have work to make sure we're all on the same page.

>> the house of representatives is not a sandbox. this republican shut down of our government is serious. the american people know that. they have been saying that since the republican shut down our government on october 1. what they're telling us is it is time for no more excuses. they are saying we should stop acting like children in the house of representatives. the republican shut down the government is not just serious. it is also absurd. someone tried to explain that the republicans tried to shut down the government on october 5 they decided to pay all the workers that they told do not come into work.

if it were not so serious it would be absurd. we are here to say what americans are saying all over the place. put america back to work. let them vote on a clean budget bill to put americans back to work. what we should be focusing on our elected representatives of this country. building a stronger middle class, creating more jobs. putting americans out of work, not putting them into a state of anxiety if whether or not they will be able to pay their bills. who thinks anyone of our veterans wants to be part of a republican gimmick is shutting down the government where they are spared as veterans from the pain of a government shutdown?

i do not think there is a veteran in america who will say take care of me and leave our children behind. that is the gimmick that takes place today. americans are telling us we please put your country before your party? if republicans simply put themselves in the shoes of the american people, no small business in america on main street would rhyme they operate would run their operations the way the house of representatives. let america work. let congress vote for a clean budget bill to put americans back to work. let's get to the business of building a stronger middle

class. let me yield now to the chairman of the democratic national campaign committee. >> in this game of ping-pong, boehner's side is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. he keeps creating excuses not to vote. we keep taking them away from him. it is simply time to vote. this weekend is going to be an another moment of truth for john boehner. 200 democrats have signed a letter that 90% of our caucus saying to the speaker we are ready to a vote on a clean budget. we have heard that there are between 20 and 22 republicans who have said back home that they are ready to vote for a

clean budget. now it is time for them to put it where their budgets are. they are saying they will support a clean budget with no strings attached and now have the opportunity to reopen this government. they now have the opportunity to hold to their promises. we're going to hold them accountable. you cannot hold this at home and then act like a lapdog. those 22 republicans who said they will vote with 98% of the government without strings attached, this is their moment of truth. we have signed the letter. now it is time for them to do the same. i am really hopeful that those

20 or 22 republicans that have claimed to pursue a solution are going to keep their word. not to any of your colleagues but to their constituents they gave their word to. we will test out this proposition over the next several days. thank you. i now yield to nobody because i am the last speaker. >> i thank all of my colleagues for their eloquent statement about what our purpose here is in terms of representing the american people and getting the job done for what were budget priorities. thank you for working so hard on that over the years. what our proposal is today, here are three pages of signatures of names. we have signatures of the members that have signed the letter. we have accepted their letter.

the president has accepted their number. the united states senate has accepted the republican number. the democrats in the house have accepted the republican number. the only missing piece are the republicans in the house accepting their own number. what is the problem? if the issue is that you do not want to bring it up because once you go to the budget table we will have motions to instruct, we are not doing it. it is an unprecedented offer on behalf of the majority dish minority -- of the minority. we are paying the bill. now let us put people back to work for the american people. and for all of the purposes that the american people look to us.

>> what was the response to you? >> it is a good faith effort on our part. i told him in the context that i want you to know this is an offer we are making to you and we will make this offer public. it is not like i was blindsiding him with it. >> we just came from a press conference with republican leaders. is there any conversation going on between you guys and republicans today, tomorrow? >> we made an offer this morning to the speaker. if this is concerned about going to the budget table and appointing them, we want to take that concern off the table.

>> what is happening behind the scenes, making sure no other meetings are happening? >> to my knowledge. we thought that when the speaker said that he was not going to default on the debt he was going to have a bipartisan agreement to do that. >> as we have all said, we have agreed to what they passed. nobody believed the affordable care act was going to be repealed or that we would stop the mandate. the majority of their party did not believe that. they thought it was off to explore their base. at this point in time, we're saying yes to their offer.

i have served for 22 years. normally when you are about to end the government funding authorization, you get to the end of the year. normally the numbers are different. you have to sit down and say "which numbers are we going to use?" when will we use the lower of the house or senate? now however we said yes. we will take your number. we are not going to take your number forever. we will go and we will talk about it. he will go to the budget committee and talk about it. that is how the budget works. that is how the american people run their lives when they have differences. they sit down and talk. i want to tell you. have i talked to republicans on a relative regular basis? absolutely. i talk to them every day. i will tell you an overwhelming number of the people i talk to

think we ought to get this done and get the government open and then talk about other areas that we want to get working. >> i talked to quite a few republicans about this. we will accept your numbers for the next six weeks, while we sit down and talk about it from there. every republican i have talked to tells me they want to get rid of the sequester. this is what we are talking about. we would have had a discussion on how to go forward, how to get rid of the sequester.

those members for my state, i'm sure they're reading the same lines i am reading. this is not a representative of that district. it is not in my district. a lot of go through that plan. i fought very hard for that plan. to the chagrin of a few people here. i fought very hard to get the level of funding. this is the payback.

>> i constantly hear my republican colleagues say that they are not willing to negotiate or compromise. not only have the been willing to compromise, we have except did the budget. we find it offensive. because we believe it is not right to exercise the own political agenda. i hope that one of these times when they say democrats is not compromising their republican leadership went across the aisle. just across the hallway to meet with their democratic counterparts, all 200 of us, to ask us, to negotiate, or to request compromise on each and every one of the bills they have in putting on the bill since the shutdown of the government.

have they ever reached out to democrats who are in the same body to negotiate the bills they have put on the floor? they have never sat down with us to craft these bills they say are to take care of their own government shutdown. i hope you will post the question to them. if they are so adamant that having them negotiate or compromise, have they taken the time to walk across the hall to the office of their democratic colleagues to ask if we're willing to compromise on the bills that they themselves are putting on the floor? >> what do you make of the idea of calling the house on a saturday morning that could've been voted on yesterday. >> we should be here working through so i think it does possible to open government on monday. if you are a taxpayer and you say i do not like this shut down because i am not getting our

services, but now we are going to pay republic -- public employees for not delivering our services, our public employees patriotic. they are public servants. they want to work. to say they will get paid to not work does not make any sense. i think this will be our last question. when you ask about negotiating and they make a big to do about the president, the full faith and credit, not negotiable. the idea that they were going to defund or delay the affordable care act, not going to happen. that is like saying give me your

first born child and then we will talk about the rest of the family. that is not going to happen. the third is to bring back the bill which was approved by the president, approved by the senate, approved by the house democrats but not by them. the point of having the names is to say to those republicans that they have another responsibility right now. the word is that they are saying we might be willing to vote for this if we know it is going to pass. we're saying to them if there are fewer than that, it is going to pass. we are not asking them to take any risk. we are showing this 98% signed a letter.

we just need a dozen and a half or two dozen republicans to open government to go to the table to negotiate. the president is willing to negotiate. they talked about investing in jobs, the opportunity costs of what is happening in terms of the entrepreneurship and the greatness of america. it is stunning. we are having these conversations which should be swept aside and move onto how can we work together in a nonpartisan way adjusting the challenges we face in a very positive way? we know we can find common ground. there are elements that have determined that it will be the party of "no." no we are not going to say yes to it.

with that i yield to my colleagues for the closing statements. >> let me respond to your question. i think it is a recognition of the disgust that the american people feel and the failure to take an action which would have taken five minutes on september 30 to do everything and much more than we have done in the last five days. it is the appearance of action with out action. it is a recognition that we ought to be working to get this done. it is so simple to get done that we are having these filler bills to pretend we are doing things when the reality is in five

minutes we could open the government up, put people back to work, go to conference on the budget, discuss our differences, and be a responsible, effective board of directors for the greatest nation on the face of the earth. that is what i make of it. >> today's actions were absolutely highlighted by the madness and folly of the republican leadership position. what they have said is that we're going to pay all of the federal employees as we should but we're going to pay them to stay at home. we have been saying let's send everybody back to work as they want to go.

they are saying let's pay them but we will prevent them from going back to work. they're going to stand at the door and prevent people from doing their jobs while they say they want to pay people to do their jobs. federal employees want to get back to serving the public. that is what they want to do. i want to emphasize one last thing. we have tried to negotiate on the budget from the very beginning. they have blocked us from those negotiations from the very beginning. they blocked those for one simple reason. when you have a negotiation between the house republican budget and the democratic budget, you have to reach a compromise. there has to be give and take.

you have to meet in the middle. we do not like the part of the republican budget that provide another windfall tax rate to very wealthy people. we do not like the parts of the budget that doesn't make important investments -- that decimate important investments. we want to make those important investments in our future. we want to replace the sequester. we want the elimination of tax breaks for very wealthy people. a balanced approach. we have our budget approach and the president does. the idea of a budget negotiation is you meet in the middle. they say no. what we are going to give is do what every member of congress

has the responsibility to do. we're saying no. you cannot hold the whole faith and credit of the united states hostage to try to enact your radical policy agenda. we all have to go to make sure we pay our bills on time. let negotiate the other priorities. you will be hearing this conversation a lot. they want to set this. they're making a huge concession for paying our bills on time. we have got to meet in the middle and exchange. he had to give us our budget agenda.

that is not the middle. that is political extortion. the middle is between the president priorities and their budget proposal. >> a half solvent nation is not a compromise. >> i want to thank them for their leadership on behalf of the federal employees and part of their life work here. they honored their services to many other members. it is with all the respect in the world we want to open the government to work. they are public servants. want to honor them by making sure they can pay their mortgages. we also want them to get the taxpayers the services they deserve as well. thank you all very much.

>> on the next washington journal, will discuss the impact of the government shutdown including what it might mean for the debt ceiling. we'll talk with a syndicated columnist and a shakeup -- chicago tribune columnist. he tells about the current state of u.s./iran relations in the latest development out of syria. and then a conversation with a presidential historian talking about president obama's relationship with congress. all of that and your e-mails and calls him "washington journal," on c-span.

>> this is the striking john f. kennedy library. it was a controversial building and decision. john f. kennedy had made a decision to locate his presidential library at harvard was that when he was alive, harvard did not dispute and they wanted a documentary archive as related to the kennedy presidency. a number of present have graduated. they do not want and use them especially at harvard square because it attracted tens of thousands of schoolchildren and they do not want the congestion. when the university got involved and decide whether or not to accept the library, the big question is what did we do with the museum? >> overseeing the legacies of 13 presidents, sunday, part of american history tv on c-span three. the government shutdown what

the topic of president obama's weekly address and antirepublican address, texas senator john cornyn spoke. >> good morning. earlier this week, the republican house of representatives chose to shut down a government they don't like over a health care law they don't like. and i've talked a lot about the real-world consequences of this shutdown in recent days -- the services disrupted, the benefits delayed, the public servants kicked off the job without pay. but today, i want to let the americans dealing with those real-world consequences have their say. and these are just a few of the many heartbreaking letters i've gotten from them in the past couple weeks including more than 30,000 over the past few days. kelly mumper lives in rural alabama. she works in early education, and has three children of her own in the marines. here's what she wrote to me on wednesday. "our head start agency was forced to stop providing

services on october 1st for over 770 children, and 175 staff were furloughed. i am extremely concerned for the welfare of these children. there are parents who work and who attend school. where are they leaving their children? is it a safe environment? are they getting the food that they receive at their head start program?" on the day julia pruden's application to buy a home for her and her special needs children was approved by the usda's rural development direct loan program, she wrote me from minot, north dakota. "we put in an offer to purchase a home this weekend, and it was accepted. if funding does not go through, our chances of the american dream are down the drain. we have worked really hard to get our credit to be acceptable to purchase a home. if it weren't for the direct lending program provided by the usda, we would not qualify to buy the home we found."

these are just two of the many letters i've received from people who work hard, try to make ends meet, try to do right by their families. they're military or military spouses who've seen commissaries closed on their bases. they're veterans worried the services they've earned won't be there. they're business owners who've seen their contracts with the government put on hold, worried they'll have to let people go. i want them to know, i read the stories you share with me. these are our fellow americans. these are the people who sent us here to serve. and i know that republicans in the house of representatives are hearing the same kinds of stories, too. as i made clear to them this week, there's only one way out of this reckless and damaging shutdown. pass a budget that funds our government, with no partisan strings attached. the senate has already done this. and there are enough republican and democratic votes in the house of representatives willing to do the same, and end this shutdown immediately.

but the far right of the republican party won't let speaker john boehner give that bill a yes-or-no vote. take that vote, stop this farce, end this shutdown now. the american people don't get to demand ransom in exchange for doing their job. neither does congress. they don't get to hold our democracy or our economy hostage over a settled law. they don't get to kick a child out of head start if i don't agree to take her parents' health insurance away. that's not how our democracy is supposed to work. that's why i won't pay a ransom in exchange for reopening the government. and i certainly won't pay a ransom in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. for as reckless as a government shutdown is, an economic shutdown that comes with default would be dramatically worse. i'll always work with anyone of either party on ways to grow this economy, create new jobs, and get our fiscal house in

order for the long haul, but not under the shadow of these threats to our economy. pass a budget, end this government shutdown. pay our bills, prevent an economic shutdown. these americans and millions of others are counting on congress to do the right thing. and i will do everything i can to make sure they do. >> i am senator john cornyn will stop every day capitol hill police officers attacked members of congress and our visiting guests with courage, dignity, and professionalism. their efforts often go unnoticed. whenever there called upon to act on what we are reminded of their bravery. i want to take this opportunity to thank the capitol hill police for all they do to protect our collective safety and security. like most americans, i was

disappointed when certain parts of the federal government was forced to shut down because senate democrats refused to make any changes whatsoever to the deeply flawed health care law known as obamacare. republicans are eager to end the shutdown. the fiscally economic reforms that our country urgently needs. we are never going to make real progress without better cooperation with our friends across the aisle. set upepublicans have legislation that will fund government operations but senate democrats have rejected each and every bill. they are arguing that the house bills are simply illegitimate because they contain policy measures that the democrats do not like. what normally happens when of the two parties disagree on a policy is a negotiation. each side gives up a little and gets a little and you end up with a bipartisan compromise. is senatem right now

democrats are refusing to negotiate. here is a partial list of what they rejected. they rejected a one-year delay in obamacare's mandate for individuals and families even though the administration has already delayed the mandate for employers. they have rejected a bill that would force members of congress to obey the same health care laws as everybody else. they have rejected a bill that would abolish obamacare's medical device tax even though the majority of their caucus showed -- expressed support. even though they voted against the tax when it did not matter and voted to keep it when it did. meanwhile, president obama has threatened to veto a series of individual house bills that will fund our veterans programs and our military reserve programs as well as a national institution of health.

has also threatened to veto a bill that would keep open our war memorials on our national parks and museums. when republicans ask senate democrats to join with us and pass these bills, they simply said no. the white house claimed that somehow they were winning and it does not believe matter how much the shutdown lasts. apparently, they think the shutdown is good politics. they are in no hurry to break the stalemate. it has become disturbingly clear that the obama shutdown is no longer about health care or spending or ideology. it is about politics plain and simple. the democrats calculated by prolonging the shutdown and maximizing the pain, they can bully republicans into doing what ever president obama at majority leader reid wants them to do. it is a cynical game.

the republicans could do was continue to promote commonsense solutions that would end the shutdown and allow us to move forward. hopefully, our friends across the aisle will eventually get tired of playing politics. they will remember that neither house and set the national agenda all by itself. thank you for listening. and may god bless the united states of america. on newsmakers, we discussed the government shutdown would texas congressman. he is the chair of the financial services committee. he talked about the upcoming debate about raising the debt ceiling which the treasury department estimates will reach its limit by november 15. you go the interview on sunday here on c-span. >> with the government shutdown set to continue into next week, we're interested in hearing how

it is affecting you. go to our facebook page. you can see what other people are saying about the subject. >> in addition to the house being in session, a number of senators met. next some of the remarks beginning with edward markey of massachusetts. >> thank you, madam president. we need to bring this government shutdown to an end, and the way to do that is for the house of representatives to pass the bill for $986 billion in a budget to run the government for a year, which john boehner and the republicans in the house of representatives asked of the senate to pass. that is the number they