republican shutdown. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: i recognize the gentleman from michigan, mr. up ton, who is chair of the full committee for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. . mr. upton: it is imperative that our -- that the f.d.a. focus on important issues. over the last week, the house has acted to reopen major parts of our government. the legislation before us is yet another piece of theafert to continue critical programs for the american people from food inspections to the approval of breakthrough new drugs, members on both sides of the aisle indeed understand and appreciate the important role of the f.d.a.

this esenable work should continue as we wait for the president to join in a conversation to resolve our differences. i urge my colleagues to support this bill to ensure that the f.d.a. has resources to get the job done. let's stand together in support of food safety and drug approval. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. >> i yield two minutes to the member of the wales committee, mr. levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. levin: we should not be debating a bill that's going nowhere. we should be debating a bill that will end this shutdown. yesterday, the speaker said this -- there are not enough votes in

the house to pass a clean bill to fund the government and end the shutdown. the truth of the matter is, if the bill will come up, it will pass. on saturday, 195 democrats wrote to the speaker and said bring up the bill. and the informed reports say there are 2 republicans who will also vote yes. that is a majority of the house. so i say to the speaker, let the majority, let all of us speak. the president today said this -- and i quote -- the truth of the matter is, there are enough republican and democratic votes in the house of representatives ght now to end this shutdown

immediately with no partisan strings attached. the house should hold that vote today. if republicans and speaker boehner are saying there are not enough votes, then they should prove it. let the bill go to the floor and let -- let's see what happens. just vote. two words. and then he continued. and there's no reason that there has to be a shutdown in order for the kind of negotiations speaker binner says he wants to proceed. hold a vote. call a vote right now. and let's see what happens. this is what will happen. so we say to the speaker, let democracy prevail. bring the senate bill up for a vote now. the speaker pro tempore: the

time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: at this time i'd like to recognize the chairman of the health subcommittee on the commerce and energy committee, mr. pitts from pennsylvania, and i'd like to recognize him for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of the f.d.a. safety act. since the senate will not negotiate with us about opening up the entire government, we will continue proposing commonsense bills to reopen ritical functions as soon as possible. this bill funds the f.d.a. and ensures that it performs important duties, including inspections of food, medical device, and pharmaceutical facilities. it makes sure that reviews of lifesaving new devices and drugs continue, that the government doesn't stand in the way of innovation. we have the most dynamic and productive medical research

firms in the world. american companies and universitys are paving the way to incredible new cures. in fact, three american scientists were just honored with this year's noble prize in american for their research into how our cells function. americans can continue leading the world in this field, but we have to make sure that the f.d.a. conducts reviews promptly. let's get the f.d.a. back open and performing their important work, patients young and old are counting on it. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. farr: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the former ranking member of the agriculture committee and now the ranking chair of labor, health, and human services. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from connecticut is recognized for three minutes. ms. delauro: we are almost a full week into this self-inflicted government shutdown because the speaker

refuses to stand up to a vow tall minority in his own party there is no end in sight. instead we sit here watching the republican majority talk out of both sides of their mouth and pretend to hold positions they have been voting against from the first day they took power this bill is today's daily exercise in cynicism. i served as chairwoman of the agricultural appropriations subcommittee. the body that overseas -- oversees funding for the food and drug administration. we worked hard to increase the resources of f.d.a. so that more food could be inspected, more outbreaks prevented. we also passed a food safety modernization act in 2010 to improve f.d.a.'s ability to respond quickly and efficiently in a pro-activ, science-based fashion to contaminated food outbreaks. but since taking office in 2011, this republican majority has tried to undercut and hamstring the f.d.a. at every step.

in 2011, the first bill this minority passed included a $240 million cut to the f.d.a. in 2012, they tried to slash salaries by 21%, hampering the agency's ability to implement the food safety modernization act. in 2013 they tried to cut f.d.a.ly another $6 billion. they rejected an amendment i offered to increase funding by $50 million for monitoring food borne pathogens and implementing the new food safety law. for years we've been trying to get the republican majority to be serious about the f.d.a. and food safety funding. food illnesses account for 48 llion illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year and particularly affect children, pregnant women and older adults. meanwhile over 80% of the

seafood, 30% of the fruit and nuts consumed in the united states are produced elsewhere, yet less than 1% of imported food is inspected by the f.d.a. the republican majority has refused to fund these food safety initiatives. now they are bringing up this disingenuous bill for political show. the health of american families is not a game. these are people's lives. over 13 federal agencies have important food safety responsibilities. centers for disease control identifies food safety pathogens and sources and they are not funded in this bill. department of justice processes food contaminations but they are not funded. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration conducts seafood inspections for the food and drug administration but they are not funded in this bill. if you think there should be

only one food safety agency that's something we can talk about this bill does not protect our families from contaminated food, it doesn't adequately fund the f.d.a., it's another in a series of purely political bills put forward by the republican majority. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: at this time i'd like to recognize the gentlelady from indiana, ms. brooks, who sits on the homeland security committee, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. brooks: i rise in support of the food and drug safety act. right now moms and dads across the country have too many worries. they worry if they'll have enough noun pay their rent, they mortgage and fill up the gas tank. they worry if their hours will be cut at work next month. why should we add to the worry the ist of the safety of food they're feeding their children at dinner tonight. one of my constituents has

experienced firsthand a child becoming ill due to contaminated food. several years ago, elizabeth's young daughter fell very ill after eating spinach contaminated with e. coli. this brave little girl luckily survived but now lives with kidney disease. isn't food safety a core function of our government? is it responsible to stop routine inspections of food processors and place our constituents at risk of developing food borne illness? mr. speaker, our parents are worried but this is one worry they should not have. f.d.a. needs to keep food inspectors on the job. i urge passage of the resolution, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. farr: how much time do the sides have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has nine minutes remaining. the gentleman from alabama has 1 minutes remaining.

mr. farr: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: thank you, mr. speaker. this time i would leek to recognize the gentlelady from michigan, mrs. miller, who currently chairs the house administration committee, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. miller: i thank the gentleman for yielding the time. i rise today in strong support of the food and drug safety act, a bill we're debating this afternoon and would provide immediate funding for the food and drug administration. which is of course the agency in charge of the safety and stability of our nation's food supply and our medicine supply as well. the american people, mr. speaker, deserve an answer to a couple of simple questions. fers of all, will congress actually take action now to secure and inspect our nation's food supply? and second, will congress take action now to secure our nation's medicine supply? now i know that many on the other side of the aisle will

once again oppose this legislation because they say they need to have an entire government funding bill or else nothing will be funded. i would not yield at this time. yet they call republicans absolutists. however, many on the other side of the aisle will recognize these legitimate concerns and to help us pass this important funding. and it's time for the senate to act on this and the other important funding bills that have passed with broad bipartisan majorities. mr. speaker, the senate majority leader and the president cannot continue to say that they will not negotiate, that they will not negotiate on ending this government shutdown. they must stop holding so many important issues hostage to their absolutist demands. i say let's go to a conference committee now, let's negotiate, in a bipartisan way, and let's stop this government shutdown. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from california.

mr. farr: i yield one minute to the distinguished cookwoman from texas, the rank -- congresswoman ranking member on border security, sheila jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one inute. the speaker pro tempore: i said the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. farr: i yield two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman from california for his leadership. what baffles me is our republican friends are seemingly act like business as usual. we're quietly on the floor of the house just passing a food safety initiative. our house is on fire and there's nobody here to put the fire out. we're in the middle of a government shutdown. of course i'm committed to the principles of this legislation as my colleagues, as the ranking member, the ranking member of the full committee, as ms.

delauro, mr. waxman, we're all committed to this. but may i remind my friends, 45% of the f.d.a. employees are on furlough. just today, four people in texas were arrested because of f.d.a. criminal investigators, they were trying to sell stem cell packages to sick people. vastated people that were -- it was fraud and inappropriate to terminally ill people. they was food and drug administration able to make the case and the u.s. attorney in my district said thank you. but right now, there are u.s. attorneys getting ready to lay off attorneys. the shouse on fire. let me share with you, there are usually 0 inspections on food facilities a day. they're not going on right now. up until october 17, there'll be 960 facilities not inspected and the only reason is because we will not come to the floor, put the clean c.r. on the floor, and

have 195 plus 21 people vote in the majority to open the doors of this government. but more importantly have you heard the stories of families whose husband or wives are laid off, struggling to make ends meet, calling on relatives to help them. you heefered the young woman who came to my attention who had to be carried away to a shelter because she was suffering domestic abuse because of the financial crisis. or maybe you haven't heard the american public, 51% republicans, say, we don't like what you're doing, republicans, we want the government to open. maybe you haven't heard from the governor in kentucky who says e's overwhelmed by -- the speaker pro tempore: 15 seconds. the democratic governor says right now, 7,000 are already enrolled and he has a report that says if this affordable care acts, he will have 17,000 more jobs and $15 billion in the

economy. let's stop this foolishness. it's working and get back to work and pass a clean c.r. enough is enough. we need to do what is right for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: i would like to recognize one of our physicians here in the house, mr. burgess from texas, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. burgess: food and drug administration has been one of the bipartisan efforts. a little over a year ago, the food and drug user fee re-authorization act passed the house and senate and went to a conference committee and signed by the president of the united states middle of an election year when partisanship was at a fever pitch and this house came together and passed the re-authorization bill. you heard the chairman of the

full appropriations committee saying he hoped this bill would pass today to allow the food and drug administration to utilize the user fees that have been remitted by the companies that are looking to have their products approved by the f.d.a. and i support him in that and i hope he's correct. one of the most important missions of the government, one of the agencies is the food and drug administration. it's job is to ensure medical drugs and devices are safe and effective. day getting ne passed the disease and disability. the f.d.a. is the gateway. we have taken legislative steps. they aren't always functioning in a perfect manner, but i know one thing for sure, keeping employees away from their jobs is not the way to accomplish these goals. this is a good bill today, the food, drug and safety act.

the house is going to pass it in a bipartisan manner. and we'll send it over to the senate and we'll continue to send bills. this is the way the process should work. promingses shouldn't be done in one large lump but should be done in the individual departments. i support this bill today and i urge my colleagues to do the same and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. farr: the gentleman has voted for 19 c.r. while he has been in office without asking the president to negotiate, no reason we can't do that tonight. i yield two minutes to the distinguished ranking member of commerce committee from california, henry waxman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. waxman: we are on the seventh day of a government shutdown caused by the reckless actions of house republicans and are considering the sixth

piecemeal bill that reopens a few government activities, but it still continues the shutdown for everybody else. now i support the f.d.a. who doesn't support the f.d.a. it's very important that they do their job. but you know what's also important? what's also important is the centers for disease control and prevention, which limits the ability -- which has to respond to disease outbreaks and prevent the spread of seasonal flu. hey aren't going to be reopened. the health services administration, which improves mental health access across the country, there are things that this government does and i'm pleased my republican colleagues are starting to understand why government is so important. and that's why we shouldn't have this closing down of government and reopening it piece by piece. this is an effort to hold the

government hostage until the unreasonable demands to deny health insurance to american families is met. and that is a demand that we will not give into. let the house vote on a clean bill to fund the whole government, not the piecemeal approach we are considering today. it's a gimmick and poor policy and you should understand something else, mr. speaker, they aren't giving f.d.a. the full funding. they are still continuing the draconian sequestration cut which took $200 million out of f.d.a.'s budget. if they love it so much, fund it where it should be funded, not with $200 million less. mr. speaker, there's no funding for hundreds of nation's tribes. no funding for -- i'd ask for

another minute. there's no funding for meals for millions of seniors, there's no assistance to more than one million families in need. i think we are all supporters of the f.d.a., but if the republicans were truly interested in f.d.a., they would work with democrats and we would have a conversation about it to lift the sequester and restore funding for f.d.a. and all other critical programs as well. i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and i yield it all back to him. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: we reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. farr: i yield two minutes to our distinguished leader, mr. chris van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for two minutes. mr. van hollen: i have the privilege of representing the congressional district that is

home to the food and drug administration. those individuals do great work for our country and i can tell you, mr. speaker, nobody, and i mean nobody is being fooled by this ridiculous stunt the republicans in this house are pulling to cherry-pick pieces of government to fund when they know they aren't going anywhere when they know this house is in possession of a piece of legislation that if we voted on it, would go to the president's desk tonight and he would sign it and open up all of vernment, n.i.h., f.d.a. and everything. what we did on saturday, we said we are going to pay all federal employees, not just employees at f.d.a. or n.i.h., all government employees. now you are saying you only want to keep some of those agencies open, not all of them open.

you say we want to pay all the employees in the federal government, but want to allow them to go to work. we want to pay for everybody in the federal government, but we don't want to allow everybody to go to work. what kind of policy is that? mr. speaker, just this weekend, the speaker of the house admitted on national television that he had reached an agreement with the democratic leader in the senate where harry reid and the senate democrats said we will agree on a temporary basis in the lower funding levels in the sequester in exchange that we have a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open. that's what the speaker agreed to. he came back to this house and he couldn't hold his caucus. why? because senator cruz and a radical reckless faction said no, we can't do that, we have to close the government unless we shut down the affordable care act. and that position hasn't

changed. that's why today we can't open the government. because our republican colleagues want to shut it down. let's vote today to open the whole government. let's have a vote on the bill that's in our possession. . the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: we continue to reserve. mr. farr: yield to unanimous consent to the distinguished the gentleman from arizona, ron barber. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona. you, mr. thank speaker. i rise to ask for unanimous consent decision while congress recessed this weekend, i stayed here in washington to work with my colleagues and i talked with the people of arizona to hear -- mr. speaker, i can tell you this, i talked with families who

don't care who's to blame. they want us to reopen their government. on my behalf of my constituents, i ask unanimous consent that the house bring up senate amendment to the continuing appropriations republican resolution h.j.res. 59. we must come together and we must put the american people first. we cannot allow families to go without this for one more day. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is out of order. under guidelines issued by speakers as recorded in section 956 of the house rules and manual, the chair is constrained not to entertain the request unless it is approved by house leadership. the gentleman from california as 2 1/4 minutes remaining and the gentleman from alabama has 7 1/2 minutes remaining. who yields time?

the gentleman from california. r. farr: will you close? mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to this piecemeal bill to nowhere that continues to delay and shut down government when we could be passing a bill right now that would keep government open and would open it up tomorrow morning. but we refuse -- speaker relouis fuses to allow that to come to the floor. let's try it. i dare you. i dare you. bring it to the floor and let's see if there is enough votes. i think there is, because i think the majority of this body wants to keep government open and not play these are games. congress has never shut down the government. yes, it was shut down under

clinton, but by a veto, not for failure to give him a bill. you say the president has to negotiate. he doesn't have to negotiate. bush, we passed 56 c.r.'s no negotiation. so you have been voting for c.r.'s continuously for years and years. what's the difference now? you don't like a bill that passed three years ago and you have to come and break the rules here by getting a waiver so you can bring up these issues from the appropriations bill because you don't want to do it in regular order? this is just insane. this is insane. we have never done it like this and the country is wondering, what the heck is going on. what the heck is going on, we have become children at this fight. this is nuts. it's not the way to run a government. my god, let's get government open. we could do it tonight.

vote against this bill to nowhere. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: i would hope that all of my colleagues join me tonight in supporting the house joint resolution 77 as has been discussed here. i understand that many of our friends, my friends across the aisle will disagree with the majority's decision to immediately fund the most critical function of government during the delay that we have in current funding. i recognize your preference is for a vote on all the government at one time, but you must recognize, the truth of the matter is, we don't have consensus in the house. until the white house and the senate are willing to sit down and negotiate a quick solution to the stalemate, i ask my friends to join me in supporting the food and drug administration, an agency that is on the front lines of public health on a day-to-day basis. there are a number of us

question why half is furloughed while all of their work involves safety and protection of human life. the administration has chosen to keyes activity to food to dical devices and human drug inspections and laboratory research that are tied to public health decision making. most importantly, i would want to think that the administration is not playing politics with the safety of our nation's food supply. but why is it that 87% of the food safety inspection services on the job while only about half of f.d.a.'s food safety staff is working especially when f.d.a. is responsible for 80% of the food supply. as i noted in my opening remarks a few minutes ago, i would speculate that many of our colleagues don't realize how the f.d.a. impacts every single one

of our constituents in one way or the other, from ormula-federal -- fed to babies, to drugs that extend the lives of the sick to the domestic or imported foods we feed to our families. on every occasion, the f.d.a. is there. just two days ago, this body voted 407-0 to approve a measure that will approve back pay to federal workers. this vote did not impact the critical needs of public health. yet, an important vote nonetheless. i would ask that each of the 407 members who voted on saturday for the back pay for federal workers to now vote in favor of a bill that provides for urgent needs for our public safety and our welfare across the united states of america. again, i urge my colleagues to support this joint resolution and i yield back the remainder of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 371, the previous question is r the d.

ayes have it. >> i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california requests the yeas and nays. suppose in support of the request will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 235 and the nays are 162. he joint resolution is passed.

without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the take. -- table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that i may here after be considered as 139, st sponsor of h.r. for the purposes of adding co-sponsors and requesting reprinters pursuant to clause 7 of rule 12. udall eisenhower arctic willedrness act, was originally introduced by representative markey of massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute peeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: mr. speaker,

request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the house will come to order. come to order, please. the house will come to order. take your conversations off the floor, please. the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, senate leader harry reid has been the most ardent proponent of his party's no-compromise, no-negotiations stance. the leader's auto -- the leader's even been unwilling to talk about a compromise. we're moving into the second week of this shutdown. in an effort to avoid being labeled as an obstructionist, the senate leader has alter d his stance, at least rhetorically, and now claims there's already been compromise. i would say to the senate

leader that there's been some compromise but not in the senate chamber. the compromise has come from 57 democrats who join with the majority in the house to pass target appropriation bills that will fund key departments and programs. mr. speaker, politics is often referred to as the art of compromise. it's essential to the legislative process and vital to a functioning democracy. i commend my 57 democratic colleagues in the house who understand this and encouraged more to join them as we continue to pass target appropriations this week. unfortunately not until both chambers start compromising will we be able to end she shutdown. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? without objection.

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i rise to call once again to this house to end this shutdown now. by passing this senate-passed bills that the president will sign to reopen the government. speaker john boehner refuses to bring up this bill. this weekend he claimed it doesn't have the votes to pass. well, i'm no mathematician, basic math shows that the senate-passed bill to end the shutdown would pass the house, 217 votes are needed for a bill to pass. look at these numbers. ith the votes of 198 democrats and the 23 republicans who have said publicly that they would support the bill, the bill would pass with 221 votes.

mr. speaker, bring up the bill to end the republican shutdown immediately. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. it's a sad truth that our jaw-dropping $16.7 trillion national debt pales in comparison to the totality of future spending obligations the congressional budget office forecasts. the change in spending habits and the reform to mandstory spending obligations isn't just advisable in this moment, it's absolutely essential for america's long-term financial health. but meaningful reform is impossible without leadership from the white house. is president obama willing to lead and enact reforms to make our country stronger? it appears not. the president's made it no secret that he is loath to

engage in bipartisan negotiations, regardless of what's at stake. whether it be reopening the federal government for the american people or containing our debt crisis, so our children and grandchildren aren't left to pay for previous generations' irresponsibility. refusing to negotiate on the debt ceiling is code for refusing to make any changes to future debt -- to reduce future debt. mr. speaker, as this body knows, it's foolish to take aim at the symptom without also treating the disease. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, earlier today i received an email from a woman who runs a small business in my district. i read it to you now. morgan, as you know, i'm a small business with 36

employees, have been paying 75% of my employees' health care for over 20 years. mr. griffith: get a call from health care provider agent that although my renewal date is march 1, the companies are offering to renew on december 1 his year with a 9.8% increase. this is to beat what is eamented as a 30% to 60% increase after all the effects of obamacare. needs to say this has reignited my frustration with the so-called affordable care act. please stick to your principles, continue the fight. let me know what, if anything, i can do. yes, ma'am, i will. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the entleman from california rise? without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. well, in the last few days, this house has actually come together on two different

measures here that would seek to ease a lot of the pain from the government slowdown. mr. lamalfa: the sad thing is we can agree on everything the republicans have been trying to pass out of here, the only thing we don't agree on is what we're going to do with that portion of obamacare. we've even moved toward you in that we're going to limit it to simply giving the rest of the american people a one-year delay in the plan date, as the president has called for for big business and has been given waivers to certain individuals on. so, we can agree on this, we can get this thing done. on what we agree on right away. but imperative what we do. because we got three things going on that the american people don't like. they don't like this government slowdown, they don't like what they're seeing with obamacare, they don't like the impending things we're going to have to do with the debt ceiling. all these things work together. the cost of obamacare, the government regulatory system that is killing jobs, and the inability for us to get things done around here. the debt ceiling is a conversation we're going to be hearing a lot about here in the

near knewture. if we're not doing the things to work on a truly balanced budget, then there's no reason the debt ceiling doesn't keep going up year after year after year. we need to balance our budget, folks. we need to get the job done for fiscal responsibility. i'm not seeing that plan from the whougs or from the senate -- from the white house or from the senate. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. tonight i had to -- a wonderful teletown hall meeting with my constituents from across the 10th district of western north carolina. mr. mchenry: we had a lot of discussions tonight about the government shutdown and about the affordable care act or obamacare. my constituents gave me great feedback. they said, keep fighting, because we want to see a repeal of obamacare. but they said, we want the president to come to the table and negotiate. we want washington to work. i also asked my constituents if they'd seen their health

insurance rates go up as a result of obamacare. 58% said they had seen rates go up. 9% said they'd seen them go down. and the balance said they'd seen no change. so clearly it's harming families with increased health insurance rates. and my constituents want to repeal. but they want washington to work. and so i call on the president and i ask our friends over in the senate to come to the table with house republicans and try to come to consensus so we can move our nation forward and do what's right for the people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. danny davis of illinois for today, mr. lucas of oklahoma for today and for tomorrow, mr. poe of texas for today and mr. rush of illinois for today and the balance of the week. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted.

under the speaker's announced the of january 3, 2013, gentleman from nevada, mr. horsford, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. horsford: thank you, mr. speaker. i would first ask for five legislative days to extends and revise legislative remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. horsford: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the congressional black caucus comes to the floor now entering the second week of the house republican-led government shutdown. instead of allowing a simple yes or no vote on a bill that funds the government, republicans continue to play irresponsible games that are hurting our country. the shutdown's impact on our already fragile economy as previously predicted is already beginning to take shape and is negatively affecting millions

of americans. there is a simple solution to this, however. and that is to bring a clean continuing resolution to the house floor for a vote. the senate has passed it. and if speaker boehner scheduled a vote, it would pass the house as well. but the house g.o.p. is more concerned with catering to a fringe group of their caucus than leading for the american people. but there are serious costs to that. to that inaction of leading, for my constituents and constituents throughout our country. in nevada, an estimated 11,000 nevadans may be furloughed or directly impacted by the furloughs. at one of our air force bases in my congressional district, 1,100 nevadans are affected by furloughs. processing of claims at the v.a. and social security have slowed for new applicants and

head start programs are feeling the pinch of the shutdown. tonight we come to this floor to raise these issues and others, to call on our colleagues on the other side and the speaker to allow a clean continuing resolution to be brought to the floor. and at this time i'd like to turn to the chair of the congressional black caucus, a leader who has been fighting for equality and fairness for all americans, the gentlelady from ohio, congresswoman fudge. ms. fudge: thank you very much. i thank my colleague for yielding. and i thank you as always for continuing to lead this special order hour. mr. speaker, i wish i could stand on this house floor today and say that republicans are playing with fire. when they refuse to fund the government. but i can't do that. because what they are doing is much worse. they are playing with people's very lives.

they have made it abundantly clear that they care more about scoring political points and embarrassing this administration than addressing the needs of the american people. the government shutdown has had an immediate impact on many people across this nation. furloughing more than 800,000 federal workers, stopping nutritional and clinical support for women, infants and children, and delaying life-saving research at n.i.h. my office continues to receive calls from distressed constituents about the status of medicaid, of social security and of snap. while we can reassure them that such programs will continue to operate, their concern and anxiety demonstrates the price everyday americans must pay when congress fails. over the past few years, no issue has consumed more of the public's attention than health care reform. but unfortunately for the american people, much of what has been said bears no reality,

no relation to reality. republicans have tried to make the case that health care reform will raise health care costs, catastrophically. and drive up the cost of medicare or increase the deficit. these claims are simply not true. the truth is the affordable care act will slow overall health care spending, decrease medicare spending and decrease our deficit. all this will be accomplished while expanding health care coverage, cutting costs for seniors and eliminating health disparities for communities of color. unfortunately, republicans are focused on preventing the expansion of health care that they are unwilling to help those still struggling. almost 11,000 students are left out of head start because grant money ran out on september 30. several large defense contractors have placed workers

on notice they may be furloughed. the families who rely on w.i.c. are facing the possibility they may lose their benefits and our local federal courts may be crippled by furloughs as soon as next week. the growing economic impact of this shutdown is extremely difficult to measure. the human and social impacts are like the -- like the loss of money for food, housing or educational opportunities are impossible to quantify. the affordable care act is the law of the land, passed by both chambers of congress, signed by the president and confirmed as constitutional by the supreme court. until republicans accept this fact, the government will be shut down and the american people will have been -- will have been let down by the republican party. i yield back. >> thank you, madam chair. at this time i'd like to extend time to the vice chairman of the congressional black caucus, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield.

mr. butterfield: thank you, mr. horsford, for yielding time and thank you for what you do here in the house of representatives you represent your district well. mr. speaker, i come to the floor tonight, quite frankly very frustrated. i am frustrated as i stand here right now. our federal government is shut down. s the seventh day of a shutdown that did not have to happen. this is political theater at its best, or at its worst. and who is paying the price? it's the american people who are feeling the pain. this shutdown has been engineered and manufactured by house republicans and anyone paying close attention to what's happening here in the house will come to the quick conclusion that it's not the democrats who have manufactured this crisis, it is the republican majority that has done so. there are votes on the floor tonight that could pass a continuing resolution to get this behind us. i can tell you that most, if not

all, of house democrats will vote for a clean c.r. and many, many of my republican friends would do the same. i dare not call my republican friends by name but many of them. i had two tonight to visit with me on the house floor to say that they are willing to do it. but yet republicans feel that somehow that they can use the budget crisis as a means for defunding the affordable care act. it will not happen. s the law of the land, it is fully implemented, it has been approved by congress, signed by the president, tested by the u.s. supreme court and it is now fully operational as of october 1. open season for the health insurance marketplace began several days ago and nearly three million people have visited healthcare.gov on the first day alone. americans who before lived with the constant fear of financial ruin if they got sick because they never had health insurance

flooded the website, mr. speaker, in huge numbers to sign up for coverage. right now, there are more than 600,000 americans living in a household forced to file bankruptcy because of unpaid medical bills. more than 60% of all bankruptcies filed last year were because of medical bills that could not be paid. many people forced to file for bankruptcy because of medical expenses actually had insurance but were hung out to dry by insurance companies that dropped them from coverage simply because they had that power. obamacare makes that a thing of the past. beginning on january 1 of next year, americans can no longer be denied coverage or dropped from coverage for having a prix--- a pre-existing condition. all plans must include coverage for outpatient and emergency services and hospitalizations and maternity and newborn care and mental health and prescription drugs. i'm very proud of this plan.

-- there will no longer be a yearly or lifetime limit on how much insurance companies will pay out for care. that the house republicans will hold the federal government at its more than four million employees hostage over a law that on all caunts seem -- counts seemed to provide a great benefit to americans defies logic. mr. speaker, this is not a game thork my republican colleagues seem to think it is. they are not working with any sense of urgency and don't seem to comprehend the seriousness of the nation's fiscal crisis. just yesterday, on national television, the secretary of the treasury, jack lue, warned us of what the consequences could be. this isn't about who wins or loses. we aren't keeping score but the american people are keeping score and they can't figure out republican's outright obsession with obamacare while the federal government isn't open for business. it makes no sense.

democrats who have come to the floor for the past week asking and begging for house republicans to permit a vote on the senate's clean continuing resolution. i will repeat for the last time, it will pass this house tonight if the speaker of the house, mr. boehner, will put it up for a vote. the votes are here. right now. to pass the senate version of the continuing resolution. i would urge the speaker of the house who is a decent individual who i've gotten to know over the years since i've been here, i would hope that he will finally say to the extreme right in his caucus that he has done all he could to lift up the issues that they care about but now it's the future of the country that we must all care about. speaker boehner, this week, sir, please bring the continuing resolution to this floor and see if the votes are here. they will be here, we can reopen the government, and then we can

sit down and reconcile our differences. i thank you, mr. horsford, for yielding time and i thank all of you who are standing strong in this debate. i yold back. mr. horseled foo -- mr. horsford: thank you, mr. butterfield, for your constructive works -- remarks and for calling once again for the speaker to bring a clean resolution to the floor. we know the votes are here to pass a clean continuing resolution, one that would reopen goth, that would be supported by republicans and democrats. so the congressional black caucus comes to this floor at this hour to ask the speaker of this house to do the will of the people and do the will of this body. thank you for your comments. at this time i'd like to extend the floor to a great man a civil rights icon, a man who speaks truth to pow every, the gentleman from atlanta, from georgia, excuse me, mr. lewis.

mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i want to thank my friend and my colleague for yielding the time. mr. speaker, it is a shame and a disgrace, furthermore it is really, really bad that the government of the most powerful country in the world is closed. it is closed. it is unbelievable. it is unreal. it is down right embarrassing. i wonder, i wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us? all around the world, preaching democracy, one person, one vote. and we will not even give the members, all of the members of the house of representatives, an portunity to vote on a clean

effort, a continuing resolution to end the shutdown. give the members, please, give the members all of the members, democrats and republicans, an opportunity to cast a vote, a free and open vote. that's what our founding fathers struggled for. people died for the right to participate and in the house of epresentatives, in this house, we will not house, provide an opportunity for all the people to vote. we must end the shutdown. and put our people back to work and keep our economy growing and

moving. we don't want to go back, my friends, or standstill. we want to go forward. let's come together, all of us, democrats and republicans, come together and end this shutdown for good. we can do it. we made hard and tough decisions before. and we can do it again. and we must do it because it's the right thing to do. and with that, i yield back my time. mr. horsford: thank you, thank you very much for your comments, mr. lewis, and for pricking the conscience of this body, for doing what's right at a time when the country expects that of our elected leadership. i'd like to yield at this time to the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you. i thank the gentleman from

nevada for yielding. mr. speaker, it's time to end this shutdown, we are -- the absurdity of it begins with the fact that we are now going to pay people for not working, we need to bring them back to work to provide the services and do the work that they're being paid to do. mr. speaker, this shutdown is really not based on reality. some who have said -- some apparently believe that if they just stay the course and keep the government shut down, they will be able to repeal or substantially undermine obamacare. that's not going to happen. and so, we're not based in reality. now they're blaming democrats for not negotiating. but there's nothing to negotiate. we're talking about the budget. the republicans came in with one number, the democrats had a higher number. the senate decided not to

negotiate, but rather accept the republican number. so we're in agreement. there's nothing to negotiate. in the 1990's, when they had a disagreement on the budget, there were profound differences in the spending levels and tax and revenue levels, they couldn't agree on the budget. but at this point, at least for a short term, six-week continuing resolution to keep the government open for at least six more weeks while we can negotiate, we've already agreed on the number. now, the problem we're in right now is, we just cannot reward people who have a tantrum and say we voted 40 times to repeal obamacare and haven't done it so we're just going to shut the government down. you cannot reward that behavior. because it will become an expectation, that every time there's -- the end of the fiscal year and you need a continuing resolution or the debt ceiling,

here will be an expectation of reward. now, this is not the end of the process. this is just the beginning. we're just talking about a six week continuing resolution two. weeks from now, we'll have the debt ceiling. four weeks after that, we'll be at the end of the six-week period if we can reopen the government. they will be asking for things. now the fact is the problem that we have is a recent article in "nation" magazine, they revealed the strategy of the republicans. they made a list of the kinds of things they will be looking for in the continuing resolution, the debt ceil, every time there's an opportunity to shut down the government, and here's the list. they want to undermine obamacare. keystone pipeline. offshore drilling. corporate tax cuts. business oriented tort reform. sabstadge -- sabotage social

security and medicare. undermine clean air, e.p.a. regulations. cut back on consumer protections. and end net neutrality on the internet. now, i suppose that after they've got their list they'll say, well, we'll be reasonable, we'll negotiate, we'll only take half of the things we don't have the votes to pass, we'll just take half. no. if you get to the point where there's an expectation of reward , then we'll be in -- suppose the democrats had thrown in maybe gun safety, marriage equality, immigration reform, and a jobs bill and we're sitting up here troying to do the budget and have to do all that and all of those and think we're going to ever come to a resolution. we have to have a clean c.r. so we can reopen the government without all those complications. now, back to obamacare that seems to be provoking all the

problem, the fact is, our health care system was in trouble. the rates were going up. skyrocketing. year after year after year. the problem with our health care system were not caused by obamacare. obamacare is trying to cure the problems. we had a gentleman earlier today say that people looked at the rates and some are paying more, some are paying less, and some are about the same. if that's the case, that's a miracle. because for the last 50 years rates have been skyrocketing, going up much faster than inflation, so if they've been anywhere close to even, that would be a lot less than it would have been had not we had obamacare. . now we have the situation wheres afordsble -- where it's affordable. those with pre-existing conditions. those under 26 can stay on their parents' policies. the doughnut hole.

on and on, this is a good deal. it will be much better than before. another gentleman earlier today said, well, if you just eliminate the individual mandate. well, the individual mandate is in every policy because if you're going to cover pre-existing conditions, you cannot allow people to wait until they get sick before they buy insurance, because if that's the case everybody will wait until they get sick to buy insurance. everybody with insurance would be sick, the average rates would go through the roof. if you look at what happened in new york and the rates there, you can reasonably estimate that if you provided that exemption, the cost of insurance would double on the spot. so we can't have that. so we need to just proceed. if you want to improve obamacare, let's talk about improving it. but in the meanwhile, it is not going to be repealed. it's not going to be

undermined. and this idea that you can keep the government open piecemeal by having one agency at a time is absolutely absurd. passing those bills only would serve one -- would only serve one purpose and that is to perpetuate and extend the shutdown. the fact is that they don't have the votes to repeal obamacare. they don't even have the votes to keep the government shut. if they called a vote, weeds reopen the government. we -- we'd reopen the government. we just want an up-or-down vote on reopening the government. we've had several votes so far. procedural votes where we could have reopened the government, at least have an up-or-down vote on reopening the government. as the gentlelady from new york pointed out, there are enough republicans who are on public record as saying they would vote yes to give a clear indication that more than a majority of the house would be voting in favor. so i want to thank the gentleman from nevada for bringing us together. obamacare is an important -- it

is very important advancement in health care. it will cure all the problems they're talking about and we don't need to reward anyone for shutting down the government or threatening the debt ceiling or shutting down the government in four weeks. we need to just reopen the government and then we can have intelligent discussions about what to do about the budget. i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. horsford: i thank the gentleman from virginia for his comments and for bringing up a number of key points. the main one which i think gets lost is the fact that the president and democrats in both the house and the senate have compromised. they've compromised on the lower budget number, to get to a six-week agreement on funding budget in order for us to have a longer term negotiation for the budget in subsequent years. that is a major point that i

think the speaker and those on the other side tend to forget. that was a number that the speaker himself offered up in july and said that he would bring a clean continuing resolution to the floor in july, at the very number that democrats are prepared to say yes to. so what here to say, mr. speaker, and members on the other side, is take yes for an answer. we're ready. there are 195 democrats who are ready in this house. some 20 republicans who publicly have said that they're ready to support a clean continuing resolution and there are probably more that boo vote -- that would vote for it once it's brought to the floor. i'll yield now to the gentlelady from maryland, congresswoman edwards, at this time. ms. edwards: i thank the gentleman from nevada for yielding. and i want to echo what my colleagues have said.

it is time for us to bring a clean funding resolution to the floor of the house that would get a majority of democratic support and it would get strong republican support to reopen the government. not to reopen it in pieces, but to reopen all of government for all americans. and it's time for us to do that now. now, we've had several funding bills that have come to the floor to fund bits and snippets of the federal government. but that's really not the way to do it. and in fact, as the gentleman knows, when the government was shut down by republicans it wasn't shut down piecemeal. and so it should not be reopened piecemeal. it should be opened in full. today in my office i happened to represent a district in maryland, it has a lot of federal workers, workers who work at virtually every agency of the federal government, and i would note that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have brought forward piecemeal

funding bills that fund a handful of agencies. well, there are 486 federal agencies and we haven't brought 486 funding bills to this floor. and so it's rather silly to propose funding the government in these little snippets. these three workers were in my office, one of them works for the environmental protection agency. the other works for the department of health and human services. and in fact at the center for medicare services. and the other one works at the national aeronautics and space administration. and as i talked to the workers, number one, i can't even begin, mr. speaker, to explain to you how devastated they felt with being tagged nonessential. knowing that their work is vital. but not really feeling validated as workers. and so that was kind of one thing. but the other thing is that they're doing their jobs because they believe in their jobs. they believe in the work that they are doing for the government. they believe in the work that

they are doing for taxpayers. and then lastly, they're worried about all of the work that goes undone. they're worried at e.p.a. that, you know, letting the public know about inspections and about conditions of water and other things in the environment, in communities across this country, is not happening because the e.p.a. is not in business. the worker who was in my office, julia, who worked at the department of health and human services, mr. speaker, is worried because in the work that she does, her specific job is to train medicare providers so that they indicate the right codes when they submit for payment so that there's not fraud. and the other part of her job is that she's supposed to look through those claims and make sure that if there is any indication of a problem or fraud, that it gets referred to

the inspector general and gets referred to the department of justice. and at a time when we're both implementing health care, but also when medicare is being used, it's really important that that actually -- her job, julia's job actually saves taxpayers money. and yet she's at home. the worker who came to my office today, emma, from nasa, is very concerned because part of her job is working on systems that would help deliver us our next generation of weather satellites, because we have a gap in our satellite coverage. and the farther we get behind in developing that new weather satellite, it means that it puts all of us in jeopardy in terms of receiving the information that we need. and of course, mr. speaker, as americans know, we don't get our weather from the weather channel, we get our weather from the national weather

service. from the folks at noaa, from the people at nasa. and yet they are at home. the other thing that these workers explained to me is it's a great personal cost to them. a woman who works at the environment protection agency told me today that she takes care of her mother, in addition to herself and other family members, on her salary. and that she has been worried and up at night and unable to sleep because she's not really clear how she's going to be able to meet those expenses. lia, who works at c.m.s. and h.h.s., has an 11-year-old child who has had brain damage when he was born, and he's a special needs child. and aiden has a wonderful smile and a beautiful, you know, face and voice and he needs his mom but they've also been able to take care of services for him with the salary that she makes

at the h.h.s. julia told me, emma, rather, at nasa said to me that her 12-year-old and 14-year-old really don't understand why she's at home instead of going to work. and so these workers aren't just sort of faceless bureaucracy. they have lives and they have responsibilities and yet with the federal government shut down, we're not meeting -- we're not enabling them to meet those responsibilities. and then, mr. speaker, one of the things that they said to me is that if you open up the government piecemeal, it doesn't really help them out. take the example of julia at h.h.s. if her job is to make referrals to the department of justice and to the office of the inspector general and she's at her job, if by some chance our republican colleagues decide to restart h.h.s., what that means is that she doesn't have anybody to refer that fraud to because they're not on the job at the department of justice.

if nasa is working, then -- and noaa is not, then that joint work that takes place between agencies can't. and in fact, mr. speaker, what we do know is that every week that the federal government is shut down, it costs us, it costs taxpayers $10 billion. $10 billion every week that the federal government is shut down. mr. speaker, the federal government has been shut down now for a week. chalk up $10 billion to the taxpayers. and so you can see that the entire purpose of the strategy to shut down government is in fact costing taxpayers money. and finally i will share with you -- i read in the paper day, mr. speaker, that three scientists and researchers won the nobel prize for medicine. two of those, they won the pryce prize for developing -- won the prize for developing a

way to track cell traffic so that it could make determinations about when appropriate packages of cells in the body are being delivered for certain purposes. and in doing that it could help us make discoveries for neurological diseases, for things like diabetes. these scientists actually had been working, some of them had been working under a grant from the national institutes of health, for about the last 30 years. and it made me think that, if we are not funding the national institutes of health and other government agencies that do research right now, that the work that they've been doing for the last 30 years is work if you think 30 years that we're going to be missing because we have failed to fund the kind of research that we need. and so there are ripple effects to the cost of shutting down the federal government. and then finally, in my

district, i plan every year to have a college fair for the students in my district. usually about 2,500 to 3,000 students show up. our college fair is coming up, supposed to come up this weekend. we usually get assistance from nasa, they bring all kinds of projects and experiments to the science fair to get young people engaged in the science, technology, engineering and math stem fields so we can get them invested in tackling these jobs for the 21st century. we usually get assistance from the department of education, to educate young people about loan and grant opportunities that might be available to them as they decide to make their college selections. and so i just got an email, even as i was sitting here on the floor, that none of these agencies will be able to participate in a college fair for our young people who are preparing to go to college next year. and they're going to miss out on those opportunities about learning what's available to

them and the challenges that they face because the federal government is shut down. this is a really sad commentary, mr. speaker, on the impact of the shutdown. and the ripple effect that that has both throughout our economy and in our local communities. and so i will close by urging, urging speaker boehner, mr. speaker, to please bring a clean funding bill to the floor of the house of representatives , let it up for a vote. if it fails, it does. but i know that in this body republicans and democrats like me will support that bill. and we'll do it even though i don't agree with the number, i never supported the number, but i know that even though it is a republican number, i'm going to agree with it because it will restart government. it is time, mr. speaker, for us to open up all of the federal

government for all americans and with that i yield. mr. horsford: i thank the gentlelady for her remarks and for bringing the real-life names and stories about how and who this furlough and impact of the government shutdown really affects. those are the individuals, the public servants who provide critical services each and every day, who deserve to go back to work. and again we're asking that the speaker bring a clean continuing resolution to the floor so that government can reopen and like the gentlelady from maryland, i myself have heard from my constituents who are affected by this, many who have sent emails and called my office. .