gentleman from new york has 13 minutes remaining. the gentleman from florida. mr. crenshaw: i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman, mr. wolf. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for four minutes. r. wolf: i thank chairman mr. wolf: i thank mr. crenshaw and also chairman rogers for his help today and also on aturday and also their staffs. for their help in bringing this legislation to the floor. i believe and i think if you look at the vote on saturday, that most members, all members, believe federal employees should be paid, period. too many federal employees and their families don't know when their next paycheck will arrive and are worried about paying payment, or rtgage paying for their students,

their children's student tuition which is coming up very soon. we need to fix this. that's why i joined with mr. moran and others in our area and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bring bipartisan legislation to the floor last saturday to ensure that all federal employees, whether exempt or furloughed by no fault of their own, are paid once the shutdown end. i'm pleased the bill passed the house 407-0. that both a nate republican and democrat senator had this bill on hold. i don't understand, madam speaker, the senate's ways of going about this but i think if any senator has a hold they ought to feel stongly enough that they ought to do it publicly so we know who they are. but i understand there's both a republican and a democrat. i ask them on behalf of the people having a difficult time to lift that hold. additionally, this house acted to ensure that members of the

military and defense department civilians would be paid on time. i'm please at -- i'm pleased that the pay our military act passed the house by a vote of 423-0, was approved by the law. and signed into also the f.b.i. team in nairobi investigating the attack, the c.i.a. looking at things coming in with regard to al qaeda, d.e.a. stopping drugs from coming into this country, the border patrol agent -- agents, doctors, and nurses at v.a. hospitals, firefighters, air traffic control and prison guards will be followed as soon as possible. i hope my colleagues vote for this legislation. i know my colleagues recognize that federal employees aren't just nameless faces behind desks. they are real people out in the field who work day in and day

out to keep our country safe. i want to thank the chairman, chairman crenshaw and chairman rogers for bringing this bill up. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from new york is ecognized. mr. serrano: i would point out that it's a member of the minority party holding up the bill in the senate. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend from new york. it's absolutely the right thing to do, to make sure we pay federal workers on time. whether they the capitol police or any other public servant doing the work of our country right now. it was also the right thing to do on a bipartisan basis to make sure that federal

employees are not punished through no fault of their own. and we did that unanimously by the vote on saturday to make sure that federal employees do not have to bear that burden when they're not the ones making the bad decisions. what is very puzzling, mr. speaker, is having voted unanimously to say that we're going to make sure we pay those federal employees who are being furloughed, we would at the same time block them from going back to work for the american people. i just don't understand, mr. speaker, how the speaker of the house can explain that to the american people. when we have in our possession here in the people's house a piece of legislation that if we were allowed to vote on it could reopen the entire government right now without preconditions. now we've heard from our republican colleagues, they want to open one little piece, let's open the national parks,

let's open another little piece. but on saturday, what we did was vote to make sure that every federal employee, whether they worked for the national parks or any other federal agency, that anyone would -- that everyone would get paid for yesterday, for today, for tomorrow. so why would our colleagues want to let one more day go by when we're compensating federal employees and making them stay at home? why wouldn't we open the federal government today so that they can do the work that we're paying them to do on behalf of the american people? it is absolutely mind-boggling. mr. speaker. that our republican colleagues would take that position. so in the senate right now, you've got a senator from texas, senator cornyn, who is blocking that particular provision we passed

unanimously. i hope he will let it go. but over here in the house, we have a bill that the president is waiting to sign right now. all we need to do is pass it. the votes are here in the house to do it. and if the speaker doubts that fact, there's an easy way to figure it out, we all know that. put it up for a vote. what is the speaker afraid of? a little democracy in this house? we're going to be paying all the federal employees as we should because they should not be penalized, not for one day that we're forcing them to be out of work. but these are men and women dedicated to providinger is various -- service for our country. they want to get become to work. what the house is say is, we're going to keep paying you but we're not going to let you work for the american people. that's an astounding position so take. let's take up the senate bill, get it done. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is

recognized. mr. crenshaw: we don't have any further speakers so i reserve and i'm ready to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. serrano: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize for such time as he may consume. mr. serrano: we keep saying, folks watching it may wonder why we keep saying it, little by little you're reopening the government but it may take to 2025. our hope is to pass the resolution in the senate to reopen the government. this one is an easy one this bill should pass on voice vote so we can get folks and pay them proper he for services they're rendering. but there are other people that need to come to work. there are americans who need to

be serviced. this is not the way for taos behave. a little bit of history. i know that some people in the last couple of days have either refused to mention it or gave up on it, and that is that this all started not because there were differences in economic reasoning or behavior. it started because a group of people on your side wanted to attach kill og ba ma cair, the affordable care act and they were willing to do whatever they needed to to to accomplish that. that's not going to happen. how many times do we have to say that bill was passed by the house, passed by the senate, signed by the president and upheld by the supreme court? i don't know how many laws you can say that about in this country that we don't go after. yet some folks just won't give up. the time is now for us to open up the government. the time is now for us to pass this bill, to respect our federal workers, but also to respect the american people in

general by making sure that the government is open. take up the resolution. it will pass in two seconds. i assure you. in fact, i predict that if you bring that resolution to the floor, you may be getting a unanimous vote because that's what we want to do, to open up the government and move on to deal with the issue we was to deal with. let's do it and let's do it quickly. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back this egentleman from florida is recognized. mr. crenshaw: i yield myself the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. crenshaw: i don't think anybody in this chamber wanted to see the goth shut down. nobody wanted to see it -- to see the government shut down. nobody wanted to see it. as pointed out, we passed a continuing resolution, funded the government, sent it to the united states senate, they said no. so we sent another resolution that kept the government open.

senate said no. a third time we sent a resolution to the united states senate to keep the government open, the senate said no. then we said why don't we just sit down and talk? why don't we have a conference committee? one of those committees that we have all the time in this body when the house and senate disagree. we call it a conference committee. we appoint a group from the house they appoint a group from the senate. we work out the differences. that's the way you resolve conflict. that's the way you move ahead. and so the house appointed a con -- eight conferees. we went to a meeting ready to meet. the senate didn't show up. so they decided they don't really want to have any negotiations about how we continue to fund the federal government. so then we said, well if they won't pass a continuing resolution to fund the entire federal government, then maybe

we should just take certain parts of the federal government, see if the united states senate or our friends on the other side, see if they would vote in favor of doing that. and of course, everyone voted to say we ought to keep the government running as it relates to the military, both the defense and civilian employees, so our friends on the other side of the aisle decided that was a good idea so they voted for that. then we said, why don't we say, since the district of columbia is being penalized by our inaction, why don't we pass a bill that says we'll appropriate the money, it's their own mup, we'll let them spend it the way they want to spend it. we had that on a suspension vote, our friends on the other side didn't want to do that, they voted no. then we had a bill on saturday that talked about the folks that are on furlough and our friends on the other side said that's a good idea, we ought to

pay them retroactively. they've been picking and choosing. if you add up the bills we passed. 10 bills now to keep the government running in different ways, shapes and forms. that's almost one third of the discretionary spending. we passed all that. where are those bills? they're sitting in the senate, waiting for the senate to do something. so we found ourselves in a situation that we didn't want to be in. we're all frustrated. people are angry. but we'll keep going. we're going to try to get this government running again. we're going to try to keep things open. but for godness' sake this bill before us today simply says the folks that are coming to work, they're doing the things that are important to our federal government, and they ought to get paid. if you work, you get paid. and get paid on time. i think everybody agrees with that. let's don't penalize them. a lot of people are being penalized because of our inaction. let's don't fennelize the

people that come to work every day who co-the work to meet the critical needs of our country. let's make sure they get paid and sooner or later, mr. speaker, we'll open this government back up. we've tried to do almost a third of it now. still people say no. we'll move ahead. with that, i simply urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation to make sure the people that are working get paid on time. with that, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 373, the previous question is ordered. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the joint resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: joint resolution making appropriationers in salaries and related expenses of certain federal employees during a lapse in funding authority for fes call year 2014 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the joint resolution.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the gentleman is recognized. >> i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. sessions: pursuant to house solution 373, i call up h.r. 3273, deficit reduction act and ask for immediate consideration. the clerk: a bill to establish a bicameral working group on deficit reduction and economic growth. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 373, the bill is considered read. the bill shall be debatable for 40 minutes, equally divided and controlled by the chairman of the committee on rules.

the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions, and the gentleman from florida, mr. hastings, each will control 20 minutes. mr. sessions: i ask all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. sessions: it has been one week since the federal government shut down and house republicans have passed several appropriations bills designed to provide funding for numerous parts of the government's most important functions. join us to enate to find solutions to our nation's fiscal problems. unfortunately, no one over these three weeks have been able to reach a compromise. and senate democrats have simply returned our volley every time without a value-add proposition.

somewhat we are here to do today is stand up once again and say we are trying to appropriately fund the federal government. as a result, we're here today, house republicans are going to offer to sit down at the negotiation table with senate democrats in an effort to reach the meaningful solutions our constituents expect from us. h.r. 3273 deficit reduction and economic growth working group act of 2013 would establish a bicameral bipartisan working group consisting of six members of the majority and four members of the minority from both the house and the senate. these 20 members would be appointed no less than one day after enactment of the legislation and would meet each subsequent calendar day to provide recommendations to overall discretionary spending levels for fiscal year 2014. changes to the discretionary debt limit and spending

programs. mr. speaker, being from texas, i am used to a lot of people trying to work for the good, the common good of its people. and i will tell you that i fully expect that the reason why i came to washington was to work for the good not just for the people of texas but to expect the responsibility that it was important that i come to work for all people in texas and the american people to make their lives better. and i believe that some of those ideas include sitting down, talking, negotiating, finding common ground, leading, not obstructing, not saying no, not being the first one to walk out or not agreeing to meet, but rather to sit down and be constructive. and that is what we in the house of representatives are trying to do once again today.

common set of principles that we believe constitutionally as the house of representatives, we have the authority and the responsibility to be leaders in the process that will allow the american people to effectively see who is here, who is working and expect us to get our job done. unfortunately, it's a rough world, and we're having a tough time. so a new idea today is to gather our colleagues together from each side and see if we can make progress. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: i am in strong opposition to this measure and i say to my friend, i just heard him say that the people from

texas sent him here to do things. people from florida sent me here to do things just like him and there are 435 members in addition to delegates from around our territory and each one has a clear understanding budgeting o go about in this particular matter. forming a working group is forming another group up above that group and i don't need that and i don't believe he needs that. evidently we have not done very well when we had it. from the newspapers, i gather we had a simpson-bowles commission, which was the legacy of 2010 debt ceiling increase. -boehner, the ma

gang of six talks, supercommittee and then obama-boehner fiscal cliff talks and not one of them worked and this isn't going to work either. it's like moving the hostages and taking them one by one with this rifle-shot approach and all they have to do is put a clean c.r. on the floor, but they are saying we are going to take some hostages over here and put them in another room so they can talk to them. i said in the rules committee, this is a gimmick wrapped in a con inside a scam and nothing tells me anything different about my friends across the aisle offering gimmick after gimmick. we could open the government and that's easy to do and put americans back to work and that's easy to do.

we could keep our country from defaulting on its obligation and this measure will not do one of those things and all the talk about the president, the president said he is willing to negotiate. and i picked on this, you all muster, my friends on the other side muster poll-tested conversation. conversation allows among other things that you have an understanding with people in an informal setting and what have we been talking about around here for two years. this just didn't come up last night or day before yesterday. democrats have offered seven times to take up the senate-passed continuing resolution. the house g.o.p. has blocked a vote on the measure each and every time. we have been asking them for six months. to the house leadership, i say, mr. speaker, let us vote on a clean c.r. and vote on the debt ceiling and prolong this

shutdown when you know the votes are here in the house of representatives. my friends across the aisle know they made the mistake. the goalpost has not only moved but ban issued completely from the field. first they wanted to defund obamacare, then they only want to delay obamacare. then when that didn't work, they said well, we don't want to shut the government down, so let's it -- open it up piece by piece and that isn't working either and they are moaning and groning. they made it clear that they want this to be a measure that is not a part of any negotiations or conversation and the president made it clear that he will converse about anything with anybody but not with a gun at his head and not with the undertaking you are going forward with here. how does the supercommittee work

out for you the last time? so, tell me, when does it all end? in all seriousness, what do my friends across the aisle hope to achieve? speaker boehner has said and i quote him, my goal here is to have a serious conversation, he said it 27 times, conversation on sunday. i was looking at him, about those things that are driving the deficit and debt up. and the president's refusal to sit down and have a conversation about this is putting our nation at risk of default. 11:38 today, the president's office issued a statement where they had a conversation with john boehner telling him virtually we can do this with a clean c.r. what are we talking about? are we having a conversation or talking past each other here in the house of representatives. republicans have shut down the

federal government and taken us to the brink of a global economic catastrophe because evidently they want to have a conversation that we're already in the middle of. guess what? the senate c.r. is at the levels you wanted, $986 billion. that's what they voted on. sequestration is the law, as my friend from georgia is saying, the law of the land. you have already gotten what you wanted and let's vote on a clean c.r. and raise the debt ceiling. these are failures of the majority's leadership to stand up against the extremeists in their own party and leaders, you say on the other side must be strong. leaders must be courageous. this has become not a democracy that was intended by jefferson and madison and adams and all of

those, the franklins and the washingtons, they founded a democracy in spite of their divisions. ey didn't want to have mobacacy. and you have allowed that to stand up in this institution, a mob. we can show the rest of the world that the united states is ready to end its political brinksmanship, when i spoke out of turn, my mom and dad would say silt down and shut up. we don't need a shutdown, we don't need people being shut out. we need to shut up and let the american people make us listen to them and go about bringing the clean c.r. that's what i'm hearing from the american people, both democrat and republican, liberal and conservative. they want us to sit down and

shut up and open up this government with a clean c.r. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: thank you, mr. speaker. the republican party hears the gentleman. we are also listening to the american people. the american people are sick and worried about their future. they see a government that spends too much money and listens too little. they tax too much and leave too little for the american people. they are very aware that this big government ploy and played by not just this administration, but the prior administration that ran this house of representatives placed america in a detrimental position, in a position where we have health care that is a government-run health care plan, that is causing not just uncertainty but unemployment.

and republicans got into this whole mess of the debate with obamacare because it got closer and closer and closer to implementation. let's look at what this bill tacticically does. it tacticically puts rules and regulations on business. that means that business will make decisions literally to cut not only the amount of people that they have, but the work hours associated with that. and many unions across the united states are concerned about the loss of the 40-hour workweek because that's the threshold that democrats have placed the american worker in. and so, the republican party listening not just to business, but workers, made a determination that the closer we got to this implementation, we

were going to continue discussing how bad this was for not just business, but for individuals. and then the president came and unilaterally decided he would let business be deferred for a year, but kept the rules and regulations on individuals. that was done over fourth of july. in a tweet that went out. they weren't brave enough to put the full announcement out. so now republicans have focused on since the fourth of july about the unfairness about how individuals will be expected to apply all of these laws directly on them, as individuals. well, see, what the american people understand is, it is almost impossible to fight as an individual against a big government, against the i.r.s.

and it's the i.r.s. who will be making sure that the american people follow this tax law and that's what the supreme court said it is, it is a tax law. and that's where lots of groups around the country continue to speak, not only clearly, but with effectiveness about it is unfair for the president to give 1,200 waivers and a waiver to certain people who were included in the bill, business, and now he's going to waive that and put it off on individuals. these are small business owners. they are men and women who are not just our neighbors, but they are men and women who produce the goods and services and put their name on their businesses, have their children become teachers and firefighters and members of our military. they see where this is harming their ability to have health care. it's harming their ability to

have the opportunity for their small business to be successful because it's putting them at a disadvantage. and perhaps worst of all, there are lots of businesses who understand that this will cost an incredible amount of money, and that's why businesses will not offer this exact same health are plan that they had previously. . that's why it's very timely, it's timely that republicans have been doing this all year, but we focused on this directly at the implementation. we're here for a good reason. we're trying to change the dynamics with a working group. we're trying to say we believe that some of our colleagues would have a better opportunity to negotiate with some good ideas, trust me, there are good

ideas that float back and forth between republicans and democrats all the time. we're trying to say that successful rain dance has a lot to do with timing and that success can be accepting this working group, getting our members together on a bipartisan basis, house and senate, immediately, within a day or so, and them start working together. you know what, even if they weren't the final answer what a great opportunity to empower our members to talk and work together and see if they can make headway. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. hastings: could you -- would you be kind enough to tell both sides how much time remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has 12 1/2 minutes remain, the gentleman from texas has 11 1/2 minutes. mr. hastings: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the

distinguished gentlewoman, my good friend, mrs. nita lowey of new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. lowey: a quick review of the facts makes clear that republicans are revising history when they claim democrats refuse to negotiate. a headline yesterday from "national journal" sums it up. 19 times democrats tried to negotiate with republicans. the g.o.p.'s biggest talking point of the shutdown is only true if you ignore everything that has happened before last week, end quote. house republicans fail -- house republicans' failure to negotiate includes, their leadership walked out of negotiations last december. ignoring the president's $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. refusing for months to negotiate on the budget with the senate. and now denying the house a

vote to end the shutdown after democrats afwrode to their spending levels. of course we will work with you, my friends on -- my friends, on honest efforts. president obama signed a bipartisan, $2.5 trillion deficit reduction law and the deficit today is half of what it was in 2009. we are willing partners who will compromise. but to suggest that we need a special committee to tell us what we already know is just not sincere. this bill is an attempt to shift blame nor shutdown. speaker boehner should stop trying to find somebody else to do his job. he can end the shutdown today by allowing a vote on the

republican-written, senate-passed c.r. which would get a majority vote in the house and be signed by the president. reopen the government. do not jeopardize the full faith and credit of the united states. stop wasting time on political stunts like this bill while americans suffer. vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: mr. speaker, i would thankfully acknowledge the floor of the house of representatives here for voting on several very, very important items that allow those employees that today might not be at work, we've asked that they come become to work and it was passed here. those in food and drug security, those in head start, those in national emergency disaster recovery. those in the n.i.h.

and those are -- and those in national parks. these are examples of the ideas that have come forth from votes on this floor and soon to come, intelligence, border security, tive americans and alaskan health care. national weather mono, to nuclear weapons security, nutrition assistance for women and chern. but we've been -- mr. hastings: would the gentleman yield? mr. sessions: i yield to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i put to you most sincerely, do you not feel that by cherry picking what it is that you want to do with those rifle shots that it is causing morale problems in the rest of the government? let's assume you have 150 that you're going to do and the group that would be going back to work the latest would be sometime week after next or

sometime two weeks from there. do you not feel -- mr. sessions: reclaiming my time. i would like to answer the gentleman. i appreciate the gentleman for asking, my dear friend a very respect -- my dear friend, very respectfully has asked a good question. we would like to move forward with all 150 as quickly as possible. what we'd like to do is move through these. we've got them now. they're lined up to our colleagues on the other side of the capitol but they don't want to do that. so why would i move forward if they don't want to do that? why would we move forward if they do not actually really want to open up the government except under their terms? we believe that they have not addressed the underlying problems. number one, what is happening with this thing called obamacare, and secondly, with the debt.

we're adding debt as we speak. we've gone from $9 trillion to $17 trillion in just a few short years. we had been working with the president. we have been doing things in the three years that republicans have been back in the majority. and we're trying to correct the errors of the past. that's why we're here today. the gentleman asks a good question. wouldn't it be a good thing to get through our list of 150? and i would say to the gentleman, we've already done some and we'll keep doing them. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. hastings: in the vernacular, they would say, bring it. bring all 150 of them town here. let's have a c.r. i yield four minutes to the gentleman from maryland who may very well answer that question that i asked about morale. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. as the gentleman pointed out, the morale is low. for approximately 315 million people who call america home. low because they see a dysfunctional board of directors of their country. low because they are anguished about the inability to come to grips with real by -- reality. i want to tell my friend, mr. speaker, the chairman of the rules committee, we said yes. you sent us a bill to the united states senate which we control, and you said, let us open government. and we will open it on the condition that we cap spending at $986 billion. now you also put another piece

on that bill which said we ought to defund obamacare. the affordable care act, as we call it. i venture to say that close to 90%, maybe even 100% of those on your side of the aisle, mr. chairman, i say to him, mr. speaker, didn't think that was going to happen. they sent it because they feel strongly about that. i understand that. i have strong feelings myself. now the gentleman mitigating circumstance colleague from maryland, i hope is going to use the analogy about vetoing the debt limit because it's a good one. but i will tell my friend, the senate said yes. and sent it back here. we could open government this evening, if only you would accept what you suggested.

, you y you would say, yes agreed with our number, there was no negotiation. there was no compromise on our side. there was us saying to you, we want to keep government open. so yes. our republican colleagues in the house of representatives, the senate, said, mr. speaker, we will take your number. america needs to know that we have said yes to the number that you suggested. i don't like your number. i think it's not good for america, mr. speaker. i think it's not good for our national security, for our economy, or for the morale of the american people long term. having said that, i want government open. so we have said yes to your number. we didn't negotiate. we said we'll take what you propose. mr. speaker, i hope every american understands that when

one side says, wohl take your number, that there ought to be an agreement. now i rise in opposition to this bill that's been put on the floor. hich is another way to distract from the business at hand, opening up our government. and eight days from now, our government will be in a position for the first time in history where we won't be able to pay our bills. the wealthiest nation on the face of the earth, the most credit worthy nation on the face of the earth, will be in a position, not that we don't have the resources, not that we don't have the credit to borrow to make sure we continue to be able to pay our bills, that won't be the keas. it will be the case that we don't have the authority to do so because this congress has not acted.

, ell my friend, mr. speaker who chairs the rules committee, and whose father stood with such distinction as the head of the federal bureau of nvestigation, the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: the present head of the federal bureau of investigation has said this sequester will deeply hurt law enforcement in this country. mr. speaker, i tell my friends, let's defeat this bill and let's move to the business that is real. that will make a difference. not make a political point. let us move to doing the business of america and put the people's government back to work. not pretend we're going to do it by some super committee, we tried that, didn't work very well.

i'm sorry about that i urged them to stay in business and do their job. so i ask my colleague, defeat this. move to the business of america. put the people's government back to work. mr. speaker i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: thank you very much. as the gentleman knows, there are few people in this house who i have a better relationship than i do with the gentleman from maryland and great respect. i listened to him and his words. i would say back to him, and there's a little bit more that really comes to us from people who speak about their lives also and i am concerned about people who are not only working for our great government and people who receive services, make re also trying, to

a point, we are trying to make changes in the affordable care act, also known as obamacare. there are several things about the affordable care act that render that title almost difficult to understand. because the affordable care act , within a year, this congressional budget office said they believed it would be at least twice as expensive as it was originally thought it would be. econdly, 70% more people will be in the system because they provided a figure that did not match what they expect now for people to be in it, for people who moved off of their worker plans, their insurance plans. third, the president stood here one state of the union and said there won't be a dime of

taxpayer money. and lastly, the president of the united states said, and if you like your insurance, i guarantee you, you can keep it. but, mr. speaker, what's happened since then is, this administration was incapable of providing information about how this would work. and even to today, after the announcement was made, people are going onto the web site and learning more about these exchanges. the largest cardiology group in america, cardiologists, heart doctors, were not even included or asked to be in the exchange, not even given a chance to say no thank you. the largest cardiology group in

america. so now the american people are looking at it and saying, my doctor's not even included. so who is included, because my doctor's not? and i'm looking at this plan that is very expensive. granted, state of new york was last, because they had a very expensive plan and it's true in some places, it is less. but the best doctors or the doctors that people went to are not even included in those plans now. the largest cardiology group, the most experienced cardiologyists, the ones you want to go to on medicare, medicaid and for your health insurance are not even going to be included in the government plan. mr. speaker, this is just one

example about the disappointment that the american people have because they were told one thing and they're going to get something else. because you're fighting the government, we have to do it in such a public way. if we simply followed the law and the contract or the express contract did not equal what came out the other end, you could go to court and sue for it, but you can't sue the government over this. so we are litigating this, actually, mr. speaker, saying that we believe this health care, known as obamacare, should not be entered into lightly. we better understand what we're doing and we are asking for a lot of changes. and those changesr we think we ought to delay it, defer it, we have in essence backed up every

single time from our demand. and now we have gotten to the point where we as republicans in our discussions through legislation with the senate have now gotten to the point where we have said we are where we are going to be and as soon as the government shut down, we are going to try to open up the government and make it work. and that's the facts of the case and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: i thought we were here about the working group but we are really here about obamacare. i yield three minutes to the budget ranking member, mr. van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. van hollen: i thank my friend from florida and as the gentleman said, we discovered right now that the government is still shut down because our republican colleagues want to

repeal the affordable care act, obamacare, when in fact, we ould open up the government by passing the clean c.r. the president and the democrats in congress have been trying to have a budget negotiation with our republican colleagues all year long. in fact, in march, the house passed its budget. and in march, the senate passed its budget and just like the textbook says, you are then supposed to have a negotiation between the house and the senate to negotiate your differences, to reach a compromise. what happened? the speaker of the house refused to appoint negotiators from the house. we tried three types to get a vote. each time, the speaker said no. in the united states senate, on 18 occasions, in fact, 19 now, the democratic leader and senator murray tried to get consent to have budget negotiation between the house and the senate on 18 occasions,

senate republicans said no. they didn't want to talk, they didn't want to negotiate. so the clock ticked until we got down to government shutdown. and then what happened, the speaker of the house and the senate democratic leader had a negotiation on sunday on national television. the speaker of the house told the country that he had a negotiation with senator reid. they had gotten a deal. but guess what? the speaker went back on the agreement. why? he told us that, too. he couldn't sell it to a reckless faction of his own party. he wanted to allow that faction of the party to run the country and shut down the government. now what are our republican colleagues saying? they are not going to let us pay our bills on time unless we adopt the republican budget agenda. i want to ask my colleagues and this is an important question for the country, if the president of the united states said that he would veto a debt

ceiling bill, that he would veto legislation to pay the country's bills on time unless -- unless republicans adopted the president's budget and the president's agenda? our republican colleagues would say he's lost his mind. our republican colleagues would probably start impeachment proceedings and that's what they are doing. they are saying they won't take responsibility to pay our country's bills on time unless we adopt the republican budget agenda, unless we say let's get rid of the affordable care act and do everything their way. if the president was to take that position, you would say he was off his rocker. so now, our republican colleagues are coming up with a fake committee where it actually sets the rules -- if i could have 15 more seconds. mr. hastings: i yield 15

seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. van hollen: after the refusal to negotiate you want to set up a fake committee on deficit reduction where you refuse to even include reducing the deficit in part by shutting down tax breaks for big oil companies, because you don't want to use one penny of revenue even from closing tax loopholes to reduce the debt and deficit. apparently it's not important enough to shut down one tax loophole for a special interest. end this sham and open the government. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: mr. speaker, first of all, there is some truth to this. i and the speaker and the majority leader and the whip and our conference, does not want to do anything to empower somebody to raise taxes, but we did want to empower that we would allow,

maybe mr. dingell the dean of the house, maybe mr. van hollen, maybe mr. hastings to be part of a committee, a working group that would sit down with their colleagues and speak honestly and maybe mrs. lowey, speak honestly about how do we get out of this mess that we all have. and as a working group, no dictates about how you got to do what you are going to do, what time frame, except you got to meet and have to be success tlful. make the big deal the big deal. and the big deal right now is spending, debt and how we get this government back to work. that's what i think the legislation does. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: i'm pleased to yield to my very good friend

.rom michigan, mr. levin 1:45 the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized is minutes.d for 13 lsh 4 mr. levin: the republicans have said no unless there was defunding of health care reform. it did not work. so the republicans shut down the government. turns out that tactic was in the works for a year, as described in the "new york times" yesterday, i quote, one morning in a location, the members insist on keeping secret, came a little noticed blueprint to defund obamacare, signed by leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups and arctic you can you lated, take no prisoners legislative strategy that were in conservative circles that republicans could

derail the health care law if they were willing to push fellow republicans including carbous leaders into cutting off financing for the entire government. so now we have a shift, keep the government shut down, let government not pay its bills. why? because the speaker said that it ould be unquote, unconditional surrender. that isn't what is needed. we don't need another supercommittee but allowed to vote. this poster shows 195 democrats willing to reopen the government and 22 republicans. that's the majority of the house. mr. speaker, let democracy prevail. let us vote. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: i will reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, tell me how much time remains. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has 1 1/4 minutes remaining and the gentleman from texas, 2 1/2 remaining. mr. hastings: i yield the remaining time to mr. price. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for the balance of the time. mr. price: this debate is a bizarre experience for those of us who have been urging negotiation on the budget for a year. take the president up on his overture last december. let's go to a conference with the senate and work out a budget. but the republicans have steadfastly refused and run out the clock. and why did they do that? so that in a crisis atmosphere, they could demand a ran some for doing our basic duty, keeping the government open and paying

our bills. well, that's extortion and it's way over the line. we can't do that. in fact, we need to open that government. we could do it tonight. the votes are there if the speaker would simply permit a vote. we could reopen the government immediately. we do romise you, once our basic duty, we will be able to do what we should have been doing all along and that is to negotiate a budget plan, a budget plan that puts everything on the table, receive news, entitlements, all categories of spending, a budget plan that secures this country's economic future and ends this charade that the republicans have put us through here as the new fiscal year begins. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from eye time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hastings: i could use some

of yours if you would give it to me. mr. sessions: some years, i do want to do that. i appreciate the gentleman, my dear colleague from florida who is not only found time over the few years to have humor but a good bit of wisdom and i appreciate the gentleman. mr. speaker, we're here because republicans want us to move forward with a process that is very important and we have had a number of times that the gentlewoman, the ranking member of the appropriations committee, mrs. lowey, great young chairman from kentucky, mr. rogers, chairman of the appropriations, come up to the committee and talk very clearly about their ideas about moving forward to get things done. i don't know that they would be the representatives of this body, but i bet they would be, and i bet you they could make real progress along with perhaps

mr. van hollen and others who are awesome members on their side, members who are committed to getting the work done. but this is a fight. this is a fight. and it's a fight that goes all the way to our friends in the senate and all the way to the president. best i can tell you just as i started, i will end today and i will say today's stale mate is the making of the president. this is his making and he places his own political power, i believe, above the constitution, wanting to dictate policies instead of negotiating them with a dual elected branch of government and that's house of representatives. and i hope that the american people take note of what's happening. the president is different from his predecessors, not in terms of greatness, but rather to the degree in which he is willing to sacrifice this nation's

greatness and willing to take us to the brink rather than negotiating and getting people together. . the house has instructed us, let's get a working group together, let's gather on a bipartisan basis, let's see if we can make progress, not with the president, not with the speaker, but among members of this body who we know and who we respect and let's gather us together and let's get together and let's make a difference. that's what we're trying to suggest today. i will tell you that my colleagues that have been here on the floor, including the great minority whip, i believe have the ability to make this success happen if we will work together. that's what i'm for. i urge my colleagues to support the legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. all time for debate has

ex-peer. pursuant to hougs resolution 373, the previous question is ordered on the bill. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to establish a bicameral working group on deficit reduction and economic growth. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentlewoman opposed to the bill? >> i am opposed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman qualifies. the clerk will report the motion. mr. sessions: i reserve a point of order on this motion. the speaker pro tempore: the points of order are reserved. the clerk will report. the clerk: ms. brownlee of california -- ms. brownlee: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes in support of her motion. ms. brownlee: thank you, mr. speaker. this is a final amendment to h.r. 3273. if adopted, the bill will

immediately proceed to final as passenger as amended. my amendment is a simple, straightforward improvement that i believe both sides can agree is absolutely necessary and it is also supported by the majority of the american people. if my amendment passes, it will end this reckless and irresponsible government shutdown. the majority claims that the bill before us right now will force the house and senate to negotiate but as written this bill will do nothing of the sort. it will simply prolong the government shutdown. it will prolong the pain being done to our veterans, to the national guard and reserves, and to women, infants, and children. and most importantly, this bill will prolong the pain being inflicted on our economy. let's be clear. this bill is a bill to nowhere.

in my view, there is no one in this room right now who thinks this bill will reopen the government. since april, the senate has tried 19 times to request a conference with the house. but each time, the request was blocked by senate republicans. after months of stalling and preventing a budget conference i'm amazed that my friends on the other side of the aisle want us to believe that they are ready to negotiate a budget. we have had months to produce a budget that the house and senate could agree on. if my colleagues truly want to negotiate a budget that will move our country forward, they must vote yes on my amendment. once we have reopened the government, we can then sit down and work out a budget for the long-term. we can do this in a bipartisan

manner. without our economy sinking. without our constituents being hurt. and we can do it in a manner that is becoming to this house. mr. speaker, there is no doubt that congress must get its fiscal house in order, and i believe both sides must come together to find solutions that better reflect the values of the american people. but instead of ending the shutdown, we continue to consider bills that simply just play games. we cannot open the entire federal government one bill at a time. if we continue down this path, the government will remain closed for the next three months. how much damage would that do to the economy? how many veterans would go without benefits? how many kids would lose head start funding? how many families would go without nutritional assistance. we cannot continue to play

these games for three more months. the american people and the residents of my great county, ventura county, deserve better. we can end this insanity right now. reopen the government. spare the american people the effects of this shutdown and then come together to resolve our differences. to put bills on the floor that pretend to take care of our nation's critical needs when they do not is shameful. i came to congress to move our country forward, to help the family the veterans, the small and large employers in ventura county, to create jobs and to invest in our future. we need to end this shutdown today. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition?

mr. sessions: i make a point of order that the amendment contained in the order violates the rule commonly referred to as the germaneness rule. the speaker pro tempore: the objective of the bill -- mr. sessions: the objective of the bill under consideration is o establish a working group or committee. the amendment seeks to amend a senate amendment, therefore it fails jermaneness. i quote, if the purpose or objective of the amendment is unrelated to the bill to which it is offered, the amendment may not be held jermane. accordingly, the amendment proposed in the motion is not germane to the bill and i respectfully request a ruling from the chair. the speaker pro tempore: does any member wish to be heard on the point of order? ms. brownlee: i request to be heard on the point of order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. brownlee: doesn't the bill

before us set up a committee to examine deficit reduction? my my motion would open up the entire federal government so our taxpayers can receive the benefits they have already paid for. the recommit deals with government expenditures and right now we are running a deficit so isn't the amount the government is spending a relevant topic to deficit reduction? can the chair explain why it's not germane to open up the entire federal government while we discuss deficit reduction? mr. speaker, if you rule this motion out of order, does that mean we will not have a chance to keep the entire federal government open today? can the chair please explain y we can't keep the entire federal government open? the speaker pro tempore: the chair is prepared to rule. the gentleman from texas makes a point of order that the instruction proposed in the motion to recommit offered by the gentlewoman from california are not germane. as recorded in section 932 of the house rules manual, a general principle of

germaneness is that an amendment must relate to the subject matter under consideration. he bill seeks to start a working group and as such forms a joint rule. in contrast, the motion to recommit provides for disposition of an extant legislative measure and proposes a special order of business of the house. by addressing a different exercise in rule making than the pending bill, the instructions proposed a nongermane amendment. the point of order is sustain. ms. brownlee: i appeal the ruling of the chair. mr. sessions: i move to -- the speaker pro tempore: the be ion is will the rule the judgment of the house. the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: i move to table.

ms. brownlee: i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the motion to table will be followed by five-minute votes on passage of the bill, passage of house joint resolution 89 and the question on agreing to the speaker's approval of the journal if ordered. this is a 15-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 227, the nays are 194. the motion is adopted. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays ared or everyday. 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 224, the nays are 197.

the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the passage of house joint resolution 89 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will re-- will report the title of the joint resolution. the clerk: joint resolution making appropriationers in salaries and related expenses of certain federal employees during a lapse in funding authority for fiscal year 2014 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of they have joint resolution. 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 420, the nays are zero. the joint resolution is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the pun infinish -- the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. and the journal stands pproved. pursuant to section 3-b of house resolution 373, h.r. 3273 s laid on the table. he house will be in order. the house will be in order. please remove your conversations from the house floor.

the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania eek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. will the gentleman suspend for one moment, please. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. please remove your conversations from the house floor. he house will be in order. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, weeks ago the administration reached out to capitol hill to continue budget negotiations. and according to "the national journal" and i quote, the majority leader reid's office had a message for them. don't do it. end quote. quote, the white house listened. the summit was nixed and no serious talks have occurred

since, end quotes, the article continues. as the government shutdown stretches into the second week, the article states, the white house has embraced reid's hard-line, no-negotiations stance at least so far, end of quotes. unfortunately hard-liner, non-negotiable posturing seems to be all the senate leader knows. today the house passed the head start for low-income childrens act,. -- act. the program remains a priority of the president, yet the white house just announced a veto threat on the bill. without doubt, at the senate majority leader's request. if this isn't a purely political move, i don't know what is. i urge the senate and the president to join 57 of my democratic colleagues who are supporting the solutions being put forth by the house. the american people deserve as much. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? without objection.

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise this evening to highlight just one of the stories that comes in each and every day from my congressional district. highlighting the unnecessary hardships the republican government shutdown has brought on the american people. one of my constituents who works in business aviation contacted my office just this week to tell me about the burden the shutdown has had on his business and his family's bottom line. during the government shutdown, aviation components cannot be produced, financed, bought, sold, inspected or registered without the federal workers that are currently furloughed. today large parts of this industry and our economy at large simply cannot function. stories like this will continue until the house brings up the senate's c.r. which funds our government at the level house republicans had fought for. stories like these are not isolated to upstate new york. this is happening in countless corners of our nation, across all regions, in all of our districts back home. a piecemeal approach that picks

winners and losers in our federal agencies is no way to run the country. bring up the senate c.r., take yes for an answer, let's get this nation back to work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. there are just two issues stopping the obama shutdown from ending. number one, make congress and the white house obey the same obamacare rules as everyone else. number two, the president let business off the hook for a year. we want workers to be let off the hook for a year, too. that's what republicans, democrats and independents in my district all want. and that's what the republican ask is. equal justice for all

americans. what's so hard to understand about that? it's really, really that simple. they will negotiate with putin, assad, even iran. mr. posey: but not with house republicans. that's not fair, that's not right, and that's not good for the united states of america. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. rangel: mr. speaker, one of the things i've enjoyed in this house is the sincerity. there's not a member of this house that thinks the president of the united states is going to delay, repeal or tear apart the affordable care act. but if there's politics involved, i understand that. i'm a politician. and it just seems to me that if you have a plan, a strategy and the whole world is saying that

a handful of people are destroying the credibility of the republican party, and they are taking down the party with them, and therefore taking down the democrats with them, and taking down the congress with them, and even the president of the united states, because these handful of people, then i think it's safe to say, it's time to look for some credibility so that we can regain being a two-party state. so i didn't come here this morning to get arrested. but i did get arrested because there are tens of thousands and millions of people that want to become americans. they don't want to knock republicans, they don't want democrats, they want to be americans. bring up the immigration bill. let's vote these new wonderful, new citizens in and maybe they can bring some sense to the parties. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition?

without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. >> mr. speaker, i would like to repeat what my colleague from florida said. my democrat colleague suggested that if the house only passes the clean senate c.r., that we can move on with business. i will point out that the house will only consider -- excuse me, the senate will only consider the house c.r., we can also move on. but the problem is that there's two provisions. mr. cassidy: one provision takes away a sweetheart deal that only members of congress and their staff get, and secondly, since the president delayed the mandate on employers to provide insurance for a year, similarly we would delay the mandate on the employee to have that insurance. if she is reliant upon our employer to provide the policy, what is she to do if he is given a break on not providing that policy? now, we can quickly reopen the government, the american people -- ex keys new -- excuse me, the house republicans have voted a budget which it would

completely fund, but it has those provisions which senator reid will not even negotiate over. he will not even come together to discuss these two things. so i ask senator reid to address it as a favor to both to our country and to the american taxpayer. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. kingston: address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kingston: mr. speaker, over my years in congress, i've had the honor of chairing several conference committees. and conference committees are set up when there's a disagreement between a house-passed bill and a senate-passed bill. you sit down with your list of differences and you start sawing away at them, if you will. and that's in fact what the house has been doing the past two weeks, in the midst of this shutdown. finding some things such as military pay, such as science, such as civilian furlough issues, such as health-related issues. finding some things that are less controversial in which we

can agree so we can get some momentum to come up with the big agreement. and indeed the gap is large. we have a disagreement on obamacare. because it's 1/6 of the economy. it's a very big issue. secondly, we have a disagreement on the debt ceiling. do we continue along the path of spending that we are or do we make corrections? and thirdly, we have a $90 billion gap between our spending level between the house and the senate. these are big issues. but sometimes a long journey starts with small steps. that's why i urge our friends in the senate to pass the legislation which the senate -- the house has sent over to them and then we can start focusing on the largest issues there are. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. are there any further requests for one-minute speeches? the gentlewoman from texas is recognized or for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: i ask

unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, we in texas know that when the cattle starts stampeding, you're really in trouble. so my friends on the other side of the aisle haven't realized that the cattle in the united states are stampeding. 57,000 seats at head start are gone. veterans centers will be closed in a couple of days. federal courts are looking at whether or not they can stay open past october 15. u.s. attorneys are laying off various u.s. attorneys across america. up to 4,000. and we actually have rules in this house. the rules that brought about the agreement in the beginning of the year when we actually billion a $9886 number that the republicans have. we agreed to the tax reform that the republicans had and democrats agreed. now they want to throw on us another supercommittee, fool's folly, talking about discretionary spending, the debt ceiling and