attempting to is the majority leader and attempting to work through a process in another way and that is to empower the members -- by the way, i am not nancy pelosi the democrat leader. i haven't even spoken with her. you would be one of the first persons i would put on this conference. i would trust your ability to work in a collegial manner and in a way that represented thoughtful ideas about how to resolve the differences as opposed to perhaps more public speakers like senate majority leader and the speaker of the house. i think what we are trying to do is empower people to get something done as opposed to putting them into a process that would not work.

i would trust you. not to wrap your hands up. we are trying to give you a mission statement. with that said, the gentleman is correct. i am not in favor of one of your ,et projects to tax gasoline gasoline at the pump. you and i both know we disagree with this. i know you are a strong supporter. people who have children that are disabled have bigger vehicles. one of the things that i am very sensitive about his families who are able to avoid gasoline -- afford gasoline is already twice as expensive under president obama as it was before he took office. many of these families are having problems. on the other side, you mentioned taxes as it relates to perhaps upper income people. back home, there are people who believe if they are paying, they are working hard, because they

have a job and not everybody has got a job -- but if they are paying money as a high income earner or others who have no participation in the process, that they should not be held back from how much they can do uct on a pretax basis. a lot of people are struggling anday the bills of taxes their family and so what republicans are not interested in is not increasing taxes on people who are paying the taxes. 'hey are paying for others misfortune, not always their own, but they are helping pay for people to have things and they would like the same right to take care of their families. we are opposed to tax increases. that is why it is not in there. if we start with a definition,

because i wrote the bill, you are right. we disagree. beon't think that you would met in this committee if you are chosen to be one of the people, that you would not have an opportunity to work with your colleagues. that is what we are trying to do. >> if i could just respond. >> you will certainly be allowed to do that. >> thank you. it has been great working here. i have not called for an increase in the gas tax. let's be clear about that. i have said that i think we should get rid of the tax breaks for the top four integrated oil companies. all the testimony before this congress indicates that because you have a pretty competitive market in that area, they would not raise prices at the pump. they would reduce the profits which have been huge. if you raise your price at the

pump and the smaller guys are not, then obviously you are going to get less customers. this is a way to remove the taxpayer subsidy for big oil accident that was an of history to begin with. number two, when i talk about higher income people being able to take more, we are talking to sharon responsibility. i am talking about folks or making over $1 million a year. you shouldn't be able to get more in terms of tax reduction's -- deductions than somebody in a middle income area. you should get the same for example 28% tax break on your deductions instead of a 39% or 37% tax rate. doesn'tthe millionaire get excessive deductions in comparison to a middle income. when we talk about reducing the

budget deficit, we believe that you can only do it in a way that doesn't do a great violence to important investments and to commitments we have made to our seniors, medicare and other important areas. without having a shared responsibility -- we need to make additional cuts. cutelieve we should also these tax breaks going forward and if you don't do that, then you really are going to do violence to some important commitments we have made to seniors and others. that is why -- we can disagree on that. that is our whole point. that is what the budget negotiation between the house and the senate which we have been trying to have is supposed to resolve. you can't resolve it when the speaker has blocked budget negotiations. i think the gentleman knows that. when you resolve it write a new committee whose charter excludes the whole

question of trying to have some loophole closures in order to reduce the deficit. >> i appreciate the gentleman. to close the loopholes as you're suggesting -- i am opposed to further tax increases. i have been up here a few years. i know who wants a tax increase and who doesn't. i know that somebody is interested in taking a $700 -- out of obamacare. we offer each other a lot of solace about the position we are in. i hope that when this passes that the senate will look at it as an opportunity and it would be my expectation that you would be one of the bright souls who would be given this authority and responsibility. the gentlewoman from carolina. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have no questions.

>> he gentlewoman from new york. >> i am pretty speechless. thank you so much. i think your presentation was cogent. it hit all the points that we need to hit. all crying in are the wilderness here and nothing we are doing here is going to move the well-being of the future of this country. i understand, so on with the dance. thank you. >> the gentleman from utah is recognized. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. >> this is a question of process. a number of bills that have been brought before this committee have never been heard by the committee's or jurisdictions. the original jurisdiction is the rules committee.

are we going to have a hearing or is this going to substitute for that? >> this is the committee and that is what we are doing right now. there is a lot of truth to what the gentleman said. that is what i chose to do this today. this happened because there was a report out of the white house yesterday that senior advisers to the president have said that the president would sooner have the united states default then him negotiate. that was a position that was --olutely right wing whack we are trying to work around that. the speaker of the house and i -- it is outrageous. that is why we are here today. >> i thank the chairman. today is october 8, i am i correct.

on october 17, we default if we don't do something. this is day nine of the government -- the republican government shutdown. this is what we are bringing to the floor? this, there is nothing -- you were talking about negotiating. there is nothing in here that mentions the president. there is nothing in here that says that if you pass this, the government reopens. am i correct about that? if passing this does not reopen the government -- >> it is my hope that the american people would see the people that are there for the best interest of the american people. >> so the answer on that is no. there is nothing in here that deals with the issue of our debt. that comes on october 17.

there are no instructions, just basic guidance. the last thing we need at this moment is yet another committee. mr. van hollen is a ranking democrat on the budget committee. led by mr.committee ryan, i disagree with them soundly on all bunch of issues. unless, went through the process -- nonetheless, went through the process of developing a budget. everyone is talking about regular order. you have a house budget and a senate budget. that youseem to me already have the committees. don't think they can resolve the differences, appoint the countries so they can at least -- conferees so they can at least try. for six months, we have been trying to get a conference going on that.

this doesn't do anything. this doesn't stop the government shutdown. it doesn't deal with the issue of the debt ceiling. i call this the supercommittee 2 : the wrath of cruz. it is nothing. at a time when we need to be doing something. to reopen the government. to deal with this looming threat of defaulting on our good faith and credit. just a little bit stunned that at this moment -- it doesn't even tell you how long this committee is supposed to be. nothing other than getting together and talking. even for you guys, i expected

something a little bit more thoughtful. we are running out of time. we are running out of time here. it is what it is. we will bring it to the floor and go through this raid and again -- charade, and again waste some more time. there is a simple answer. pass the clean cr at your levels. you won on that. do that. deal with the debt ceiling and then sit down and get the budget committees to get together and work out their differences so we can deal with our long-term spending and deficit issues. that would be my suggestion. >> i think the gentleman from oklahoma. have no questions from a good friend from the budget committee. i make one observation which is

that i don't wish that you were on this committee. you are my friend. [laughter] i wouldn't put my friend on this committee. i know that if that opportunity presented itself to you, i know that you would take it up seriously and responsibly and conduct yourself. i yield back. >> you say you have a lot of friends out here mr. van hollen. i am not your only dear friend that is here. the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> everybody in this room that are members of congress were elected to do exactly what this legislation calls for some working group to do. it may come as no surprise to you that there are those of us in congress that were not happy with any committee of our congress being divided whether mr. van hollen or anybody else was on it. i feel my responsibility is to .y constituency and to america

i awakened this morning and came here and the first thing that came to me before i came to the capital early this morning was a fax from one of my staff from something called buzzfeed. buzzfeed was mindful of what you all were getting ready to do before you went to your conference. i had no idea. i serve on the rules committee as do all the members that are here. i had no idea that we would be discussing anything like this today. eric cantor discharging his responsibilities. this is the rules committee. you can bring up anything that you want at any given time under the martial law but then i heard you, mr. chairman. just said to mr. mcgovern that

this is occurring, meaning this because some, person, unidentified evidently otherwise i would hope that you would call that person's name, said that the president would let the nation default. therefore, this is the position that you are taking? anonymous some somebody saying something about the president? is that what you're doing here? >> in fact, the speaker of the house has been engaged in negotiations. he went last week to the white house. that,esident indicated thank you for coming down here, he is not interested in negotiating. reinforcing a continued effort that we believe from the white house. we are trying to work around that. , anith all due respect additional question to you and

then i will yield. that is not what i asked you. what you just said was that someone said that the president would allow us to default on our debt. your comment was, based on that, that is why you are doing what we are doing here. i ask you, is that true? is that why you're doing this? he responded just then -- you responded just than by saying someone went to the white house a week ago. the president said, that he was not going to negotiate. what is it? why are you bringing this useless piece of legislation that obviously you would know is not going anywhere? is it based on some anonymous statement? >> i do appreciate the gentleman. i understand that the gentleman

is opposed to this. with that said, we have brought numerous pieces of legislation to the floor in response to not only the cr but also how we deal with the government shutdown. i am well aware that there are things that gentleman agrees with and some that he has agreed with them and then against them. we believe that what we are trying to do is to say to house members and senate members, we think that outside of the leadership of both of these organizations and the president, we simply said it would be an equal number and they have to meet no later than one day after they are appointed. let's get to work. that would've what we are trying to say. what you're saying is very important. stated that head would prefer default.

is that correct? >> no, ma'am. i said that the senior advisor said that the president would sooner default than to engage in negotiations. we can get the quote for you. >> i certainly want to see it. the president is not going to do any such thing. the full faith and credit of the united states is so important to him that he will not negotiate over it. >> the speaker of the house yesterday when on the floor and acknowledged exactly the characterization that is more correct -- the speaker said it on he spoke yesterday on the floor. that is what told us that we need to go a different route. >> we have heard a lot of characterizations that have been totally untrue. here is what i interrupted to say.

there is now a new bill. it is going to be added to the schedule today. we have not seen this bill. we know nothing about it. i'm assuming that you have to recess now. i will tell you that we object most strenuously to the way this government is being run. what you're saying is that nearly half the house of representatives are not worthy of being in a committee so that they can have some input on what is being done but the rules committee which is supposed to be the final spot has no idea. we saw this 30 minutes ago. you, iso really ask that what we are going to do today? >> thank you very much. in fact, we will continue to

have pages of legislation that will be added. some will be tomorrow. some will be later. they do address the needs of the business. we don't agree with the way the government is being run either. >> open up the united states government. this is such a farce. all we have to do is open up the government, put people back to work. this is just a strange dance we are going through. it is not worthy of united states government. i thank you very much for yielding. >> i think the chairman as well. let me give the chairman and the members some new news. as of 11:30 this morning, the white house issued this statement. presidentmorning, the telephoned speaker john boehner from the oval office and repeated what he told him when they met at the white house last week. the president is willing to

negotiate with republicans after the threat of government shutdown and default has been removed. think the republicans would strengthen the country. the president also repeated his willingness to negotiate on priorities that he has identified including policies that expand economic opportunity for private sector job creation, and hence competitiveness of american business emma and strengthen the affordable care act and continue to reduce the nation's deficit. the president urged the speaker to hold a vote in the house of representatives on the senate measure that would reopen the federal government immediately. toing the senate intention pass a clean your long of the debt limit this week, the president also pressed the speaker to allow a timely up or down vote in the house to raise the debt limit with no ideological strings attached.

he noted that only congress has the authority to raise the debt limit. failure to do so would have grave consequences for middle- class families and the american economy as a whole. that is the latest from the president. oft is incomplete reputation any anonymous statement that any staff person may have said and is pretty clear. i want to come back to you and ask you again, another question. can you guarantee that if this meet andn were to bring out findings, that you and or the speaker can guarantee that tea party members will support those recommendations? >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and i would like to say mr. boehner does recognize your friendship and support of your

district and is delighted that you are here on the rules committee with us. that is an outstanding question. i would say that as the american people hear the debate that takes place between these members who would be there, we hope that the american people really engage on this issue that would have great leverage with all of our members and it would be i think beneficial. as best i can tell you, as i look at the gentlewoman from new york, i think the american people do need to see how we are going to do this. i appreciate the gentleman for asking. >> i have additional questions. is in reading and rereading the legislation and asking my staff to review it, it says absolutely nothing about how much this will cost. these committees don't just come

into existence all of a sudden and don't cost anything. since you have left that out, i --ld hope before we report normally i am in agreement with reporting out the rule most immediately, but normally isn't good enough in these times. we ought to have some idea about how much it will cost the taxpayers to establish such a commission and to have it render its majority and minority reports. does the chairman have an answer to that? >> i do. the working group is what this is called. it is in fact a working group. it is not a committee. it is a working group. bipartisan. not gone and calculated that. i would say, i appreciate the question and we think is working group can get done and get to work and would be done --

>> you sure have a strange way of evading questions. >> if i had an answer, i would give it to you. >> i am delighted to know that you don't have an answer. that is what should be in this legislation. all other legislation that created committees created the financing for those committees. this one does not. i will offer an amendment to the rule that will allow that we do at least establish something, if nothing more than to say that each member;s representational alliance -- we are off the track here. perpetuatingstand legislation and allowing for a working group to be established if they don't have good working staff and some of the others have had. i range all the way back to good friends of mine in the coalition

long before we got to where we are. apparently your staffer wants to have me say something that you need to say. let me yield to you. >> what i wanted to reply back is, if we use as a standard the committee which was for the purpose of trying to cut a deal of long-term debt, we did give them a designation. we gave them a timeframe. we told them what to do, what the rules -- we are not trying to do that at all. we are trying to establish a working group. -- i appreciate this. we are trying to get a resolution of some ideas. >> i think i may have a solution. if the budget committee that has -- i ambeen constituted

sure mr. van holland would not object to having a conference committee televised to the american people to have this discussion that you want. and we don't have to worry about having more money. off, i think the gentleman very much. what you have done here in this legislation that you proposed as mr. van hollen has wisely pointed out, you say that the working group's charge is number one, overall levels of discretionary spending including for the fiscal year ending on september 30 one to 14. -- 2014. the simple fact of the matter is something that is revenue neutral. that is what you have done. i would ask mr. van holland, do

you perceive it the same as i do? how it is your charge would be revenue neutral since it would not include any potential for spending and revenue increases. says -- eventhis though the title says deficit reduction, we would only allow the group to pursue one kind of deficit reduction. you would not be allowed to both do targeted cuts which we should do and cuts to tax breaks. we talked about big oil company subsidies. you've got big wall street hedge lowerwners who get a much tax rate than the ordinary americans. under this legislation, you couldn't reduce the deficit by closing some of the tax breaks. >> absolutely. in this nation, one present of

the people in this country have hijacked the middle class. that is what my colleagues on the democrat side are trying to do -- that is increase the middle class and white in it so so thisient -- widen nation could go forward. that harry reid will let it reach the pilot his desk. i think it is important for the a partialknow that list of bipartisan budget 2010 -- thereince have been commissions that people forget. the cantor-biden talks, the

obama-boehner debt ceiling negotiations, the gang of six thes, the supercommittee obama fiscal cliff stalks. everyone of them went nowhere. had we done it at that time, it would have made sense. have we done what the senator wanted to do with his people -- there are things in there i would not have agreed upon but that might not us at a better position today. all i would say is -- this will be my final question. what happens if and when this commission if it were -- a working group, excuse me, if is working group fails and the next cr and debt ceiling increase needs to be passed? what happens then?

>> i thank the gentleman for his question. the answer is that i believe what we are trying to do is come up with an idea to empower members as opposed to leadership that we have been doing. i think our leaders have been unable to do that. job of and fore his thoughtful questions and his answers. i would say, this is another opportunity and we are going to that --ing >> i thank the gentleman. i borrow my time back just to say. i don't need other members to tell me how to do my job. i don't need the leadership of this congress on either side telling me how to do my job. delegates inthe this congress have minds that are just as sound and solid as everybody else. all we have to do is go right

down to the floor right now and put on the floor a clean cr and let the body work its will. i predict that it would pass and you all are holding it up and you ought to be held responsible by the american people that you continue to talk about. i want to take something else. i don't only represent my constituents. i represent the people that didn't vote that our american people. they are deserving of our consideration. i don't need a commission to tell me nothing. if we ought to do it, then we ought to do what mr. mcgovern says. but if the public and let everybody see what it is we are doing. the speaker said he wouldn't participate in any more backroom negotiations. toe we are getting ready establish something else that is going to be some kind of supercommittee. cut me some slack. i yield back. >> this working group is an idea that i would say that i am

delighted that everyone has been here. gentleman tohe note that we are on a series of votes that will take place. i would like to ask that you the gentleman please come back after the floor vote and that we plan to add a measure on the faa because this hearing has gone on. we will keep adding ideas. we recess until 2:15. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the house passed a bill tuesday to provide on-time pay for federal workers regarded as essential who are working during the government shutdown. including capitol hill police. next, the house floor today. this is 30 minutes.

five legislative days and was to revise and extend the remarks and include extraneous to derail -- material. yield myself such time as i might consume. >> the gentleman is recognized. bring legislation that i before the house today is very simple. it is very straightforward, very clear. very understandable. quite frankly, i think it should be noncontroversial. what this bill does is simply say that the federal employees who have been working during this shutdown are going to be paid and they are going to be paid on time. a lot of people during this shutdown have been coming to work every day. for countlessed

hours for the citizens of our nation. they deserve to be paid. it is very central. if you work, you get paid. for instance, the capitol police. they are on the job. they are working every day. last week, they rushed into harms way in the line of duty. employees deserve to take home a paycheck because they are on the job. other federal workers that are working every day during the shutdown, some of them are that ouro make sure safety and well-being is in place. some are working to make sure that the critical needs of our citizens are met. some are working to make sure that businesses aren't unduly harmed during the shutdown and some are working to make sure

that the federal government extends a helping hand to those people that are the most vulnerable and truly in need. simplyis bill does is say, as long as the shutdown is going on, until it ends, the people that come to work everyday deserve to be paid. they deserve to be paid on time. people that come to work everyday are just like everybody else. they got bills to pay. they got mortgage payments they got to make. they have to pay their rent. they got to make car payments. they got to pay their utility bills. they got mouths to feed back home. there is no reason they should be punished because democrats and republicans in the white house can agree on how to move forward on funding the federal government. it is the goal of this congress as always to make sure that federal employees are paid and that they are paid on time. we usually do that by passing

appropriations bills. we do that, fund the programs and salaries are paid on a continuing basis. we usually do that by the end of the fiscal year. i hope we don't find ourselves in this position ever again. right now it is time to come together. that people who go to work everyday get paid on time. we came together on saturday and said that those federal employees who had been furloughed -- we said that they would be paid on a retroactive basis. i hope that we can come together vote to saynanimous that people who go to work are going to get paid on time. i urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from florida reserves his time. the gentleman from new york is

recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume it. let me start by saying that i wish we were here on the floor to consider a bill that would reopen the entire federal government. this bill would pay all federal employees across the government as they would normally be paid. dos is the right thing to for all of our accepted federal employees who have continued to work during the shutdown. while this bill will provide some certainty to those individuals, we all know that there are much easier and better methods of accomplishing this goal. that is to consider and pass a clean senate continuing resolution. that would reopen our federal government immediately. i am still unclear as to why republicans are refusing to allow a vote on the most basic solution for this reckless shutdown. while this bill guarantees timely pay for our employees, it does not reopen the federal government. that means it does nothing to

solve the many problems that american people are facing as a result of the republican decision to shut down the government. within the subcommittee that i am the ranking member of, the financial services subcommittee, the shutdown has required the small business administration to furlough almost two thirds of its workforce. the agency has had to shatter almost -- shutter almost all of its loan programs. judiciary,federal the federal defense is currently have enough funding to continue operations for a couple of weeks. once that time is up, they may be unable to fulfill their constitutional duty to uphold the rights of criminal defendants. the consumer product safety commission has been cut from 540 employees to 22. that makes it near impossible

for the agency to perform its duty of reviewing thousands of different kinds of products. this will clearly increase the risk to the public. has been forced to furlough most of its workforce, preventing the agency from providing taxpayer assistance to or eveno have questions to accept paper tax filings. the irs rings and the vast majority of our nation's revenue and the republican shutdown is harming our ability to pay our bills. the american people need a full continuing resolution so that their government can perform the many duties that remain essential to the american consumers, investors, taxpayers and small businesses. a clean cr would do just that. i realize that the majority wants to do this piecemeal, one of the time. i think i am doing some math. at this rate, the full government will be open by 2025.

i am hoping we could do it before that. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> i would like to be recognized for five minutes. >> the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for five minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support of this legislation. this bill addresses a critical issue facing the congress right now. ensures that the essential personnel who have been working throughout the shutdown receive their hard-earned pay on time. these diligent men and women are protecting our homeland, ensuring our safety and well- being. they are providing critical services for our people and shielding our economy. they have been by our side as we work to find a way out of the mess that we find ourselves in. they have been guarding this very building. responsibility to

these dedicated professionals that they received due compensation for their service to this nation. addition, the house will continue a second piece of legislation this afternoon which will become mind with this bill and sent to the senate. the second bill will provide a path forward to bring all parties to the table to end the government shut down. been week, this house has toiling, working, trying to find a way to end the impasse or at least mitigate its effect as we work toward a solution to this very serious problem. we provided bills that would fund the entire government and avenues to reopening a certain critical government functions. we even proposed a conference committee hoping the senate would finally agree to talk to the house. we heard nothing. a week later, we are still no closer to a resolution. the senate has turned down

nearly every bill we have sent them. they have rejected every compromise we have offered. conference refused a committee to attempt to find some sort of solution. after eight days of a shutdown, it is high time that we all start having real adult conversations about how to get out of this mess. this second bill will establish a working group. it will provide a framework to get the house and senate together to hash out our differences on the myriad fiscal crises that we are currently facing. if enacted, it would require by law, members from both houses to meet and work our way toward a final agreement. there is far too much at stake now to the stock in our ways. we must work together in a productive fashion. imperative that we get our fiscal house in order and put

our budgets on an attainable and sustainable path. we must have a common agreed- upon discretionary spending level with the senate which will allow our panel -- annual appropriations work to be continued this year. we must enact meaningful common sense entitlement for grammar that will slow the monstrous growth of these autopilot programs. we need to ensure that they are sustainable in the future. stop them from devouring the entirety of our federal budget including funding for domestic programs and national defense and prevent them from plunging our nation further into debt. i believe that the members of this house and of the senate are reasonable people. people of good will. people who wish to do right by this country. that thisy i hope

house will approve both of these bills today. this is the right thing to do. end to this an government shut down. to tackle our spending problems and our debt limit. to show the people that of the united states that we are here to legislate, not pontificate. they expect and deserve no less. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. i thank the gentleman for yielding. >> the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> madam speaker, i yield two minutes for the gentleman from virginia, my dear friend mr. moran. >> the gentleman from virginia is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank my good friend from new york. trust that my good friend from kentucky was referring to anybody on this side of the aisle when he referred to pontificating.

obviously, madam speaker, on the side of the aisle, we are going to vote for this bill. the democrats never wanted a shutdown in the first place. i want to remind my colleagues that the vast majority of federal employees in their district are considered nonessential. what i would like for my colleagues to reflect on what that means for each individual family, were the breadwinner has been working hard at their job, making his family proud or her family proud, comes home and has to announce that they are furloughed because they were considered to be nonessential. imagine if that happened in the house. and we had to divide up between essential and nonessential. how would we feel? i know it brings smiles as it did in the caucus just a few minutes ago.

think about it. it is wrong to have this arbitrary distinction. 90% of the irs is considered nonessential. ,0% of the department of energy 90% of the environmental protection agency, 81% of the interior department, 70% of the intelligence agencies are considered nonessential. they are not nonessential. they are working hard. they ought to be able to get back to their jobs. we need them to bed back to their jobs. it is very disappointing that the senate has held up a bill that we voted for unanimously on saturday. i hope they will let that lose. the reality is, when we vote to pay people, we recognize they deserve to be paid. if they are being paid, all of them want to be working for that pay. that is what we need to do. we need to open the entire government, let everyone work

for their pay as they wanted it. thank you, madam speaker. >> the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> i would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, outstanding member of the appropriations committee. from georgia is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and thank you madam speaker. i rise in support of this bill because people do need a paycheck. they need to be able to plan their expenses based on their income. we have disrupted that income flow. let's getense to say, the pay schedule back on track. i want to say something in a broader context. as to offering the senate three different compromises on keeping the government open, three different compromises that were rejected, and then a fourth conference anda

start negotiating. all of those were rejected. context, we have a few things that we can agree on. whichlitary pay bill included the men and women in uniform and the civilian support -- recently we came together again for the furloughed employees to be able to get back pay for the time for which they are out of work. we tried the other day to pass a .id from the house we are looking at other programs that have passed on a bipartisan basis. head start, impact aid, we have a number of others. why are those importing? because many of us have shared and participated in conference andittees where house

senate members come together to iron out their differences. frequently, the gap is huge. frequently, the differences are numerous. we know from experience that if chopping those big differences into small steps, and until you close the gap. that is what the house appropriations committee is doing. much of it with the support of democrat house members. if we can get some of these things off the table -- can i have another minute? >> the gentleman from georgia has another minute. >> if we could get some of the things off the table, if we could agree on military pay, if we could agree on civilian support staff, if we can agree on furloughed employees and we can agree that science and public health should be off the then that big gap that stands between us and the senate right now begins to narrow.

be greatstill going to differences that we -- that aren't going to be easy. i think it is very important for us to come together and find the things on which we do agree and at least move in a positive direction on them. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> i yield two minutes to a great gentleman from maryland. >> gentleman is recognized. ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, i rise in strong support for paying our federal workers. i oppose the parliamentary gimmicks being used by the majority. that is why i voted no. this resolution would ensure that the more than 1.2 million dedicated federal employees who

have been required by their agencies to work during the government shutdown will receive their paychecks on time. womencommitted men and have been at their duty stations without pay. for eight days since republicans took our government hostage as part of a crusade to take health care from our citizens. it is only fair and right that we pay them in a timely manner for the services they have rendered. these employees have mortgages, student loans and children in college. to provide for their families and they need their paychecks. -he house unanimously passed hr 3223, the retroactive pay fairness act which would give to employees furloughed as a result of this shutdown. i understand that a republican senator is blocking

consideration of that bill in the senate. our federal workers have endured relentless assaults over the past three years and they have sacrificed much already. they have suffered through a three-year pay freeze, reductions in retirement benefits, and sequester him hers -- imposed furloughs. it is time to stop. i support our federal workers 89 but iport hd res opposed the measure to which it will be passed. this bill would not be necessary. with that, i yield back. >> the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> can i inquire as to how much time each side has remaining? >> the gentleman from florida has nine and a quarter minutes. the gentleman from new york has 13 minutes remaining.

yield fourlike to minutes to the distinguished gentleman mr. wolf. >> thank you, madam speaker. thank mr. crenshaw for yielding. also, the staffs have been incredibly helpful and the leadership for bringing this reservation to the floor. i believe that most members believe that federal employees should be paid. too many federal employees don't know when the next pay check will arrive and are worried about paying their next mortgage payment, paying utility bills or filling up their cars with gas or paying for their children's

student tuition which is coming up soon. we need to fix this. that is why i joined last week with mr. moran and others 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 are paid once the shutdown ends. i am pleased that this bill passed the house floor. i urge the senate and i urge that both a republican and a democrat senator had this bill on hold. i don't understand the senate's ways of going about this. i think of any senator has a hold, they ought to feel strongly enough that they ought to do it publicly so we know who they are. on behalf ofhem the people who are having a difficult time to lift that old. this house acted to ensure that members of the military and defense department would be paid

on time. i am pleased that the act was passed. today's legislation builds on these efforts by showing -- ensuring that other exempt , the fbi team fbi lookingbi, cia that are at things coming in with regard to al qaeda, dea, stopping drugs from coming into this country, the border patrol doctors and nurses, federal firefighters, air traffic controllers will be paid as soon as possible. i hope the house will follow the bipartisan president we have said over and over. colleagues recognize that federal employees aren't just name of faces behind desks. they are real people.

they work to keep our country safe and i want to thank the chairman for bringing this bill up. >> the gentleman from florida reserves. gentleman from new york is recognized. clarify, it is a gentleman of the moderate party that is holding up and objecting to the pay bill in the senate. minutes to the gentleman from maryland, mr. van allen. . van holland. >> it is absolutely the right thing to do to make sure we pay federal workers on time. whether they are the capitol police or any other outlook 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. we did that unanimously by the vote on saturday to make sure that federal employees do not have to bear that burden when they are not the ones making the bad decisions. is havingry puzzling voted unanimously, to say that we are going to make sure that we pay those federal employees were being furloughed, we at the same time lock them from going back to work for the american people. how theon't understand speaker of the house can explain that to the american people. aen we have in our possession piece of legislation that if we were allowed to vote on it could reopen the entire government right now without preconditions. we have heard from our republican colleagues that they want to open one little piece.

looked up at the national parks, let's open another little piece. on saturday, what we did was go to ensure that every federal employee whether they work for the national parks or any other federal agency, that everyone would get paid. for yesterday, for today, for tomorrow. why would our colleagues want to when wemore day go by are 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 are paying them to do on behalf of the american people? it is absolutely mind-boggling. our republican colleagues would take that position. in the senate right now, you have got a senator from texas who is blocking that particular revision that we passed unanimously.

i hope that he will let it go but 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. if the speaker doubts that fact, there is an easy way to figure it out. we all know that. put it up for a vote. , at is the speaker afraid of little democracy in this house? we are going to be paying all the federal employees as we should because they should not be penalized. not for one day that we are forcing them to be out of work. these are men and women who are dedicated to providing services to our country. they want to get back to work and what this house is saying is, we are going to keep paying you but we are not letting you go to work. that is an astounding position to take. let's vote to open the entire government right now. take up the senate bill. let's get it done. >> the depomed from new york reserves.

the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> we don't have any further speakers, so i will reserve and i am ready to close. >> the government from new york is recognized. >> i yield myself the time i may consume. saying to folks who keep watching, maybe they know where the keep saying it. little by little, you are reopening the government but it may take until 2025 to accomplish it. our hope would be that we just passed a resolution that was passed in the senate and open the government. this one is an easy one. everyone is going to vote for this bill. we can get folks and pay them properly for the services they are rendering. there are other people that need to come to work. there are people who need to service the american people. this is not the way for us to

behave. a little bit of history, i know that some people have either refused to mention it or gave up on it. startedthat this all not because there were differences in economic reasoning or behavior. it started because a group of people on your side wanted to , theh killing obamacare affordable care act, and they were willing to do whatever they needed to do to accomplish that. that is 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 and also to respect the american people in

general. resolution. it will pass in two seconds. i assure you. i predict that if you bring that resolution to the floor, you may be shocked to get a unanimous vote because that is what we want to do. open up the government and move on to deal with the issues. let's do it and let's do it quickly. i yield back the balance of my time.