Didnt take back the senate. Thats what i believe. And, therefore, they said we dont really want a shutdown. And this is a pretty much a direct quote from john boehner. He said American People dont want to shut down the government, but they also dont want obamacare, the Affordable Care act. That was his opinion. Thats not the truth. The American People dont want to see us shut down the government and threaten default because of a bill that passed almost four years ago, a bill that was upheld by the Supreme Court and a law that was heavily debated in the president ial election. And guess what . The person who said this is mitt romney, on day one, i will repeal obamacare lost the election. Now, ive been around here awhile, and ive served with five president s. Im a democrat. I served with five president s, three of whom were republicans. Lord knows i didnt agree with everything the republican president s wanted, and i didnt even agree with everything the democratic president s wanted. And i fought hard, and i got annoyed, and i made speeches, and i worked in elections. And i have to tell you, i never saw republicans or democrats until today be willing to default, be willing to default. Newt gingrich did lead us to a Government Shutdown in the 1990s, but we havent had one since because it was so painful and awful. So i know that the grownups are now trying to resolve this. I know that our leaders are going to go to the white house and hopefully they will come to an agreement. But the fact that it would take us this long three days before a default and the 14th day of a shutdown is unbelievable. You know, if youre hired by a school district, youre a teacher, you know the rules when you get the job. And you know that School Starts at 9 00 a. M. And you dismiss the kids at 3 00, and you show up. You show up. If a teacher says, you know, i dont like the start time, im coming two hours later. Bye. You cant have this job, because you knew that was your job. Got to show up. Well, the equivalent of that is our keeping the doors of government open to the people we represent. Not slam shut in their face. Thats what we have to do when we show up here. Keep the government going. Do we have disagreements across party aisle, and even within parties . Of course we do. But we have a procedure to deal with that. Its called legislating. Legislating. Thats what we do when we have disagreements. Its called legislating. And we do that on the floor of the house, the floor of the senate. There is something called debate. You debate the issues. You battle it out. You have a vote. You pass a bill. The other chamber does the same. You go to a conference committee. The house and the senate. You argue out the differences. You send that bill to the president , whoever he 0 or she may be. That president either signs the bill or vetoes it. And if he or she signs it, its a law. If he or she vetoes it, you have an override. Ive been involved in those. And once a bill becomes the law, its the law. And you carry it out. You dont decide what laws you want to enforce and what laws you dont. Thats not the right way. Our founders said were a government of laws, not men. You carry out the law. If you dont like the law, try to change it. Now the republicans didnt like the Affordable Care act, which, by the way, is signing up thousands of people a day as we stand here. In my home state, its signed up right by now, tens of thousands. And weve had about, by now, 750,000 at least visitors to our site. In kentucky, theyre signing up 1,000 a day. Unbelievable. Never expected. This is the law that caused the Government Shutdown. The republicans stamped their feet. They didnt like it. They didnt care that there was an election about it. None of that. But they didnt like it; theyre going to shut down the government. Now you dont even hear them talking about it. Now theyre talking about wanting to cut medicaid and Social Security and medicare. Thats their new thing they want to do. Paul ryan, well, lets just forget this one. I guess we cant do anything about it. But lets now cut Social Security, medicare and medicaid we have a process. We have to get to conference with the house on the budget committee. We have a strong chairman, chairman patty murray. She asked, i believe its now 21 times, to take our budget here to conference. Ted cruz and his friends here have objected. And then they have the nerve to say we wont negotiate. We want to negotiate in a conference committee. Thats why you have a conference committee. Theyve stopped it. And the house has decided now, well, the Affordable Care act, i guess its too late, we cant do anything about it. Then why did dont they open up the government . They shut it down because of the Affordable Care act. They now admitted they cant do anything about it. It is beginning to work. People think why do you want to take away the right that i have now having a preexisting condition to get health care . Why do you want to stop my child who can now stay on my health care until hes 26 . Why do you want to take away benefits like free trips to the doctor to get immunizations and Birth Control and health care . They tried to stop Womens Health care. They gave that up. They tried to stop us from getting cancer screenings, and we said thats just forget it. So theyre all over the place. Listen, ive lived long enough to know when i see people who are joyless, unhappy, and angry. And that doesnt make for a good optimistic country. They have the privilege of being here, even if they are only controlling one branch of the three houses. The white house, the senate democrats, the House Republicans. They have a privilege and they have a lot of leverage. But the way theyre behaving is unacceptable. As i said, its a selfinflicted wound. I never questioned, never questioned the fact that republicans, democrats and independents love this country. Love this country. I never questioned it. But i have to say when you start acting like youre committing domestic abuse, youve got a problem. I love you dear, but, you tphoeu, im you know, im shutting down your entire government. I love you dear, but im going to default and youre going to be weak. Something is dreadfully wrong. So we have about a million and i see my colleague from maryland here. I know he has a state, maryland, that is suffering mightily from this shutdown. He and i both have a lot of federal employees, but the size of our states are different. As a percentage of the workforce, maryland and virginia are really suffering. In california, we have tens of thousands of workers furloughed, not getting their pay. And a lot of contractors. I say to my friend from maryland, i was trying to figure out how many contractor employees are also impacted. And even if you say take away military contractors, because some of them are getting paid and some of them arent. But if you take that all out of the equation, you still have more than two million workers in the private sector who are working for federal contractors. I ask unanimous consent to place in the record an article from the Baltimore Sun. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer this story says the shutdowns forgotten victims government contractors. Im glad my friend is on the floor, because this was written today. Today. This morning. In a city where government contracts make up a multibilliondollar industry, its surprising that with the exception of a couple of articles that receive moderate attention, the Mainstream Media has largely ignored the impact of the shutdown on federal contractors. I really wanted to bring this to the attention of my colleagues. Would my friend like me to yield to him . Mr. Cardin if my colleague would yield . Mrs. Boxer yes. Mr. Cardin let me say to my friend from california, senator boxer, that youre absolutely right. Weve heard from a lot of contractors who employ individuals from the federal government, from large contractors such as lockheed to Smaller Companies that employee 30, 40, 50 employees. The range is around 25 of their workforce has been laid o. Now, these workers, there is no assurance whatsoever that theyll ever get paid. And there are some contractors who dont know whether theyre going to survive. Its that serious. So the private sector direct employment loss as a result of the shutdown is growing, and its growing every day. And its having an incredible impact throughout the country in every state. You mentioned maryland, which i have the honor of representing with senator phu cull i with senator mikulski. Ten percent of our workforce works for the federal government directly. A majority of that number have been put on furlough. Weve estimated that number to be 125,000 in the state of maryland. You add that with the private contractors who are laying off workers as a result of the shutdown, and then let me give you one more example. Last week i stopped by a restaurant right off the baltimore beltway. I know the owner. I stopped by basically to get a sandwich. And i asked him how things were going. He said terrible. He said about half my customers are not here because theyre federal employees that normally come in during the work day. Theyre not coming in. You know the margins here are very small for these businesses to be able to remain open. So the direct impact on federal workers, the direct impact on those who have contract work with the federal government, the impact on our economy, its in every state in the country. But its particularly in the state i represent, its been devastating. One more number i want to give you, and that is the metro system depends upon the federal workforce here. They need a revenue in order to keep the system operating in a modern way, full capacity, safety issues, et cetera. Their ridership is down 23 . Their revenues are down 23 . Whats the metro going to do . So the impact of this shutdown has had incredibly damaging impact on our economy, on families. So many federal workers, as you pointed out, we have two parents, husband and wife both working for the federal government, both on furlough. So many federal workers live paycheck to paycheck. And theres now recognize that go that paycheck is not going to be the full paycheck, might not be any paycheck. How are they supposed to pay their bills . I talked to one of my constituents in maryland who works for a federal agency. He and his wife have both been furloughed. He just recently bought a home. He has a mortgage payment to make. The Mortgage Company isnt going to say im sorry. Government shutdown, dont pay your money. Hes got to pay his mortgage. How is he going to be able to do that . Weve heard people, this shutdown which should never have happened, has had a huge tkpwabgt impact on our economy and the tragedy is it also hurt the taxpayers, a waste of money. Over 2 billion wasted. I thank my colleague for allowing me to interject to underscore the point you have made. Youve been on the floor just about every day, and i admire very much what youve been saying, because youre absolutely right. The damage is clear. We never should have shut down government. We should pay our bills. And its difficult to understand the republicans original position that they want to negotiate the end of obamacare on a bill that just keeps the lights on in government. And now were talking about paying our bills, and theyre talking again about dealing with some policy issues. If were going to get into that discussion, which we shouldnt, lets turn the lights on, lets open government, lets pay our bills and then sit down and negotiate. Thats what we need to do. We have some major issues we need to deal with, including how were going to grow our economy, how were going to create jobs, how were going to have a modern transportation infrastructure. The chair of the environment and public works committee, you fought so hard for reauthorization of our surface transportation so we have modern roads, wellmaintained pro tkerpb transit modern transit systems. Chairman boxer, we have three major transit initiatives in maryland that need to move forward. We have to have funding for that. Thats how our economy will grow. So, yes, i look forward to sitting down with my republican colleagues to negotiate a budget for mention year, but first open government and pay the bills. Mrs. Boxer i so appreciate my friend, through the chair, interjecting his thoughts here because i have listened to him and to senator mikulski throughout this ordeal. And the senators right. I have been on the floor quite a lot and the reason is clear we need to make a record so that this never, ever, ever, ever happens again. Theres a reason we havent had a shutdown since the last one when Newt Gingrich and the republicans brought it to us in the 1990s because it was horrible. They got hurt by it. We begged them not to go down this road. They went down the road. And why . Because they didnt like the fact that theres an Affordable Care act. They didnt like it. So they stamped their foot and said, were shutting down government because we dont like it. We begged them. We said, thats not going to help your this Affordable Care act, 85 of the funds dont come from appropriated funds. They come from a separate stream of funding and the bill and the law is going forward. They wouldnt listen. And now theyve changed their tune and decided its about guttinaboutcutting social securd medicare and medicaid. And my friend is right. It would be so easy to end this. Open our government, pay our bills, get to the budget negotiations, where we will have senator murray, senator sessions, paul ryan and his counterpart begin regular order. I just i wanted to continue about this contractoremployee, because what he said is so moving, or actually i think its a she. She says, as a technical writer and Communications Specialist for a small company, my fate was sealed long before early media reports warned of many more impending furloughs. When you are sent home from work for over a week, you begin to notice certain things around you that could cause you to lose heart. In my own neighborhood and senator cardin, shes talking about your city of baltimore in my own neighborhood, this contractor writes, ive noticed several cars parked in their driveways, cars that never leave in the mornings for work and never leave in the evening for a night on the town. The metro parking garages are empty. You, senator, alluded to that. Peoples morale is diminishing as cabin fever sets in on all sides. And as rumors of the shutdown continue and as rumors of the shutdown continuing until the 17th spread like wildfire in a wind storm, my colleagues and i seem to have exhausted every resource. And she talks about, like everyone else, there are many of us who owe Student Loans and were expected to pay rent. We have to pay for utilities, credit card bills, dog food and other necessities like food and clothing. To make matters worse, my husband and i and this is interest had set aside money for a little vacation. That money is now going toward bills. So what does it mean . An article in the post recently reported the shutdown could amount to a loss of 200 million a day for local businesses throughout the city. 200 million a day for local businesses throughout your city of baltimore. And she says, contractors, especially those who work for Small Businesses have, been hit hard by this shutdown. And just explains how they may never be made whole. So day 14 of a shutdown. Mr. Cardin may i ask my colleague to yield momentarily. Mrs. Boxer i will be happy to yield through the chair. Mr. Cardin i thank the chair and i thank senator boxer. You pointed out the hardship of people not getting a paycheck. Senator boxer points it out very clearly. Some of these people are the same people who have just been furloughed as a result of sequestration. So they already had smaller paychecks because of sequestration. Let me just remind my colleagu colleagues, sequestration was put in two years ago as a placeholder. I dont know of a single senator who wanted to see sequestration take effect. It was a placeholder. To get to a budget negotiations. So what did we do . We passed a budget. We passed a budget almost seven months ago. And we said, lets negotiate. We knew its not going to be our budget. We know we have to negotiate with the house th to get a budgt to get rid of sequestration. Now, i mention that because once again we have a very simple request today and that is, open government and pay our bills. And sit down and negotiate. Its pretty simple. We havent brought forward our policy objectives in this, which is to have a a budget that makes sense for this country, that allows the growth of employment, that invests in not only roads, bridges but energy and and research and education so that we can build a competitive economy for the 21st century. We want a budget that is balanced between how we reduce spending, not just on the what we call our Discretionary Spending accounts but also as we look at our entitlement spending. Yes, we want to see our Health Care System more efficient. We want to work to make it a more efficient Health Care System. We already started that with the passage of the Affordable Care act. Now we want to implement that. That will bring about some additional savings. And we believe that we should pay our bills, we should have the revenue necessary. And our revenue code is full o of of inequities that hemorrhage revenue. I my colleague from california is well aware of the fact that in our tax code i serve on the Senate Finance committee and im and i think our colleagues understand that were now spending more money in our tax keyed than we do in our tax code than we do in appropriation bills. We spend more money in our tax code. Thats tax breaks that some people get, not everyone gets. We certainly can review those tax expenditures and close those that are inefficient which will not only provide more equity in our tax code but provide more revenue to pay our bills and reduce our deficit. Its that type of negotiations that we want to get into. But you cant do that when the republicans have put a gun to the head of the u. S. Economy. Thats what theyve done by shutting government and by threatening not to pay their bills. We say very simply, put down the gun, lets negotiate these issues. Mrs. Boxer boxer absolutely. Mr. Cardin and youre absolutely right about the private contractor issue. Thats something that i dont think everyone when you look at 800,000, 800,000 federal workers that have been furloughed, that doesnt include the private contractors, which are clearly going to an additional hundreds of thousands that are not working today. Yes, its a huge drain on our economy and theres no reason for this. So for all those reasons, what we say very clearly on day 14 day 14 of this shutdown, let us open government, let us pay our bills and, yes, lets develop a sensible way to negotiate our budget. Lets not try to to threaten the American People and then try to pass an extreme agenda as a result of that. I thank my through the chair, i thank senator boxer for yielding me the time. Mrs. Boxer through the chair, i thank my friend. You know, this contractor issue is a sleeper issue in a way, as this woman writes in the Baltimore Sun, because if you look at the numbers, senator, you may see more contractor employees affected than federal employees. Because even if you take theres millions of them. And even if you take away if you look at the statistics the millions who work for the military and assume theyre getting paid well assume theyre getting paid it still leaves more than 2 million who are contractors to other arms of the government, like Homeland Security or the Border Patrol or, you name it. And its a sleeper issue. And this woman who is so articulate i home clarissa alavarez knows that were taking her words to heart, putting her words in the record shes explaining what it feels like to be scared. And for what . For nothing. Because they didnt like the Affordable Care act that theyre not going to change. They tried to repeal it 43 tim times. Open the government. Theyre so afraid theyll lose the vote. Theyre not even allowing a vote over there. Now, theyre coming back, my friends in the house, shortly. By the way, imagine Speaker Boehner said, go home over the weekend while all this is pending. They werent even in session. Its outrageous. And im going to conclude in about five minutes by talking about some of the other impacts of this shutdown. 93 of the employees at the e. P. A. Have been furloughed. Now, what do they do . They make sure the air we breathe is safe, the water we drink is safe, the rivers we swim in are safe. They make sure that superfund sites are being cleaned up, those toxic brews in there, including things like benzene and arsenic and every other bad thing you can imagine. In my state, theres not one single e. P. A. Inspector on the ground. I have established that. And thats the same in many othersment many others. 505 superfund sites were being cleaned up cleanup suspended. Many children live near those sites. There are many schools near those sites. There are many homes near those sites. They are toxic waste dumps. No cleanup. Now we find out that 92 of workers at the Nuclear Regulatory commission have been furloughed. What is their job . It was created and i quote to ensure the safe use of radioactive materials. So i say to every senator that has a Nuclear Power plant in their state, make a little prayer. If something bad happens, we have to somehow nab all those workers and get them back on the job in time. Earth to my republican friends have you ever heard the word fukushima . Do you know what im talking about here . Wake up. What are you doing to the American People . You dont like a bill so you shut down the government, you take all of the watchdogs off the job so people could start dumping waste into the waterwa waterways, into the air. We even have a circumstance in california where pesticides are being imported from other countries. The e. P. A. Has to inspect those at the site and make sure theyre safe. Well, theres no inspectors. I just told you that. So theyre sitting in a warehouse and our farmers are starting to say, where are these pesticides . We need them. This shutdown is mindless. The army core of engineers manages 12 million acres of public lands, recreation areas that host 370 million visits annually. These recreation areas support local businesses like resorts, marinas, outfitters, gas stations, hotels. Shut down. Last week the corps closed lake mendicino, which is located north of san francisco. Lake mendicino hosts half a million visitors annually and visitors spend 12 million at businesses within 30 miles of the lake, supporting 106 jobs and 2. 8 million in income. Mr. President , those Small Businesses cant they cant go on like this. They cant go on like this. 561 National Wildlife refuges are closed because of the shutdownmenshutdown. I say to my friend, senator cardin and i, were very Close Friends because we Work Together deal these issues. Hes the chairman of debt that oversees these wildlife refuges. And in many parts of the country, hunting season is in full swing. And i say to my friend oregon, i just found out and i probably knows this on the californi californiaoregon border, hunters and tourists usually head to Klamath BasinNational Wildlife refuge for the opening of hunting season but theyve been denied access, which means local businesses are losing muchneeded revenues. So the impact of this is felt with a direct hit to federal employees, contractor employees, local businesses. Everyone is suffering. Thats why we had a letter i put in the record yesterday, or date before, signed by the chamber of commerce, the aflcio, and the nonprofit city sector. It is so rare, i say to my friends, that you see those three groups coming together. They are demanding that we open up the government. They are demanding a clean debt ceiling so we can pay our bills. They are demanding it. And they represent the broadest base part of america. Who is benefiting from this other than people who have a very dark side . Thats all i can say. Youd have to have a really dark side. Now i have a situation where we have a i wanted just two examples of the ntsb, the national transportaion safety board. We had a horrible crash in november, asiana airlines, flight 214. We dont know exact why it happened. The ntsb has been forced to postpone its hearings. And these investigations, i say to my friends, you find out things that help you avoid disaster in the future. Three weeks ago in santa monica, a little airport, a crash killing four people. Investigation materials shoved into a vault. And we dont know why it happened. And if we knew why it happened, we could save lives. I remember when i first came to congress a very long time ago and i served in the house, there was a terrible crash and they found out it was a very small bolt or a screw that was responsible for the problems and they they grounded every aircraft that had that faulty part and fixed it. Thats why these investigations are critical. Not only to answer to the loved ones what happened but to make improvements. Its all shut down. The Consumer ProductSafety Commission, in san diego last week, a 2yearold, anetta estra da, waestrada, when she was kily a falling tv. Normally the Consumer ProductSafety Commission investigates this heartbreaking incident, they find out the problem and they demand it be fixed. Who knows when the next child will be . Thats why we have a government, a government of, by and for the people, to make life better for the American People. The government is shut down. Open it up. Let the people in. Its easy to do. Speaker boehner has a bill. Let them vote over there. Open up the government now. Open up government now. People are in danger open up government now. People are i open up the gove. People are in danger. Its devastating for people, its devastating for federal workers, its devastating for contractors, its devastating for our economy, which is just coming out of the worst recess since the great depression. What are they thinking over there . Then they send these little mii bills, oh, open up this Little Agency and open up that Little Agency. I call that government by press release. They get you know, the heat is on them so they pass a little mini bill. Since when does one Political Party decide which of our communities survive, which ones thrive, which ones die, which people live, which people die, which child is healthy and which child isnt healthy . I have a communication in california, kids are suffering nose bleeds, theyre sick. It turns out theyre very close to an industrial site. I called e. P. A. They were going to rush over there and figure it out and stop 9 paithepain. They cant go. I dont see a bill over there to open the e. P. A. Theyll never send us that. Mr. Cardin will my colleague yield through the chair . Mrs. Boxer happy to yield. Mr. Cardin youre absolutely right. Again, the responsibility of your chairmanship of the environment and public works committee, just how critically important the Environmental Protection agency is to protecting public health, protecting our environment, the Nuclear Regulatory commission, its importance to protect the public safety. Youre absolutely right. But i want to just give you another dynamic here and thats jobs. The fact that the e. P. A. Is not at full force is hurting Economic Growth. Ill just give you one example. Harbor point in downtown baltimore, which is a recrosite, which means it was an environmental cleanup site that has a court order on its development requiring the e. P. A. To sign off to make sure that the Environmental Issues are being protected in its development odevelopment. Now, everything is fairly well understood here and its gone through a long process. We now are at the point where were ready to develop this prime spot. It is the most iconic spot in downtown baltimore. Its going to help our city gr grow. Our city needs Economic Growth. And its on hold. Why . Because e. P. A. Does not have its people in the office to be able to review this application in a timely way. Thats just an example, the Environmental Protection agency, critically important for public health, critically important for our environment but also for Economic Growth. Ill give you another example. The bureau of alcohol and tobacco tax. Well, theyre not at full complement here. Now, we have microbreweries in maryland that are doing very well. Every time they add a new product, they have on get approval from the alcohol and tobacco tax people. Their new labels. Thats on hold. Their Economic Growth so hold. Their Economic Growth is on hold. I could give you many more examples. You mentioned the our refuge. Well, blackwater National Wildlife refuge located on the Eastern Shore of maryland, one of the most Beautiful Spots in the world. This is hunting season. The Eastern Shore of maryland depends upon the hunting season for its economy. I cant tell you how many Hotel Operators and restaurants and shop owners depend upon the fall season being in full force with the hunting season and now weve put a real damper, not just the weather we had over the past weekend but the fact that government was closed. Actual, it was good weather for hunting. It put a real damp other that economy. They lost that. Theyre not going to be able to recover it. I mean, thats lost. And as you point out, our request is pretty simple, mr. President. Our request is pretty simple. And that is, open government, pay our bills, and lets sit down and negotiate. And the point that i hope everyone understands, the funding level that we sent over to the house of representatives is the republican funding level. We didnt negotiate that number. Thats the current fy 2013 number. We didnt negotiate between that number and our budget number that this body passed. We gave up on that, saying, look, its more important to keep government open. So weve already negotiated. Id just if you bear for one more minute. Ive used this before. Since youve given the Baltimore Sun here a lot of credit today, let me just quote from their editorial because i think this is important to point out. Mrs. Boxer take your time. Cardin passing this is a quote from the sun papers toarld. Passing a clean continuing resolution keeping government operating at fully funding levels the g. O. P. Has already endorse seconddegree no compromise. Its the status quo. Raising the debt ceiling isnt a concession either. It allows the nation to pay its bills. Congress has already incurred and prevents the possibility of a government default, which would hurt the economy, raise borrowing costs and increase the federal deficit. So when Speaker Boehner lashes out at president obama for failing to negotiate, one has to ask, what is this thing he describes as sntionz House Republicans are not negotiations . House republicans are not merely leveraging their political position, as some dryly claim, they are threatening to do grievous harm to the Global Economy and the american public. Thpublic. The gun isnt raised to president obama or the senate. The democrats have no particular stake in passing a continuing resolution or raising the debt ceiling other than keeping public order and doing what a reasonable person expects congress to do. The gun is raised as the nation as a whole, thats why scripts like ransom and hostage are not mere hyperboles, theyre as close the english language gets to describing the g. O. P. Strategy. Thats the end of the quote. I hope were close to reaching an agreement. The government has been closed. A lot of damage and harm has already been done. Were on a motion to proceed to the debt ceiling. If we were not to pay our bills, that will cause irreparable harm not just to our economy but to the world economy. Thats something we should not be playing around with as to waiting till the last possible minute. I would really urge my colleagues to put the interests of this country first. This is a serious matter that affects our economy, americas future, and the Global Economy. You know, if we turn the Global Economy into a further economic disorder, its going to have a major impact on the United States and it will be our fault. So i would just urge my colleagues to immediately cease this strategy of threatening our economy, open government, pay our bills and lets sit down and negotiate, as we should, a budget agreement which will not be what the democrats want or the republicans want but it will be a compromise, as it should be, between the parties that we owe to the American People. And through the chair, i want to thank senator boxer again for underscoring these points and pointing out the impact, just the wide impact this has on all parts of our country. Weve got to end it. I hope we can end it tonight. Mrs. Boxer mr. President , again, thank you, through the chair, for allowing this interlude. And i just want to say to my friend, i think its been very helpful that he and i have been in this conversation because we share the view that these two selfinflicted wounds are outrageous and we want to make sure that in the congressional record it is very clear it is very clear the pain and the suffering and the concern and the insecurities that this dual wound, the potential of a default and an actual Government Shutdown, are causing. Because i pray that we are never face this go again facing this again. You know, i i im very mindful of the words i use here on the floor im not going to say what i think about this, exactly the way i would talking to my family. But theres no reason for it. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. To do this to a country you say you love. Why hurt the country you say you love . Why make the country you say you love look like a laughingstock . Why make a president who was going to go to asia to pitch our economy and investments in our nation, why make him cancel a trip and have china stand up there and say, well, you can see america just doesnt have it together . If you love your country, you dont do that. Some of the comments over there are unbelievable. One of the Republican House members said, ive never seen us so happy. Shes happy . Shes happy . That millions of people dont know where the next check is coming . Shes happy . Shes happy that plane crashes cant be investigated . Shes happy that superfund sites cant be cleaned up . Shes happy that veterans are scared . Shes happy that 65yearolds or 62yearolds who are new to Social Security cant get it on time . Shes happy . She has to look into her heart. That whole party has to look into its heart. You know, every once in awhile you can see into someones soul and you know it when its happened to you. I got in a conversation with one colleague shall remain nameless i was so excited, i came home from california and i saw that tens of thousands of my people are signing up for Health Insurance that never had it before. And i could tell you the stories. Theyre beautiful. People with preexisting conditions. People who had lifetime caps. People who were scared. Little kids whose parents finally were able to save their lives. Theres one incredible woman who wrote an oped piece in the Washington Post about this. And you know what he said . He said, and i and i told him, i said, i went to a signup place and it was exciting and so many people were signing up. And this was in 9 hispani in thc communities and he a smile on his face. And he said, i was happy to read one of your papers that two people had their premiums doubled. And i stopped, and i said, youre happy . That made you happy . Look into your soul. I said. Why are people happy over there . How do you say i love my country but i dont care if my country defaults . I want to show you what president Ronald Reagan said about defaulting, not paying our bills. President Ronald Reagan, the beloved president of the republicans and many democrats. He came from my state. One of the most popular president s in the history of our country. Weve got air