So my simple message today is call a vote. Call a vote. Put on the floor and let every individual member of Congress Make up their own minds and they can show the American People are you for a shutdown or not . If youre not for a shutdown youll vote for the bill. If youre for a shutdown, you wont vote for a bill. We dont have to twist anybodys arm, but that way the American People would be clear about who is responsible for the shutdown or alternatively more hopefully theyd be clear that this is something that doesnt make sense and we should go ahead and make sure that were looking out for the American People. It should be that simple. But as i said, the problem weve got is that theres one faction of one party of onehalf of one branch of government that so far has refused to allow that yes or no vote unless they get some massive partisan concessions in exchange for doing what theyre supposed to be doing anyway. In exchange for doing what everybody else agrees is necessary and they wont agree to end the shutdown until they get their way. And you may think im exaggerating, but just the other day, one Tea Party Republican called the idea of a shutdown wonderful. Another said that a shutdown is exactly what we wanted. Well, they got exactly what they wanted. Now theyre trying to figure out how to get out of it. Just yesterday one House Republican said, im quoting here, all right . Because i want to make sure people understand i didnt make this up. One House Republican said were not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this and i dont know what that even is. That was a quote were not going to be disrespected. Weve got to get something out of this and i dont know what that even is. Think about that. You have already gotten the opportunity to serve the American People. Theres no higher honor than that. [ applause ] youve already gotten the opportunity to help businesses like this one. Workers like these. So the American People arent in the mood to give you a goody bag to go with it. What you get is our intelligence professionals being back on the job. What you get is our medical researchers back on the job. What you get are little kids back in the head start. What you get are our National Parks and monuments open again. What you get is the economy not stalling, but continuing to grow. What you get are workers continuing to be hired. Thats what you get. Thats what you should be asking for. Take a vote, stop this farce and end the shutdown right now [ cheers and applause ] if youre being disrespected its because of that attitude that youve got that you deserve to get something for doing your job everybody here just does their job, right . You know, if youre working here and in the middle of the day you just stopped and said, you know what . I want to get something, but i dont know i dont know exactly what im going get, but im just going to stop working until i get im going to shut down the whole plant until i get something. Youd get fired right . [ applause ] because the deal is youve already gotten hired. Youve got a job. Youre getting a paycheck and so you also are getting the pride of doing a good job and contributing to a business and looking out for your fellow workers. Thats what youre getting. It shouldnt be any different for a member of congress. Now, unlike past shutdowns, i want to make sure everybody understands this because again, sometimes the tendency is to say, well, both sides are at fault. This one has nothing to do with deficits or spending or budgets. Our deficits are falling at the fastest pace in 60 years. Weve cut the deficits in half since i took office. [ applause ] and some of the things that the republicans are asking for right now would actually add to our deficits. Seriously. So this is not about spending and this isnt about fiscal responsibility. This whole thing is about one thing. The republican obsession with dismantling the Affordable Care act and denying Affordable Health insurance to millions of americans. Thats all that this has become about. That seems to be the the only thing that unites the Republican Party these days. Through this whole fight theyve said the American People dont want obama care so we should shut down the government to repeal it or delay it, but heres the the problem. The governments now shut down but the Affordable Care act is still open for business. So theyre not even accomplishing what they say they want to accomplish, and by the way, in the first two days since new marketplaces, basically big group plans that weve set up. The first two dayses that they opened, websites were comparing new insurance plans and maybe getting tax credits to complete their job, millions of americans have indicated they do want Health Insurance. More than 6 Million People visited the Website Health care. Gov the day it opened. Nearly 200,000 people picked up the phone and called the call center. In kentucky alone, where i didnt win kentucky. [ applause ] so i know they werent doing it for me. In kentucky nearly 100,000 people applied in insurance plans in the first two days, just in one state, kentucky and Many Americans are finding out when they go to the website that theyll save a the lot of money or get Health Insurance for the first time. So my i would think that if, in fact, this was going to be sch a disaster that the republicans say its going to be, that it was going to be so unpopular. They didnt want to shut down the government and they can wait. Nobody would show an interest and there would be two people on the website, and everybody would then vote for candidates who want to repeal it. Its not as if republicans havent had a chance to debate the Health Care Law. It passed the house of representatives and it it passed the senate. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. Voters rejected the president ial candidate that ran on a platform to repeal it. So the Affordable Care act has gone through every single democratic process, all three branches of government. Its the law of the land. Its here to stay. Ive said to republicans if there are specific things you think can improve the law to make it even better for people as opposed to just getting it and leaving 20 Million People without Health Insurance, im happy to talk to you about that, but a republican shutdown wont change the fact that millions of people need Health Insurance and that the Affordable Care act is being implemented. The shutdown does not change that. All the shutdown is doing is making it harder for ordinary americans to get by and harder for businesses to create jobs at a time when our economy is just starting to gain traction again. Youve heard republicans say that obama care will hurt the economy, but the economys been growing and creating jobs. The single greatest threat to our economy and to our businesses like this one is not the Affordable Care act. Its the unwillingness of republicans in congress to stop refighting a settled election or making the demands that have nothing to do with the budget. They need to move on to the actual business of governing. Thats what will help the economy. Thats what will grow the economy. Thats what will put people back to work. [ applause ] and more than that, House Republicans need to stop careening from one crisis to another in everything they do. Have you noticed that . Since theyve taken over the house of representatives we have one of these crises every three months. Have you noticed . And you keep on thinking, all right. Well this is going to be the last one. Theyre not going to do this again and then they do it again. I know youre tired of it. Im tired of it. It doesnt mean that theyre wrong on every single issue. Ive said im happy to negotiate with you on anything. I dont think any one party has a monopoly on wisdom, but you dont negotiate by putting a gun to the other persons head or worse yet by putting a gun to the American Peoples head by threatening a shutdown. And by the way, even after congress reopens your government, it will have to turn around very quickly and do Something Else and thats pay americas bills. I want to spend a little time on this. Its called, its something called raising the debt ceiling and its got a lousy name. So a lot of people are thinking, i dont think it should raise our debt ceiling because it sounds like were raising our debt, but thats not what this is about. It doesnt cost taxpayers a single dime. It doesnt grow our deficits by a single dime. It doesnt allow anybody to spend any new money whatsoever. So its not something that raises our debt. What it does is allow the u. S. Treasury, the u. S. Government, to pay the bills that congress has already racked up. I want you to think about this. If you go to a restaurant and you order a meal. You eat it. Maybe you have some wine. Maybe you have twos glasses of wine. Great meal, and then you look at the tab and its pretty expensive and you decide im not going to pay the bill. Well, youre not saving money. Youre not being frugal. Youre just a deadbeat, right . If you buy a house and you decide, man, this month, id rather go on vacation somewhere so im not going to pay my mortgage. You didnt just save yourself some money. Youre just going to get foreclosed on. So you dont save money by not paying your bills. You dont reduce your debt by not paying your bills. All youre doing is making yourself unreliable and hurting your Credit Rating. And youll start getting those phone calls and those notices in the mail and the next time you try to borrow somebodys going say no, because you dont pay your bills. Youre a deadbeat. Well, the same is true for countries. The only thing that the debt ceiling does is to let the u. S. Treasury pay for what congress has already bought. Thats why its something that has been routine. Traditionally, its not a big deal. Congress has raised it 45 times since Ronald Reagan took office. This is a routine part of keeping the government running. The last time the House Republicans flirted with not raising the debt ceiling back in 2011, some of you remember this, our economy took a bad hit. Our countrys Credit Rating was downgraded for the first time just like youd be downgraded if you didnt paying your mortgage. This time they are threatening to actually force the United States to default on its obligations for the very first time in history. Now, you will hear john boehner and Mitch Mcconnell and these other republican epps say we dont want to default, but Everybody Knows and its written about in all of the papers that their basic theory is, okay, if the shutdown doesnt work, then we are going to try to get some extra concessions out of the president. Well put a long laundry list, all of the things that we want if we cant get passed on our own. If we dont get it, well tell them we wont vote to pay the countrys bills. Well let the country default. Im not making this up. Its common knowledge. Every reporter here knows it. I want you to understand the consequences of this. As reckless as a Government Shutdown is, as many people as are being hurt by a Government Shutdown, an economic shutdown that results from default would be dramatically worse. In a Government ShutdownSocial Security checks still go out on time. In an check shutdown if we dont raise the debt ceiling they dont go out on time. In a Government Shutdown, disability benefits still arrive on time. In an economic shutdown, they dont. In a Government Shutdown, millions of americans, not just federal workers, everybody faces real economic hardship. In an economic shutdown, falling pensions and home values and Rising Interest Rates on things like mortgages and Student Loans and all of those things risk putting us back into a bad recession which would affect this company and those workers and all of you. Thats not thats not my analysis. Thats every economist out there is saying the same thing. The u. S. Is the center of the World Economy so if i screw up, the whole world will screw up and the whole world will have problems and thats why no one has ever threatened not to pay our bills. It would be the height of irresponsibility and thats why i said this before. Im going repeat it. There will be no negotiations over there. The American People are not pawns in some political game. [ applause ] you dont get to demand some ransom in exchange for keeping the government running. You dont get to demand ransom in exchange for keeping the economy running. You dont get to demand ransom for doing your most basic job. And the sooner that the republicans in congress heed the warnings not just like me or democrats like chris and john, and heed the warnings of the chamber of commerce and ceos and economists and a whole lot of republicans outside of congress. Theyre all saying, do not do this. Theyre all saying to congress, do your job and the sooner you do your job the less damage youll do to our economy and to businesses like this one. So pass a budget, end the Government Shutdown. Pay our bills, prevent an economic shutdown. Just vote and end the shutdown and you should do it today so you can get back to growing this economy, creating jobs and strengthening our middle class. [ applause ] let me chose just by sharing a story i heard as i was getting ready to come here today. Many of you already know it. Two years ago a mulch factory next to m. Lewis, main Storage Facility caught fire and most of the companys equipment was destroyed, causing millions of dollars in damage, but even while the fire was still burning dozens of employees rushed over to the facility and tried to save as much as they could. Some of you were probably there. And when they finished cutting fire lines and spraying down the perimeter of their own property they went over to help their neighbors and afterwards, eventual of the employees here at m. Louise are on salary and even though the company had taken a big financial hit, sedalia and natalya paid everyone overtime and along with each check they included a personalized note saying just how much they appreciated the efforts of the workers. And sedalia said, everybody says the biggest asset to a business is employees, some people mean it, some people dont. We actually do. So this company right here is full of folks who do right by each other. They dont try to see if they can work every angle. They dont lie about each other. They dont try to undermine each other. They understand theyre supposed to be on the same team. You pitch in, you look out for one another. When somebody gets knocked down, you help them back up. You dont ask what can you get out of this because you know that success doesnt depend on one of you. It depends on all of you working together. America is no different. I see that same spirit in so many cities and towns that i visit across the country. It is alive and well all across the country. Its alive and well in this community where restaurants and businesses are rallying around the regulars and theyre looking out for the dedicated Public Servants that have been furloughed and youve been hearing about restaurants saying while youre on furlough, come on, well give you a burger. Well give you a meal. Well help you out. Thats the american ideal. Were working together, looking out for one another, meeting our responsibilities, doing our jobs, thinking about future generations, and thats why i believe ultimately reason and common sense will prevail. That spirit at some point will infiltrate washington, as well. Because i think the American People are so good and so decent theyre going to get better behavior from their government than this, and well once again make sure this is a country where you can make it if you try. Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United States of america. The president wraps up his speech talking to a pretty rowdy crowd in l. Louise construction in maryland. We have been watching the president take conditions to task on shuttings down the government saying their behavior has been recsless as theyre trying to get some type of ransom out of the Government Shutdown right now and if they go ahead and vote up or down instructing john boehner to bring a vote to the floor for a yes or no vote so they can find out which way the wind blows when it comes to getting the economy back up and running. Joining me right now is nbc white house peter alexander, capitol hill correspondent, peter odonnell. Let me start with you, that it was last night that the big congressional power players were meeting with the president and we dont know specifically behind the closed doors and it was a little more stern than what we saw presented in rockville. Thomas, as it was described to us by the parties inside.