Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 29…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 29, 2013, at 10 a.m., in room…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 29, 2013, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Housing Finance…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 29, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered…

I rise personally ashamed at the political sideshow in front of the White House perpetrated by Ms. Palin and Senator Cruz and his congressional allies. For Members to protest against the consequences of a shutdown they, themselves, caused…

I am glad that the Republican leadership pulled H.J. Res. 80 from further consideration today. It is the American Indian and Alaska Native, Health, Education, and Safety Act. The Affordable Care Act, which the Republicans are demanding be…

The Republican position is clear. Either affordable health care for millions of Americans goes or we will keep the government shutdown. In an effort to avert the public's attention from this extreme and destructive hostage-taking, they…

The House Republicans don't want to reopen the government. If they did, all they have to do is bring up the Senate clean resolution and pass it here on the floor today. It'll go back to the Senate--I don't even know if it has to go back to…

Here we are again at the same crossroads. We know the landmarks. We know the signs. We have been here before. We negotiated in good faith to avert the last shutdown, the last default threat. We opposed the sequester, but that wasn't…

I thank Mr. Garamendi for bringing us all together tonight. I couldn't stand with better Americans than I am standing with tonight. I mean that. Mr. Speaker, the latest supercommittee plan that folks on the other side of the aisle gave us…

I regret that I was unable to attend today's session of Congress, as I was unavoidably detained in my district. Had I been present, I would have strongly supported passage of H.R. 3223, the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act…

The reason we have the shutdown is because of the Republican leadership. The irony today is that the Republicans keep talking about the other side of the aisle here or the other House, yet they are going to go home at around 12 today, if…

I have heard my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle say that they want to keep the government open. Well, it's simply not true, Mr. Speaker. Look, let's face it: the Republicans are in charge of this House. It's Speaker Boehner…

This shutdown was totally brought about by the Republican leadership. If you listened to our Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, when she spoke earlier, she made it quite clear that there wasn't any real disagreement with regard to the budget…

Madam President, we are at the verge of the midnight hour here, and what is playing out is a challenge to the very essence of our government, and it is a challenge both at home and abroad. I will speak to that in a moment. I was in the…

Madam President, I had hoped we would not get to this point. I believe that where I was headed is to embody why we have come to this moment today. It just did not happen. I was referring to this article by Jonathan Chait of New York…

This is a battle within the Republican party itself about where they are headed. It is a battle that is totally unnecessary because I think there is a simple message to the Speaker: Allow the House of Representatives to have an up-or-down…

I heard the Speaker say that the House has done its work by delaying ObamaCare. I'd like to remind the Speaker and all my colleagues on the GOP side that the work that has to be done is to pass a budget to keep the government open. The…