I can't imagine that there's anybody who works in a national park or dedicates his or her life to serving the public, that anyone would say, oh, let's close it during their busiest season.

The attack on you, Director, I--I apologize. It's as ugly as I have seen.

We shouldn't be sitting here acting shocked that closing the parks was part of closing the government.

I hope and I wish that the concern for the national parks and the people continues after this.

I apologize for the tone here, I apologize for the insults.

But, as everybody has pointed out, it is not just the immediate effect. It is that ripple effect that goes across the economy.

This comes on top of sequestration, those automatic cuts which have already had a huge impact in the State of New Hampshire.

We should end these manufactured crises and get on with the business of governing the country.

I think everyone of us here are as frustrated and upset about the irresponsible and reckless behavior on the part of some members of Congress that have led us to this point.

We all believe we need to start the government back up immediately, that we need to put in place a long-term solution to raise the debt ceiling.

the Republican-forced shutdown has cost my small business constituents nearly $800,000 in SBA approved 7(a) loans and 504 real estate and equipment loans.

it is critical that we hear and understand what you are hearing regarding the impact of this shutdown on your membership and the damage that it is doing to our small business community.

the current congressional climate we are confronted with could not be any less ideal, indeed harmful for our small business community and our Nation.

We very much want a clean continuing resolution to get the country back to work, get the government back to work.

I hope that your testimony will cause all of us to redouble our efforts to get the government back to work.

I think there is one piece of legislation that would deal with this.

I worry that there are so many GAO reports that sort of sit on a shelf of very good ideas about how we can implement efficiency, how we can find savings.

I want to thank the panel and, obviously, Senator Warner and Senator Blunt for holding this hearing.