Alex Padilla: “we are here today just about a month after the longest shutdown in American history. You all remember the 43 days that…”

“we are here today just about a month after the longest shutdown in American history. You all remember the 43 days that we went without a fully functioning Federal Government. Let's remember why that happened. Plain and simple, it was because our Republican colleagues refused to take steps to save healthcare for millions of Americans. In large part--I don't know if it was an individual choice or simply because there was no direction from the White House to come in and do so. All I know is that our Republican colleagues in Congress refused to come to the table, refused to negotiate with Democrats, refused to acknowledge that we were literally weeks away from a crisis that will kick millions of people--millions of Americans--off their health insurance unless Congress acts. That is the point Democrats are trying to make, and that is the issue we were trying to address during the shutdown because the appropriations process is the opportunity to address a crisis that is right around the corner. Now, eventually, yes, a handful of my Democratic colleagues took the Republican majority at their word that after voting to reopen government, addressing this spike in healthcare costs was the next order of business. At the time, I expressed my skepticism to go along with a promise to fix something later from a party that earlier this year enacted the biggest cuts in history to Medicaid.”