Barbara Boxer: “I wish to add my words to those eloquently spoken by our Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray and by one of our…”

“I wish to add my words to those eloquently spoken by our Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray and by one of our leaders here, the able Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer. We have been waiting for hours and hours. I can only imagine what the public thinks when they look down on this floor and absolutely nothing is happening. I came down here not knowing my friend and colleague was going to be here. I guess we both had the same sense of it, that we had to explain to the American people why this is happening. There is only one reason: Republicans are stalling and stalling and stalling and filibustering and filibustering and filibustering. But they are not doing a talking filibuster; they are just letting the clock tick. They are filibustering a very important bill to keep this government open. They say they want to keep the government open and they don't want to shut down, so why not get that vote done with? Senator Mikulski has led us, in a beautiful way, with Senator Shelby, in a very bipartisan fashion--let's vote on that bill, keep the government open, and, as Senator Mikulski said, show the country we can work together and get to the one thing the Republicans have been saying not for months but for years; that is, a budget. The truth is, instead of doing a budget, we did the Budget Control Act, so of course we did a budget. As a matter of fact, the Budget Control Act was actually in many ways more specific than a budget.…”