Judy Chu: “John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes to pass a clean bill that would keep government open. Yet 198 Democrats…”

“John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes to pass a clean bill that would keep government open. Yet 198 Democrats would vote for it; another 21 Republicans say they would, too. That's more than the 217 votes needed to pass a bill. That's basic math. The votes are there. And yet so many people are suffering in this ninth day of the GOP shutdown, people like Leo Finn, who had been scheduled to start a clinical trial at a cancer institute in Boston to battle his liver cancer, but last week, he was told he couldn't because of the shutdown. The National Institutes of Health has furloughed 73 percent of its staff. Leo, a father of three, says: Everyone talks about national parks, but the shutdown of the NIH is starting to affect people's lives and whether someone will survive a disease. Now Leo's life is on hold. It is time for Speaker Boehner to stop this recklessness. It is wrong. It is shameful. Bring a clean bill up for a vote. ____________________”