Hal Rogers: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am really puzzled. We hear speaker after speaker on the other…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am really puzzled. We hear speaker after speaker on the other side tell us how committed they are to these poor children in the Head Start program, and yet here's the chance, Mr. Speaker, to continue this program. Yes, it does not include the entire government, but are we going to hold hostage these kids from poor families who are desperate for this program. Are we going to hold them hostage, or are we going to go ahead and approve this short-term funding for the Head Start program? If you believe in Head Start, it seems to me you would stand in the well and say: I support this bill because it continues the Head Start program. I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. DeLAURO. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me just comment for a moment in that I think that it is not a question of holding these children hostage. You are holding the entire Nation hostage for an effort that is not going to change, and that is: the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. Let's have a vote on this floor of the House of Representatives. We can reopen this government and not hold anyone hostage any longer. If my memory serves me well, in 2011, the gentleman, whom I do have great respect for, voted for H.R. 1--and maybe it was his bill that he passed--which would have cut Head Start by over $1 billion.…”