Elijah Cummings

They realize that they could not -- they tried to defeat it when we got it through the House and the Senate.

I remind the gentleman we could get it done today. We want to open up the entire government today. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Edwards). (Ms. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to…

I would say that we on this side of the aisle say ``yes'' to opening the entire government. And with that, I yield 45 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer).

I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to ask your leadership to put a clean CR on the floor and end this shutdown today.

If they put a clean resolution on the floor, it would pass and there would be no government shutdown.

Today is the first time the Federal Government has shut down in 17 years. This has happened because a small group of Tea Party Republicans has taken our country hostage as a part of their ideological crusade to overturn the law of the land…

If we let them get away with this, heaven knows what will happen the next time.

They want to shut the government down. I am convinced.

Wolf, I don't care what kind of relationship it is, you and your wife or your son or daughter, if you've got one person saying, my way or the highway, it doesn't work.

Absolutely not. Wolf, we have a situation where the Republican Party has allowed a small minority, the Tea Party Republicans, to basically hijack not only in whole hostage, not only the Republican Party, but the Congress and the country.

I would ask that Ms. Speier be given an extra minute and a half so that she can clear up some of what you just said which we on this side of the aisle consider to be misleading.

This is the committee on Oversight and Government Reform, reform is so, so vital, particularly at this moment.

We cannot let that happen under our watch. This is our watch.

I believe I speak for the entire committee when I say that our commitment to this goal is bipartisan and unwavering.

I tell the story about when we voted for the Affordable Care Act I got to the Floor of the House four hours early. I sat on the front row and I had only one prayer. I said, God, don't let me die before I vote for it. And the reason why I…

But that does not mean we scrap it and throw it out, because people will die.

The President gave them that leeway. A lot of the problem that we have in the law is because of things that happened when we were trying to pass it.

Republicans want to eliminate health coverage for tens of millions of Americans, return the keys to the insurance companies, and go back to the days of discrimination against people like Ms. Laury with preexisting conditions.

This week House Republicans are threatening to shut down, shut down the entire Government unless the Affordable Act is completely de-funded.

Everyone knows what this hearing is really about: trying to end Obamacare.

As I conclude, the truth is that nobody really believes today's hearing was intended to help make the Affordable Care Act work better.

What happens to the people in your States who are sick and cannot get care?

This is intimidation and another effort to sabotage.

There is a systematic effort by some Republican officials to obstruct implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

This is the law. Hello, this is the law. It has been passed.