On the recordSeptember 28, 2013
Like a number of the previous speakers, I'm a freshman and I'm really frustrated. I'm frustrated because we haven't done our job, but I'm mostly frustrated because I continually hear the talking point spouted that the President will not negotiate, and that's the reason we're in the position we're in. Nothing could be further from the truth. The President won't negotiate on the full faith and credit of the United States, just like we can't negotiate on our oath of office and you can't negotiate on the law of gravity. Some things can't be negotiated. What's frustrating to me is that the failure to negotiate falls clearly on the shoulders of the Republicans. The Senate and the House passed budgets. What the leadership on the Republican side failed to do is to appoint conferees to do what? To negotiate a budget, one that we might not like, the Senate might not like, but that we come together on and adopt a budget that the American people can support. This is a failure to negotiate, that's right. But it's a failure to do what every fourth-grade civics student knows: how a bill becomes a law, negotiate the differences. ____________________
