Roy Cooper: “I'm opposed to the rule, and I'm opposed to the Pay China First bill. It is my understanding that they've added…”

“I'm opposed to the rule, and I'm opposed to the Pay China First bill. It is my understanding that they've added something, I think it's called the Camp amendment, that would make sure that Members of Congress are not paid if the Nation, in fact, defaults. This borrows an idea that I introduced back in the summer of 2011, H.R. 2653. We had a number of bipartisan cosponsors. I'm worried, though, that despite imitation being the sincerest form of flattery they've diluted this concept to make it unconstitutional. Due to the 27th Amendment, it is unconstitutional to adjust Member pay during a session. We had it drafted so that Members would be paid last, which would pretty much ensure that we would not be paid. Perhaps they've corrected the drafting on their side. {time} 1320 They've also done this to me once before this year. They took our no budget-no pay idea that the No Labels group had sponsored, which has now become law, but they took out the heart of it. Right now, we should be having a House-Senate conference since both Houses have finally passed legislation. The Senate being the laggard, now after 4 years, they've finally passed a budget, but now we're refusing to conference the budget. I am a believer in pay-for-performance. The American taxpayers are not getting their money's worth from today's Congress.…”