Jeff Bingaman: “today we are in the 19th day of the longest Government shutdown in the Nation's history. Let me begin, as others have…”

“today we are in the 19th day of the longest Government shutdown in the Nation's history. Let me begin, as others have here today, by commending the majority leader for his action yesterday in bringing to a vote, here in the Senate, a continuing resolution to restore funding for the ongoing operation of the Government. I frankly regret that it took us 18 days to have that continuing resolution brought to the Senate floor. But, regardless, I was very pleased to see that action by the majority leader yesterday. I also commend all Senators for agreeing to the passage of the continuing resolution. I think we all know that under Senate rules, any Senator could have objected and could have kept that measure from passing in yesterday's session. It says something about the merits of this issue, this issue of the Government shutdown, that every single Senator agreed to allow that bill to pass. Today, the House of Representatives will have to decide whether it, too, will pass the continuing resolution that we passed yesterday in the Senate, whether it will pass that resolution so it can be signed by the President and so that funding can be restored to the Government or, in the alternative, whether the House of Representatives will continue in what I believe is the irresponsible course that it has pursued, now, for several weeks.”