Chuck Schumer: “I just want to reply to the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn], for whom I have a great deal of respect. The gentleman…”

“I just want to reply to the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn], for whom I have a great deal of respect. The gentleman did support the COPS Program. It took some courage. The gentleman had to break from some of his party's leadership last year to do that. Mr. Speaker, I would say this: Be a group. Sit down and negotiate. I am not talking to the gentleman from California per se, although I would be interested to hear what the gentleman had to say. I am talking to the Speaker and the leadership on that side. The President vetoed the bill because of a fundamental disagreement. He thought the COPS Program should continue. He thought that the money that the majority party put in there for prisons only went to three or four States, instead of my State, which needs more money for prisons, so he vetoed the bill. That has been done by every President from George Washington on. Mr. Speaker, that does not mean the President is causing this. This is the first Congress in history, with a Republican Speaker as its leader, to say, ``When the President vetoes, we shut down the Government until we force him to his knees.'' That is what is happening here, and let the American people hear it. Again, a veto happens all the time, has happened hundreds of times. That is not what is shutting the Government down.”