Jerry Nadler: “we face today two separate controversies, two separate controversies that have been combined and confused, deliberately…”

“we face today two separate controversies, two separate controversies that have been combined and confused, deliberately and improperly combined and confused. The first controversy is the impasse on the Federal budget. This impasse involves real and serious issues. The Republicans want to balance the budget and they want to make huge cuts in Medicare and in Medicaid in order to pay for a very large tax cut benefiting mostly the wealthiest Americans. Democrats, for the most part, want to balance the budget, but they want to do it while protecting Medicare and Medicaid, college loans, education, and the environment. These are serious differences and serious issues, and their outcome will determine the fundamental direction the country will take over the next few years, and these controversies deserve real and perhaps lengthy and extended debate. But this controversy should not lead to a shutdown of the Federal Government. This is the second separate issue, the unnecessary, deliberate, unconscionable shutdown of the Federal Government with all the suffering and pain that that implies and that brings forth for Government employees, for private contractors, for private citizens in all walks of life that have been talked about on this floor today.”