Joe Crowley: “I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding this time. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans continue to demonstrate…”

“I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding this time. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans continue to demonstrate just how far out of whack their priorities are. Here we are in the 11th day of the Republican government shutdown--a shutdown for the sole purpose of denying health care to millions of Americans. I guess America shouldn't be surprised. After all, last month, the majority pushed through severe, painful cuts to the nutrition programs for hungry families. We are now moving toward going to a conference with the Senate on these damaging cuts. By insisting on these nearly $40 billion in cuts, the Republicans have made clear where they stand, even clearer where they don't stand. Now, understand. I know that the gentlelady talks about the truly needy, but what she is really saying is that the somewhat needy, the sorta needy, the kinda needy, the ``needy'' needy need not apply because they are not in need of food stamps. When you look at the number of $20 billion, it was the original number, which is a block number, and it was without consequences to who they would hurt. When that failed, they said, What would work? Let's use $40 billion. Yes, $40 billion will do it--a nice, neat number without any consequences to who might get hurt. Someone had a bright idea on the other side and said that this number will work, and it was without a rationale for the number and without any understanding of what the impact would be. So we know where they stand.…”