Marsha Blackburn: “I appreciate the opportunity to address my colleagues today. Indeed, being in the middle of a government shutdown is…”

“I appreciate the opportunity to address my colleagues today. Indeed, being in the middle of a government shutdown is something we did not want, and my colleagues and I on our side of the aisle continue to invite the Senate colleagues and their conferees to sit at the table with us and negotiate. We want to make certain that we work out the issues of our Nation's fiscal health. We have to remember currently we're borrowing $2 billion, $3 billion a day to keep the doors open. This is something we cannot do. It is not fair. It is not fair to future generations. It is not fair to our children and grandchildren. It is not fair to the small business people who have dreams of building a business, watching that business grow, watching those dreams come true. It is not fair to the future of their families. To our Senate colleagues, we do continue to ask them to join us and to negotiate these issues. There's a lot that's been said about ObamaCare, and some say, Well, it doesn't have anything to do with the budget. You know what, Mr. Speaker? It has everything to do with the budget because of the amount of growth that is taking place in this program. I think we all remember that originally ObamaCare was to be a health insurance access program. Let's give a pathway for uninsured Americans to have access to health insurance, a laudable goal, something that there was agreement on.…”