On the recordOctober 2, 2013
Most people might not realize that Mr. Moran from Virginia and I are pretty good friends and we share a lot relative to our Interior Subcommittee. But I will tell you, what it reminds me of, when I'm listening to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is if you say something long enough and often enough, maybe you will get the American people to believe it. Nobody over here voted to shut down the government. In fact, every time we passed a bill and sent it to the Senate, it was to keep the government operating. Did it include more than that? Yes, it did. And it was rejected by the Senate. So we sent them another one with another offer. They rejected it. We keep sending them things. Finally, what we said to them is: Let's go to conference and work out our differences. But no, they won't even sit and talk to us. So the distinguished minority whip from Maryland says: Let's do this; pass our idea, do it my way, and then we'll negotiate. Well, that's just backwards. We need to go to conference and settle our differences and get a bill out here that keeps the government operating. That's what everyone here wants to do. It is not a Republican shutdown. It is a Democratic ``my way or the highway.'' You agree with us or we will shut the government down. That's exactly what the minority party has done here. I would encourage my Members to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
