Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Unlocking Our Domestic Lng Potential Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.Res. Condemning the Actions of Governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, for Subverting the Second Amendment to the Constitution and Depriving the Citizens of New Mexico of Their Right to Bear Arms

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from that other Commonwealth, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for yielding.

We are 9 days away--9 days and maybe call it 14 hours--from a government shutdown. It is completely unnecessary.

In this Chamber just 3 months ago, we had a vote. We voted to raise the debt ceiling, and we also voted to set the parameters and the figures for what next year's budget would be. That vote was overwhelmingly bipartisan. Eighty percent of House Democrats and almost two-thirds of House Republicans voted for it. There was a similarly large bipartisan vote in the Senate, and it was then signed into law by the President.

I thought at that point: Well, this is good news. Not only are we ensuring we didn't go over the cliff in terms of the debt ceiling, but it looks like we won't have another Republican-forced government shutdown.

Yet, here we are. Why? Because the Speaker of the House reneged on that deal even though two-thirds of their side of the aisle joined 80 percent of us in voting for it.

Honor the agreement that we had and that you voted for. This is completely unnecessary.

Yesterday in the Budget Committee, we marked up a completely partisan, one-sided budget resolution in an all- day markup--$16 trillion worth of cuts, completely unrealistic. The Congressional Budget Office itself labeled it a cuts-only approach.

During that hearing, I pointed out that in previous government shutdowns, the Republican government shutdown in 2013 cost the economy upward of $6 billion. There were more than 120,000 fewer jobs as a result of that government shutdown. A subsequent Republican-forced government shutdown also cost the economy billions of dollars and also cost us jobs.

While it might be a game for some in Washington, D.C.--there are quotes from a number of Members on the other side of the aisle, by the way, saying they want a government shutdown. Don't take my word for it, just read the quotes of some of the Republican Members of the House cheering a government shutdown, saying that there will be no problem at all.

If only that were so. It costs us billions of dollars. Nothing good comes out of it.

Actually, I take that back. There is one thing that is good that comes out of it. Each and every time over the last 30 years that Republicans have forced a government shutdown, in the subsequent election, they are punished by the voters.

That was the case back in 1995. It was the beginning of Bill Clinton's comeback. He was losing at the polls at that moment to Bob Dole. Then the government shut down, the Gingrich-Dole shutdown, and Bill Clinton came back and went on to win reelection by over 8 points.

Similarly, in 2011, Barack Obama, at that moment, the polls showed him losing to Mitt Romney. Republican extremism forced the shutdown. Their extremism in playing around with the debt ceiling led to the first-ever downgrade in American history. Barack Obama ends up coming back and beats Mitt Romney a year later by 4 points.

So maybe there is one good thing that comes out of Republican extremism.

If there is anything clear over the last 9 months, it is that this side doesn't have a clue about governing. I keep hearing about the small majority. We know what it is like to have a small majority. We had the exact same five-seat majority last term. What did we do with it? We passed the most ambitious domestic policy legislation since 1965.

What has this side done? It takes them 15 votes just to elect their own guy Speaker. Now, they keep haranguing the poor guy, keep threatening him with the job day after day. Now, he is reneging on his own agreement that he brought here and voted for and that we passed in June.

By the way, we all know the way this is going to end, whether it is before a shutdown or afterward. The only thing that can pass the Senate, pass the House, and be signed into law by the President looks a lot like that legislation that passed here in June.

I hope that it doesn't take a government shutdown for the other side to finally get with it and learn these lessons.

The reality is ordinary Americans will suffer as a result of a government shutdown. It is completely unnecessary, and if it happens, it is solely the blame of the House Republican leadership.

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