Continuing Appropriations
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Illinois for reminding all of us of the many people and communities and the economy in this country that are being hurt today because of the tea party's insistence, in the House of Representatives, that this government remain shut until ObamaCare is defunded or eliminated. I am frustrated, as is every American today, thinking why can't our government work? Why can't people come together?
As chair of the Budget Committee, I have been out here 19 times since last March saying: Let's go to conference committee and resolve our differences, and 19 times Members of the Republican Party have said no. They have not allowed us to go talk.
Now we find ourselves in a mess. The government is shut down. Families are hurting and communities are hurting and our economy is hurting. What is the response now of the Republicans in the House of Representatives and here on the floor? Oops, we didn't mean to hurt everybody. We have a few friends we are going to take care of.
I have listened to the debate this morning where our Republican colleagues came out and asked unanimous consent to take care of a few of their favorite parts of government so that they can say they helped. I am as passionate as anyone about our veterans. There is not one Member of this Senate who does not fully support our military and our veterans.
No one questions that, but I take a backseat to no one in advocating for our veterans--as the former chair of the veterans' committee, as the daughter of a World War II veteran who earned a Purple Heart and was one of the first soldiers in Okinawa.
As a young woman myself during the Vietnam war, I worked in the Seattle veterans hospital with men and women my age who were coming home from the Vietnam war. I have done so much work on this floor, as well as worked with hundreds of thousands of our veterans who are coming home from the current conflicts, and helped to pass legislation to make sure they have what they need, so we don't just say thank you, but we serve them well.
I take a backseat to no one on veterans. I can tell you one thing about our military and our veterans that everyone here knows: They are the least selfish among us. They have volunteered to serve our country. They have given up for every American, and they have a motto that they leave no one behind. I can't imagine that our veterans are out there today saying: Take care of me with this small amendment and leave behind the children who are in our Head Start programs or the moms and dads who are dependent on nutrition programs in this country or the 800,000 employees who are sitting at home today scared to death about how they are going to pay their bills because this government is shut down.
We have an obligation and a responsibility to solve the problems in front of us. They are widespread in terms of our differences with our Republican colleagues, but we don't do them any favors by shutting off, closing our arms and saying: We are not going to talk about it. We do it by going to conference, and we do it by working together. We don't do it by shutting out the lights across this country on our government.
In front of the House today is a solution. It is the Senate-passed bill that is supported by a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate as well and would pass today if it were brought up. With that vote, we could open our government, put people back to work, and then we would go to conference, work out our agreements in the way our children expect us to do.
Let's be an example as adults to families and young people across this country that when there is a disagreement, all parties involved work together at a conference table and set aside their differences and find a solution for the country. It cannot be done by saying: I'm not going to let anybody go to work until I get my way, which is what the House of Representatives is doing.
We can get this done. As I talked about yesterday, I am a former preschool teacher, and I have seen this kind of activity before. We have all seen our kids make a mess in their room, and then say: Gosh. How did that happen? That is what we are hearing from the other side today: Well, gee, how come we haven't passed any appropriations bills? Wow, if we had a budget done, we wouldn't be here.
Why has that happened? Because time after time--and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee is here--when we have tried to get our work done, we have been blocked by the very same tea party Republicans who today have put us into this shutdown and said: My way or the highway; either repeal ObamaCare or this country hurts.
That is not what we should be doing. Let's tell our veterans, our military, our Head Start moms, our 800,000 employees, and everybody in this country: We are a country that can work. We are at work. Let's open our doors, pass legislation in the House, and then we will work out our disagreements. As hard as it is, we can do that.
I hope that is the focus we have today. I say to Speaker Boehner: Bring up the bill, pass it, and allow us to get back to work.
I yield the floor.
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