National Park Service Operations, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership. I also thank the distinguished chairman of the committee for his leadership and supporting the natural resources of our country.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate did pass the House CR on more than one occasion and sent it back here. Accept what they had on it; they had accepted your number--take ``yes'' for an answer--a number that even the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Rogers, our distinguished chairman has said does not adequately support government in its purposes of helping the American people.

But nonetheless, in the spirit of going to a conference, they accepted your number, as do I. I said over and over again to the Speaker and on the floor of the House more than once, including this morning, that we make an explicit proposal to you that we accept your CR number and look forward to going to conference on that number. So it has been accepted.

You haven't taken ``yes'' for an answer, because why? Because you wanted to undo the Affordable Care Act. And that was the part of your proposal that was unacceptable. And this is exactly what we're doing right now.

This isn't about the parks. They are using the parks as a pawn. This is about defunding the Affordable Care Act on a day when millions of people are logging in to find out how they can enroll. It's really a remarkably historic day, where people can receive the promise of our Founders--of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A healthier life, the liberty to pursue their happiness, and following their passion, whether it's to be in Congress or to be a photographer, an artist, to start their own business, to be self-employed, to change jobs. The entrepreneurial spirit will be unleashed on our country. It's a great day.

So here we are, back on the floor of the House, trying to come in the back window to, once again, go down a path to defund the Affordable Care Act. It's not going to happen.

While we can all sing the praises of our leadership, our chairman, and our ranking member on their support of parks while cutting them off from other services of the Interior Department, that's curious. But it's not about the parks. It's about the Affordable Care Act.

I urge our colleagues to see this for what it is. It's pathetic. It's not responsible. It's beneath the dignity. I keep saying that, but we keep getting further beneath the dignity of what our responsibilities are in this House.

Let us reject this because, you know, they took hostages by shutting down the government. And now they are releasing one hostage at a time. Now it's the parks. Later it's veterans. Our veterans fought for our country, for our children, for our families, for our society. We've already passed an appropriations bill that covers our veterans in that respect. But our veterans need more than what is in the veterans bill. They depend on other services of the United States Government. So if we're honoring our veterans, let us do so in a way that honors what they fought for and honors what they need beyond veterans benefits.

And then they talk about the District of Columbia. I know why you probably don't want to take a vote on the District of Columbia, because I don't know how many people over there will vote to support the District of Columbia. Certainly, certainly it should be treated like any other entity. We would all be in an uproar if our States were treated the way this Congress treats the District of Columbia. But they'll use them as a pawn, too.

This is all subterfuge. This is a waste of time. It's not going anyplace, thank heavens. But what it is is not about what they're talking about--parks, veterans, or the District of Columbia. It's about the Affordable Care Act. One at a time, we'll do our cherry-picking so at the end of the day, we can isolate the Affordable Care Act. We're not going to let that happen. And let's just deal with our colleagues with some level of integrity as to what this is about.

That's why as tempting, as alluring as their camaraderie of opening up government may be, they're throwing us crumbs while they take the pie someplace else. So I urge a ``no'' vote on all three of these suspensions.

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