District of Columbia Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, the politricks have to stop. The politricks have to stop.

Today, I looked at one of my leading New York papers and this is the headline. This is what they are thinking of this House. The politricks have to stop. The divide and conquer mentality has to stop.

Why is it politricks? Look at what's really taking place here today and has been taking place over the last few days. We should be just, as other Congresses have done, passing a clean CR bill so that we can continue the government moving. But what do we do? We bring up issues that have nothing to do with the continuing resolution.

The first trick: repeal the Affordable Care Act. The second trick: delay the Affordable Care Act. The trick after that: delay the individual mandate. Then next you hear something: end the medical device tax. Then the next thing is: go to conference--something that Democrats have been asking for on budgetary issues since April. And now this piecemeal approach.

It's politricks, folks. It's divide and conquer. It's trying to take key issues from key individuals and make them decide whether you want to go this way or that way. It's making individuals try to decide in the Federal Government who is more important than the others.

You've got individuals working in the same divisions; some won't get paid, others will get paid. It's a divide and conquer mentality that could destroy the Nation. This Nation is supposed to be one together. United we stand. Don't divide this country. Don't pick winners and losers. Send all of Americans back to work.

Eight hundred thousand did not work today. Don't just pick a few and say you should go back to work. All of them should go back to work. They are all American citizens.

Let all of Americans free. Don't hold them in bondage, don't keep them back. Free them all. Don't go piece by piece. They all want the same thing. Their bills have to be paid.

I have to tell some of mine on my staff, for example: If you happen to get sick, you can't get paid. That's not what this country is supposed to be about.

The world is looking at us. We travel the world trying to show examples of democracy every place else, yet we're undercutting the greatest democracy in the world today over the last couple of days. We've got procedures that were put in place by the Founding Fathers. We are undercutting how they said we should do it.

Let's not divide. Let's bring this Nation back together. Let's send all of our workers back to work. Let's have a clean CR bill, and let's vote on that.

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