Avenue. It is the position he will take until the republicans do the right thing, right . Why not just open the government at funding levels that they were very content with and that demands ofesents the the president. That is our position. What about the decision of the Security Council will that anyway affect the push by the administration to raise americas profile in asia . The cancellation is another consequence of the house force aansdecisions to shutdown of the government, and it is completely avoidable of a completely avoidable shutdown. To advance u. S. Leadership and interests in the largest in theg region world, the president is committed to the pivot of u. S. Policy toward a jeff asia, towards this important region of the world come and he looks forward to work with allies and partners in asiapacific region and returning to the region at a later date. Secretary kerry will lead delegations to indonesia and brunei in place of the president. Your opening comments today, that the factions against iran and syria would be affected by the Government Shutdown . Place people who are in normally under normal circumstances have been furloughed. The people who handle this important function for the United States government in advancing u. S. National security interests and the National Security interests of our allies and partners around the world have been furloughed. Consequence ofe this wholly unnecessary decision by House Republicans to shut down the government because they are not getting whatever day it is, whatever partisan demand it is that they are asking for. There is no change to the sanctions as a result of that . To address theve sanctions questions specifically to the office. What i read in a great deal of detail is what the people in do and why to and it is important for them to return to work. Speaker boehner is denying pass a that he would debt ceiling limit. [indiscernible] that means the speaker of the house has declared it is his position that if House Republicans, rigidly Tea Party Republicans, do not get satisfaction on their partisan wish list they will allow the United States of america to default on the first time in our history, with harmful consequences to middleclass families everywhere. That is an astounding position to take, and it is disappointing. What is the next step then . Here is something that i think would make it easier to understand how the president views this. From the beginning, the president has made clear what his position is, and it has not changed, and it will not change. We have seen a variety of positions and tactics and strategies and indications efforts from republicans and communication efforts from a couple tons to explain why theyre shutting down the government, to explain their default. The president tossed position is clear. To fund the government and pay our bills. No demands, no strings attached, and they ought to do the same. They ought to simply open the the cr on thest house that would get republican votes as well as democratic votes. The president would sign it today. People would go back to work tomorrow. If they acted really fast, some could go back this afternoon. And then when it comes to the debt ceiling, it is highly irresponsible to announce to the world, a world that depends on the United States economy, depends on the full faith and credit of our economy, depends on the bed rock fact that the United States always pays our bills and on time and say that all of that i will risk if i do not get what i want. If my Tea Party Republicans do not get what they want, and faction of one house of one branch of Government Holding everybody else hostage, holding the American People hostage, Holding Families across the country hostage. When it comes to the debt ceiling, we are going to leave the briefing right now to bring you live coverage of the Senate Democratic leadership. They will talk to the press about the impact of this Government Shutdown. If you would like to continue watching the white house butfing, tune into cspan3m now live coverage of Senate Democrats. Last night the president announced he would be not taking that trip to asia for the two summits he had. The shutdown is obviously unfair to the American People him embarrassing to the American People, especially on the world Important International events the president had been planning to attend for a long time. He is being hamstrung in his efforts to keep america competitive, secure because republicans simply are unwilling to allow us to open the government. This kind of a basic function of what we do, while the government forward. The shutdown is hurting our economy. I had a long elevon a conversation today with elected officials in nevada, local officials, and theyre concerned. The state of nevada is losing revenue as a result of the shutdown, as all states are losing revenue. This is not just an economic issue. It is an issue about National Security. Is Government Shutdown hurting our ability to enforce the sanctions on iran, to gather intelligence, to operate our armed forces, just to name a few. The Treasury Department has furloughed 90 of the employees in the office of Terrorism Financing and intelligence. , and theyeir charge are not able to fulfill that. Of the 179 employees in the night states governmentss sanctioning agencies, their only 75 working today. Our ability to and for sanctions to stop sanction eva meters is being hampered by the shutdown. 72 of the intelligence workforce has been idled by the Government Shutdown. Listen to this, everyone. When i was shown these figures this morning, it was really incredible what has happened. Ph. Ds, 4000 computer science, and computer this its not working. Even the fbi director board his agency would have to limit furloughed days just to meet the painful sequester. Now it is worse than that. There our workers still going to work at the fbi without pay. The chief of staff, retired, shutdownimpacts of the impacts everyday operations. The longer it goes on, he said, the worse it goes every day, we are losing capability. ,o every day these courageous brave men and women coming to work, are doing so without pay. Yesterday we witnessed an event here on capitol hill. For 16 blocks. Weapons were being discharged. 20 bullets. A number of those people are working without pay. Thepeaker boehner could and shutdown today if he chose. He is sitting on the one bill that could and the shutdown, refusing to let the house vote. Lets remind everyone why you for a while the republicans try to cover why they were closing the government and threatening to not extend the debt. Obamacare. As i say to my friend john boehner but it is not about you and it is not about harry reid. It is about our National Security. These menht thing for and women and and the shutdown now. Thank you, senator reid. 24 hours ago we faced a potential threat to our own personal security on capitol hill. The men and women of the Capitol Police went forward to protect us. Sadly, a woman lost their life in the process, but they were doing their duty, they were doing their duty, and we should respect them for it, and to respect them we should pay them. It is one thing for the speaker to the a tweet message Capitol Police acknowledging their bravery. It is another thing for him to acknowledge and respect what they are doing for us by paying them. Here they go without pay to work every day. Part of the tea Party Shutdown of this government. As senator reed said earlier, that is not the whole story by a long shot. Is a lot more involved in this. To think that we have laid off 72 of our civilian intelligence employees at this moment of time in our history is unthinkable. To think that 90 of those who are responsible for and for sharing the iran sanctions to stop the development of nuclear ispons have been furloughed unthinkable. Boehner may think he can declare a time out of the war on terrorism, but he cannot. Either can the tea party. This threat to america continues, and this notion that we are going to lay off and maybe not pay others who are protecting us, both here and overseas, is not in the best interest of americas National Security. Let me tell you, it reaches beyond the federal payroll. Murphyd to senator chris of connecticut yesterday, and they are facing a situation that he has publicly announced year through the [indiscernible] and their decision to lay off 1500 salaried workers and up to 4000 total workers because of the lack of department of defense inspectors on the production lines. Here are 4000 people out of work, not federal employees, because the decision the Tea Party Republicans to shut down the government. Now we have learned every time we go to the floor and tell these stories, the tea party says we will make an exception. Maybe they should compel the floor of the senate or house and read the directory of all the federal agencies. Would they open the government then . These men and women are doing important work to keep the government going forward. It is an embarrassment that we have reached this point, and that Tea Party Republicans have reached this. It is going to damaged our economy. We will find ourselves moving backwards instead of forwards at the expense of good jobs in america. Well, thank you to harry and date. I want to make three points. The first relates to what happened yesterday. I spoke this morning to officer carter. He is the Police Officer who was injured. Of the 24year veteran Capitol Hill Police force, and it looks like thank god he will be back on the job in two days. But heres the point. These people were not furloughed , because they are obviously involved with our safety. But the fact that they were not getting paid and are not getting paid did not for one little jot interfere with their professionalism and diligence, and they did a great job. And that little link of the belittlingernment all federal employees, including officer carter. The second point i want to make is related to security. Some americans are saying it did not affect me, it affects every american because our National Security has decreased because of the tea Party Shutdown. Harry mentioned the intelligence agencies, and senator feinstein has talked about those where 72 of the people are not working. These are not slackers, these are people doing their job. They are diligent, hardworking people were taking us, and the area have chosen to focus on here is iran and it sanctions. We have finally seen something of a change at least in the way iran talks. We do not know if it will lead to some good, but it is an opening, and that occurred because of the sanctions, the legislation that passed both chambers, but the diligence of the men and women who are enforcing the sanctions. There are all kinds of rogues who want to get around the sanctions. They look for every which way to do it. But our federal Government Employees in the Treasury Department have done a great job. I want to reiterate harrys numbers to show how bear naked those offices are. The office of intelligence and analysis come at the office of financial crimes and enforcement together have 30 of their 345 employees. The office of terrorist has 10 , intelligence one employee is left. They had 10. And the Treasury Departments office of foreign assets control, the primary office for enforcing the sanctions and punishing those who violate the sanctions, is operating with a skeletal staff. So just at the time when sanctions are whiting and maybe iran is giving up the ghost of nuclear weapons, the tea party lightens those sanctions far more than any negotiation could do. It lightens those sanctions and the rogue people who want to sell oil to iran, who want to trade with iran are back in business. Arehis is another there so many bad aspects of the tea Party Shutdown. I think i know what senator cruz will do tomorrow, because we mentioned iran sanctions today. He will put a bill on the floor that says fund these offices, and maybe if we talked about middleclass families getting loans, theyudent will put a go on before to do that. It is getting ridiculous. To our something to say republican colleagues. Today theyre talking point is lets talk. Talk, butare happy to talking is not going to undo the damage to our economy and to so Many American citizens with the tea Party Shutdown. Point leaves out what should be said first just vote. Once they vote and bring back the government, workers and all the people who are vital to our security and our health and our wellbeing, then lets talk. So we want to modify the republican talking point today. We do not want to change it. Talkingto say youre point is missing a vital your talking point is missing a vital piece. Just vote and then lets talk. Over the past week i have been in constant touch with the omb on the aspects of the shutdown, and one thing i have followed closely as former chairman of the Senate Veterans affairs midi and eight daughter of a world war ii veteran is the impact this could have on our nations heroes. I want to share information on how many veterans will be impacted if this continues into the weeks ahead. On november 1, the next date that checks will go out from the veteransto 5 million may not receive the benefits they have earned and they rely on to make ends meet. Over 700,000 young veterans, many of them who have fault alterable tours, will not get the benefits that they are using now to transition back to civilian careers. There are also 725,000 veterans with benefit claims pending at see theirho will only way time increase. This is absolutely unacceptable. Our nations veterans are waiting and they are watching. Now i know that my report conference in the house and senator cruz think they have a solution to every problem that has been created by the shutdown that they created, and i know the house is going to spend the weekend giving out exemptions like Oprah Winfrey gives out ars, but heres the truth anyone who has worked on Veterans Issues will tell you, program orne agency that provides the benefits that all of our veterans rely on. It is a variety of programs all across our government jobs,ss grants, veterans we have hundreds of thousands of veterans that are federal orders who are at home today on furlough. We also have nearly 500 Capitol Police officers who are current or former military working without pay. So it is not as simple as House Republicans or senator cruz think it is, and veterans understand that. I just saw a story that included some interviews with our veterans who are visiting the world war ii memorial. Unsurprisingly to me, then he said that veteranspecific measures were not enough. And 87yearold veteran kansas, said, i think it should all be reopened. Another veteran who served in the navy, said, i think the whole work should be open. Open. While it can be. It is up to Speaker Boehner. The senate has passed a short term bill to open up the government and and this manufactured crisis. We know there is a bipartisan majority in the house that now supports that approach. All Speaker Boehner has to do is let them vote. This is not the time to talk about opening up the government. It is the time to actually do it. No more gimmicks, no more games. Stop scrambling to make it look like they care about families and communities that are impacted. Do something to help them. Once the house passes our bill him once they end this crisis and stop threatening the country with another, then we would sit down with the republicans and work towards what we have been trying to work for now more than six months, a longterm budget deal. Ive been starting to try to start a conference now for over six months. As you know, it has been blocked every time. Yes, lets talk, but first, lets act about lets end this crisis. Aside from the meeting that you had at the white house, have you walked the 100 yards or office tohe speakers talk to possible solutions, or has he come to your office . I have said and i will tell you again, i am not sure anyone comprehends, unless senator mikulski and murray, how difficult it would be to agree to a clean cr. It took several days. To convince murray and mikulski and the rest of the Democratic Senators that we would accept 70 billion less than what we passed on the senate floor budget. Toid that, and in good faith compromise negotiations i made with Speaker Boehner would bear fruit. I lived up to my end of the bargain. He did not. That he tried to send us over a clean cr. The all know that he tried to have attached that the funding of obama. Ande are where we are, everyone understands the fact that the only thing they want to deal with is obamacare. I am sorry to give you such a long answer, but lets say there were a republican president and we have a democratic majority here in the senate. And we say we will be happy to raise the debt ceiling, we will open the government, but there is a five percent of the