Work. They will not let the Tea Party Republicans stop the progress of our country. They are going to demand justice. They are going to demand that the shutdown ends and that the spirit of the American People be recognized. What we need to do, mr. President , is to get the Government Back to work for the American People of the senate has to send the house a bill that will end the shutdown. The house should schedule a vote for this bill immediately t. Will pass. Immediately. It will pass. We should not be cutting the National Institutes of health that is working to fund the cure for cancer, for alzheimers, for parkinsons and other diseases that devastate families in our country. We should not be keeping our civilian defense workers off the job. We should be coming together to create jobs to build Better Futures for all americans. And we should make sure that america pays its bills and does not default on its debts. We need to raise the debt ceiling. Now is the time, mr. President. Let us get to work. I yield back the balance of my time. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee madam president , someone wisely declared, after all is saidand done, muc and doe is said than done. A lot has been said in the well of this chamber this week. Unfortunately not much has been done. On the other hand, Speaker Boehner and majority leader cancer and the members of the house of representatives, including members of both Political Parties, have done much to end the shutdown and to protect the American People. The house has passed bills that would fund Veterans Benefits and fund the National Institutes of health. The house has also approved measures to make sure our National Guard gets paid and to keep our National Parks open. The house funded w. I. C. , the program that provides health care and nutrition for lowincome women and their children. And the house has funded fema. All of these bills have, moreover, been passed with significant bipartisan support in the house of representatives. At the risk of overstating it, im still, frankly, stunned at what were hearing from some of my colleagues. Its difficult for notice understand their its difficult for me to understand their objections to passing these bills in the senate. First, none of these bills is controversial, not one of them. The bills provide funding for noncontroversial things like veterans disability payments, the g. I. Bill and Cancer Research. These bills keep our National Parks open and make sure our National Guard personnel get paid. There are many things on which republicans and democrats disagree but whether or not to take care of our veterans should not be one of them. And last i checked, its not one of them. Second, the president himself asked congress to do this. Republicans in the house took the president at his word and acted immediately to draft bills that would make sure his priorities and the nations priorities would receive fundi funding. In response, Senate Democrats said that this plan to fund veterans, National Parks and other priorities was unserious. They said republicans were playing games. And the biggest head scratcher of them all, the president issued a veto threat for bills that fund the very things that he said he wanted funded. Why wont the president and why wont Senate Democrats take yes for an answer . Why are they demanding that we have to Fund Everything . They tell us, you have to Fund Everything or we will allow you to fund nothing. Third, all of these wilz received significant bipartisan support in the house. Bills received significant bipartisan support in the house in. The middle of a Government Shutdown, surrounded by all of this divisive rhetoric, republicans and democrats came together in the house overwhelmingly to approve these bills. I think we owe it to the country to show that we can do the same thing in the senate . Same thing in the senate. Fourth, this proarchtion the approac this approach, theapd by the house of representatives, represents a path forward that was distinguished none other than that the distinguished majority leader himself. On monday afternoon, senator harry reid asked for unanimous consent to pass a bill that ensured that our activeduty military personnel would be paid in the event of a Government Shutdown. And in a matter of minutes, it was passed. I ask my friends across the aisle, was senator reid playing games . Was that unserious . Of course not. So why is it unserious when we try to Fund Cancer Research or the National Guard or National Parks . Why is it all a sudden playing games to keep our National Parks open . What exactly has changed since monday . Why can we only together to pass a bill funding military pay but not to fund veterans disability payments . And finally, none of these bills have any connection to the implementation of obamacare. I understand that my friends across the aisle support that law despite its numerous and harmful failings. I understand they want to protect it. But none of the bills that were considering relates in any way to the implementation of obamacare im concerned that my friends across the aisle cannot im concerned that my friends across the aisle cannot see this law for what it is and what its doing to families all across the country. And now government is shut down because democrats refuse to work with us to do anything to protect the American People from the harmful, potentially devastating effects of obamacare. They wont even consider passing bills to fund Veterans Benefits, Cancer Research or National Parks unless obamacare is fully funded and fully implemented. We have an obligation to address the negative effects of this law but the democrats refuse to negotiate. The president has issued a veto threat on he himself asked congress to fund because the bills dont include obamacare funding, even though the programs funded in these bills have nothing to do with obamacare. I fear that the democrats are now simply the obamacare party. It is the only thing that matters to them, even though it is hurting people throughout the country already and threatens to do so far more in the coming months. A recent report included a story of a man named tom, tom from seattle, who signed up with the exchanges only to find out that his Health Care Costs were going to skyrocket under obamacare. Ill quote from the story. Tom of seattle, who was selfemployed, said my premiums would increase approximately 61 . I went from 891 a month to 1,437 a month. And also my deductibles all doubled. . The letter from his insurers said his current deductible for his family of five would double from 4,000 a year to 8,000. Even though thats for the bronze plan, the least expensive option under obamacare, he says his additional payment of 550 a month will give him a plan that is no better than what he already has. Whats more, it also carries a benefit for his family that his family doesnt need many ternt anmaternityand newborn ca. My wife is 58 years old and our youngest child is soon to be 18, says tom. Well be having no more children. That is a benefit that we would never purchase nor need or be able to use. These are the kinds of people were trying to protect from this law. This is just one story among many stories. So i ask my friends, join us in ending the shutdown. Join us in protecting the country from obamacare. And lets do the right thing for the American People. Leadership is not about what is said. Leadership is about what is done. And so i invite my colleagues to join house Speaker Boehner and majority leader cantor and the other house members who are leading, and theyre leading by doing. We can and must lead. We can an end the shutdown and simultaneously protect the American People from the harmful effects of obamacare. We can do this. We must do this. And if we stand together in support of the American People, we will do this. Thank you, madam chair. Mr. Whitehouse i ask if the senator would yield for a question . Mr. Lee yes. Mr. Whitehouse through the chair, let me inquire whether in evaluating the relative activity of the senate in the house in trying to bring this shutdown to a conclusion, the senator would not concede that the senate has repeatedly voted on housepassed measures. We have taken them up, stripped out extraneous language and sent them back. We have tabled them. We have over and over again done our constitutional duty and voted. Now, the senator might not like the way the vote came out, but does he concede, a, that we voted on housepassed measures, and; b, that the speaker of the house has never yet called to the floor a senatepassed measure and had a fair vote on the house side of the aisle . Mr. Lee in response to the question posed by my distinguished colleague, my friend from rhode island, yes, ill acknowledge that we have taken volt votes, some votes in response to many of the pieces of legislation enacted in the house of representatives. Mr. Whitehouse and that the house has never reciprocated by taken up a senatepaced bill . Senatepassed bill . Mr. Lee the house has not voted on everything passed in the senate. Mr. Whitehouse my question was some bunt all. The house has voted on nothing in this debate, that was my question. They have done nothing but tee up political votes to send over to us. Mr. Lee thats not accurate. The house of representatives has voted on things sent back sent them back in the form of messages with some of those messages carrying two amendments that we then considered. I see your point. I see the senators point. And its a valid one in that we have had action taken in both houses. We have had votes cast in both houses. It is important, however, to recognize republicans have offered significant elements of compromise in all of this. Republicans started from the standpoint that what they would like is repeal of the law, understanding that thats not possible under the current circumstances, sought first to defund obamacare i object indef. They sought that first. That was stripped out and that went back them to. They responded with a significant compromise offer, offering in the next round to defund it for a period of one year. That was sent back and that was rejected. There have been other elements since then that have been passed to fund parts of government, recognizing that there are a lot of areas in Government Spending as to which there is broad bipartisan, basically unanimous consent in both houses, in both Political Parties that we ought to be continuing to fund these things at current levels. Theyve acted in those areas and the senate has so far refused to go along with those. And so in the spirit of compromise, it would be helpful if we would act on these. In spirit of compromise, it would be helpful to have the senate enact legislation to fund the government on which there is broadbased bipartisan support. Thank you,madam chair. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from maine. Mr. King madam president , my intention coming here was to help solve problems, to find common ground, to Work Together with colleagues from both sides of the aisle. Thats my history, and, in fact, that was my primary motivation for running, for stepping into the shoes of my illustrious predecessor, Olympia Snowe of maine. And, in fact, thats what we did this sowrm studenthis sowrm stua small group of senators, bipartisan, worked on a compromise to get it through both bodies and then get the signature of the president. We got 81 votes in the senate; 392 in the house. Thats what i want to try to do. That was a a validation of what im here for. And this situation that we are in now cries out for resolution. It cries out for finding common ground, for compromising, getting everybody back to work, getting the Government Shutdown over. So why arent we doing it . Why arent we out cutting a deal . Why arent we out compromising . Well, ive talked to my colleagues here in the senate on both sides of the aisle, talked to house members, both republicans and democrats, and there are lots of options. And, in fact, the house has sent us a series of options. The first one was essentially defund, effectively repeal the Affordable Care act. Then it was to delay the Affordable Care act. Then was to delay a part of the Affordable Care act. But the important thing about these options and this discussion is, its all taking place in the context of a Government Shutdown. Thats not where negotiations should be made. Thats not where negotiation ned discussion should be had when essentially the government has been shut down and one side is saying, we wont allow the government to operate unless you give us what we want on a substantive piece of legislation. This is the problem, madam president. This whyes think in this one case negotiation really isnt the right course. Its a process problem. Its a practical problem, and i believe it is a constitutional problem. Its perfectly appropriate to negotiate budgets. As a goafn, di governor, did i. Four times for biennial budgets. And it is perfectly appropriate to negotiate up to the deadline, lots of late nights. Thats when this work, for some reason, seems to get done. But in those contexts of budgets, of negotiating the most fundamental government document, you negotiate about numbers, about details, about allocations. You dont negotiate about entirely separate substantive pieces of law. And, in fact, that happened a month ago right here when our when speaker when leader reid and Speaker Boehner negotiated a continuing resolution on what the number should be, and it was hot and heavy negotiation. And the leader the leader compromised. He said, lets go forward, because we can do this cleanly with a continuing resolution at at lower level than the Senate Democrats felt was appropriate, that was in that budget that was passed earlier this year. But thats not whats going on here. Were not negotiating about what are the dollar amounts of the budget or what are the details or what are the allocations, how much to defense and how much to head start. This is an attempt to rewrite a major piece of substantive law through holding the government hostage, which is a result that cannot be achieved through the normal democratic and constitutional processes. Thats the core of this current situation. Thats whats bothering me about it. I dont mind gorktin negotiating budgets. I do think we shouldnt use the threat of a Government Shutdown or, now the reality of a Government Shutdown, to obtain legislative and policy benefits that we cant otherwise attain through the normal constitutional process. In a very reel real serntion mam president , this is a in a very real sense, madam president , this is a frontal assault on the constitution itself. Ironically, it is being led by many of those who wrap themselves daily in the constitution. I dont have one of those books, but we all know those books, how a bill becomes a law. I guarantee i can read those books until the spots come off, as my father used to say, but theres going to be nothing in there that says, hold the government hostage until you make a Law Enforcement thats not what it says. My wife got me a book called congress for dummies. It doesnt say you can change larks rewrite laws in the context of holding the country hostage. It is aen attempt to create an alternative process, a new shortcut way of achieving political ends without having to doldeal with those pesky electi. Here is the history of this bill. In 2010 it was passed i early summer. The senate didnt turn over by the way, thats the way the framers planned it. Thats why there are sixyear terms here, so public passions in one electoral cycle dont entirely change the government. And then there was another election in 2012. In that election, in which the Affordable Care act was a major factor, democrats gained seats in the house, gained seats in the senate, and the president , whose name is attached to this bill, won by 5 million votes. In my election in maine, in every debate and goodness knows there were probably over 20 of them my republican opponent started the debate by saying, i want to repeal the Affordable Care act. That was the whole mission. And i defended it, not in every detail, because i think it needs to be fixed. But i defended it, and i won that election. And here i am. Mr. Romney said, i will repeal obamacare on day one. But he lost. But here we are, madam president , in effect trying to effect wait that agenda, that effectuate that agenda, that policy position through an alternative process that skills around those annoying elections. The passionate opponents of this act are acting like those elections just didnt happen. Lets be clear about what this is. This is one faction of one party in one house of one branch trying to run the entire United States government. That