Your Credit Rating goes dowfnlt the tragedy of this is that were not only going to add to the deficit and debt of this country by playing this brinksmanship, we are going to hurt every american, every american who relies on credit, whether it is a mortgage, whether it is car loan, a student loan. Weve now linke link student loo this problem. Think about the dollars and think about whats happening to the American People when we dont do the things that we need to do. We shut down government but wont let people go to work, serve the public, but then say, oh, dont worry, were going to pay you. And then we cost by shutting down this government we have cost millions and millions a and millions and billions of dollars, adding to the deficit and debt. Dollars that we didnt have to spend. And now were going to play this brinksmanship in our debt limb. Debt limit. Were going to shake up not only the american markets, were going it add to the interest costs not only of the American People and of this government, we already have in the markets discounting of our treasury bills. We already have seen exactly whats going to happen, and the longer this impasse starks the e more dract the result this is going to be. And yesterday we sent the wrong message to the markets. We need to sent the right message. We need to come together. We need to lead from the senate. Because the house, which isnt even in session today addressing this problem, seems to think that theres no problem with the debt limit, that theres no problem with not paying our bills, theres no problem with paying people and not letting them work. And you know what my dad would say . How darned dumb are ya . And what i say is, that makes no sense. Because as passionate as what i know they are about debt and deficit reduction, the reality is, what were doing is adding to the debt and deficit. What we are doing is is justifying, justifying a 5 Approval Rating for the United States congress. Every day were here that we dont achieve a result, every day were here that we dont solve this problem, how can you argue the american publics judgment is wrong . Madam president , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from california. Mrs. Boxer thank you very much. Madam president , were in the 13th day of a selfinflicted crisis brought to us by the republicans. And why did this happen . Why are we in the 13th day of a shutdown . A 13th day of the American People not being able to count on their government, which is supposed to be of, by and for the people . Why . Because Speaker Boehner over in the house said he doesnt believe the American People want the Affordable Care act. And even though he believed they didnt want a shutdown, unfortunately thats what he brought to the nation. That is horrible news. Horrible news. People are suffering. People are struggling. Hundreds of thousands of people are not getting their paycheck. And americans know a lot of us do count on that paycheck. Its not like we have massive amounts of savings behind it. You dont get that paycheck, youre in trouble. How do you pay the mortgage . How do you pay the rent . Thats whats happening. Weve got Police Officers talked to me yesterday trying to use some gallows humor to explain away their fears. Theyre afraid. They cant pay the bills. They have families. This is a disgrace. A selfinflicted disgrace on our nation. And i havent even got ton havent even gotten to the issue thats staring us in the face. Perhaps the first time in history that america would not pay its bills, a default. Even though the constitution is clear and it says, essentially, the bills the debts of the United States shall not be questioned. Thats in the constitution. Well, theyre being requested theyre being questioned. We have a situation where not only are these employees of the federal government being laid off and not getting paid and the communities in which they live are going to suffer because they really cant go down to the corner store, but the contractors are not getting pa paid, the Small Businesses are not getting paid, road projects and i know something about, as chairman of the environment and public works committee, many new projects are stopped in their tracks, not because people arent ready to go but because all the various signoff as that have to be made before you signoffs that have to be made before you sign a project have to be made. Investigations into chemical explosions that kill people every single year in america stopped in their tracks. So we dont know why. Investigations into airplane crashes stopped in their tracks. Little kids kept out of head start. Why . Because the republicans dont like the Affordable Care act. What is it that they dont like about the Affordable Care act . I ask rhetorically. Do they not like the fact that 3 million adults in america are now insured through their parents plan . Im sure many in your state, madam president. I know in my state, over a million. Are they that upset that they want to shut down the government because people are getting insurance . Eight million no, let me revise this. 71 Million People across the country 8 million in my state getting free preventive services, including immunization. Are they they upset that they would shut down the government and make our people suffer and shut the doors . 17 million kids with preexisting conditions like asthma and diabetes can no longer be denied Health Insurance coverage. Madam president , you are a champion for children. I can imagine how you feel about this. They want to repeal a law that finally has protected 17 million kids with preexisting conditions like asthma and diabetes. There are no more lifetime limits on policies. There was a magnificent piece written in the Washington Post by one of my constituents, a mom, a freelance writer who talks about her son, who was born with a brain tumor, and over the years theyve had to have operation after operation after operation. And they came an inch away from reaching a lifetime limit on the policy, 500,000. And they learned that the Affordable Care act passed and this child got his health care. And now, as she says, hes talking and hes walking and hes shooting baskets. I saw that mom and the son on the Lawrence Odonnell show the other night. And if you havent seen it on msnbc, i think you ought to take a look at it. So you have to wonder, what it s it that theyre trying to do . Now, whats interesting, if you listen to my colleagues now, theyre off the Affordable Care act, they kind of gave up on it. Because we said to them, this law passed four years ago, it has a steady stream of funding, its got its kinks and its problems were going to work with on that but you cant stop t. It was upheld in the you cant stop it. It was upheld in the supreme court. You lost an election about it. Get a life. Figure it out. Its happening. Okay . Its happening. So now theyve got a new thing deficitsmen deficits. Madam president , youre considered a fiscal conservati conservative. And i just want you to i want to remind you and everyone listening to the sound of my voice that not only did the democrats lead the way on a balanced budget, we actually got surpluses at the time that bill clinton was president. How did we do it . We worked together with our republican friends but we passed a budget without one republican vote. 4 and we set the stage. And you know what happened . Not only did we have a surplus. But at that time, we created 23 million new jobs. What a glorious time. And we didnt do it by threatening to shut down the government. We didnt do it by threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the United States of america. We did it by sitting down, looking at each other, smiling, shaking hands, and work together. Work and working together. Lets open up the government. Lets pay our bills and then let us sit down and really debate how were going to get to a balanced budget. We have a lot of history to draw from. We do know when you put two woors warson a credit card and t tax breaks to millionaires on a credit card and a Prescription Drug benefit on a credit card, its a problem. Thats why we saw, under george w. Bush, surpluses turn immediately into deficits. Now our colleagues suddenly are deficit hawks. Where were they when george w. Was putting all this on the credit card . And now they dont want to pay the bills. Its unbelievable. This is not complicated. This is a selfinflicted crisis. You keep the government open. You pay the bills. And through regular order, with my friend, the good senator from alabama and my friend, the great senator also from Washington State sitting down, hammering it out, we bring in paul ryan, we bring in the house democrats, and we sit down and through them we get a path forward. Everything that is happening now is unnecessary. I want to repeat that. Everything that is happening now is unnecessary. 13th take oth day of a shutdown. Pain and suffering throughout the country. Ive got a community in los angeles. Little kids have their noses are bleeding, theyre sick. They live near some industrial site. E. P. A. Said they were getting to. E. P. A. Got the message. Youre out. We cant help you. Were closed down. 92 furloughed. And youll notice in all those little mini bills, madam president , you didnt see anything about that. No watchdogs anymore. You know . Their watchdogdogs are gone. We cant have government by press release. We cant have government by mini bills. We are the greatest nation on gods earth and we need to open the doors and let the people in. We have elections. Elections have consequences. Republicans control the house, it is true. But democrats control the senate and the white house. Therefore, we need to work together. We dont threaten to shut down. Id ask for 60 seconds. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer so heres the good news. The good news is we have a bill over in the house. Its a clean continuing resolution. It would open up the doors government immediately. And its only its a very shortterm c. R. , a continuing resolution, and would still preserve every ones right to sit dunn everyones right to sit down and negotiate through regular order. We have a strong budget chairman. We have a strong budget ranking member. Americas gotten to know them well. And the same in the house. Therefore, i put my faith in those folks under regular order. So we could open up this government in five minutes. We could pass a clean debt in seven minutes. And then we sit down and negotiate. I did speak with leader reid this morning and i feel is he optimistic that were going to get there. I really do. And it lifts my spirits. Mitch mcconnell and harry reid have been here a long time. Theyve had their ups and downs and sideways, line everybody in their relationships here. But i think they know the moment of history is calling them and i put my faith in that. And i hope im right. And i thank you, and i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from hawaii. Mr. Schatz thank you, madam president. Yesterday senate represented rejected a cloture motion on a strictly partyline basis for a simple measure to prevent default for the United States of america. This bears repeating. Yesterday we voted whether or not to proceed to a bill to prevent default and not one Senate Republican voted for it. I think its fair to say that manufacture the Senate Republicans i think its fair to say that many of the Senate Republicans are operating in good faith and have a strong desire to get out of this mess, but theyre concerned about embarrassing and undermining the speaker of the house by moving too quickly on this measure. Well, madam president , too quickly came and went a couple of months ago. And worrying about undermining the speaker of the house should not be our primary concern. Given the crisis upon us, we should be singularly focused on protecting the dollar as the reserve currency, maintaining our ability to borrow at the lowest possibility rate, and retaining our ability to solve problems as the greatest nation in the world. The time for worrying about the implications for one or the other Political Party or a faction b within it has long sie passed. Its time to reopen government, to pay our bills, to ensure the full faith and credit of the United States, and to return to the negotiating table on all of the challenges in front of us. In short, its time to get back to governing in the way that we should. Id like to emphasize a point thats not made often enough about the Current Crisis and that is this there is simply nothing conservative about the behavior of the House Republicans. Conservatives traditionally have been characterized by hold holda respect for institutions, a focus the needs of the private city, and a desire to not waste money. Are these principles being upheld or subverted by the actions of House Republicans . First, with respect to our democratic institutions, the procedural violence being done to the United States congress is hard to overstate in this case. The idea that a faction of a party is demanding concessions in exchange for ceasing their infliction of pain on america is unbelievable. Why . Because we are all americans here. We all want to do right by our country. So the idea that one party is willing to inflict terrible pain on our country or else was so beyond the pale that theres no rule against it. Because no one ever contemplated that a major Political Party would ever behave in such a way. The assumption has always been that elected leaders would find a better way to stand up for strongly held beliefs than by threatening to bring the American Economy to its knees. Up until now, that has been a safe assumption. This is the least conservative behavior imaginable because it throws us into permanent crisis, unable to solve major problems for the foreseeable future. Second, conservatives traditionally have wanted to protect the free marketplace. Some default deniers surmise that maybe the United States government can service its debt while delaying other payments, that we can simply prioritize. The United States of america cannot do that. Even if it were operationally possible, which the Treasury Department assures us it is not, it would cause such severe harm to markets and undermine our credibility so terribly that even talking like that may be doing damage to our economy. In 2011, Congress Delay in raising the debt limit forced the department of the treasury to take extraordinary measures to ensure that our government could pay its bills. G. A. O. Estimates that this raised treasurys borrowing costs by about 1. 3 billion in fiscal 2011. Thats 1. 3 billion in added government costs just for coming close defaulting. And this does not include the lingering added costs to borrowing that continue beyonded fiscal 2011 continued beyond fiscal 2011. And this also does not include the time that these extraordinary measures meant. It took folk us way from other important cash and Debt Management responsibilities. The Bipartisan Policy Center projects that the full cost of that crisis to the federal government alone not to commit, just to the federal government not to the economy, just to the federal government will be around 19 billion over the maturity of the debt. There is nothing conservatively virch with us abouconservativelt we out t. Will cripple foreign markets. It is russian roulette played with a bullet in every chamber. Theres nothing conservative about that. Finally, there is the conservative principle about saving taxpayer dollars. Two points on this. First, with the likely passage of the house bill to provide retroactive pay to federal employees, let me tell you what is happening. We are paying federal employees to stay home. We are paying our dedicated federal workers who want to do their jobs not to do their jobs. This is not conservative. This is not liberal, for that matter. It is upsidedown. We are preventing federal most from doing their important work like assisting Small Businesses and combating terrorism. Let me be clear. Federal workers did not cause this shutdown and should not lose pay because of it. Thats why i cosponsored senator cardins bill to make sure they receive back pay when the government reopens. Our nations furloughed Public Servants want to work, and many federal civilian employees are being required to work during this shutdown without pay. While it doesnt make sense to punish federal workers for congress dysfunction, it makes way more sense to simply reopen the federal government. Still, the house refuses to vote on a clean continuing resolution that could reopen the government tomorrow, but instead voted to give back pay after the shutdown ends. What is conservative about paying people to stay home . Second, this shutdown is costing us money, not saving us money. In just the first week, it cost the economy 1. 6 billion in lost economic output, and is estimated to cost an average of 160 million each additional day. This is hurting Small Businesses and working families across the country, and it is completely avoidable. Madam president , as you know, people are in real pain, and this needs to stop. There is nothing good in this shutdown or in the threat of default. As a progressive, i talked on this floor about how it hurts our economy, the American Peop