Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, this week, a Republican colleague spoke of the need to shut down the government. He said: ``We just want to help Americans get past one of the most insidious laws ever created by man.'' He was referring to the Affordable Care Act, but his words sounded eerily familiar to statements from this body's past.

A Congressman once said:

Never in the history of the world has any measure been brought here so insidiously designed as to prevent business recovery--to enslave workers.

Another one said:

We cannot stand idly by now as the Nation embarks on an ill-conceived adventure in government medicine, from which the patient will be the ultimate sufferer.

These aren't quotes about the Affordable Care Act. The quotes are from Congressman Taber in 1935, opposing Social Security, and from Congressman Hall in 1965, opposing Medicare.

What if opponents of Social Security and Medicare shut down the entire government because they didn't get their way? What if the majorities gave into the demands of those on the wrong side of history? This country would be very different today.

These may be forgotten, but this reckless shutdown will not be, and the American people will remember who caused it.

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