Government shutdown effects everything, from the stalling of E-verify, to Social Security applications not being processed. It caused 800,000 furloughed government workers from around the nation not to get paid. It is stalling cancer research funding and even shutdown USA.gov – the US government main website portal for services.
On October 3, 2013 Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for one minute regarding the Republican sponsored government shutdown and extortion attempt in Congress. The Congressman didn’t mince words either saying at one point that it was the Republicans trying to, in his words “burn down the House.”
“Mr. Speaker, we’ve heard from our Republican colleagues that Democrats don’t want to compromise, that the President doesn’t want to negotiate.”
“I read something on the Internet this morning that sort of describes the type of negotiation the Republicans want to have with us. It goes something like this:
Can I burn down your house?
No.
How about just the second floor?
No.
How about the garage?
No.
Well, let’s talk about what I can burn down.
No.
You’re not compromising.”
“Mr. Speaker, this is what we’ve been going through. You want a budget for 6 weeks? Defund ObamaCare. Delay ObamaCare. Take away the individual mandate from ObamaCare. Or please, just sit down with us and tell us what we can take away from 20 million Americans who need health care, and then we’ll reopen the government. Let me say to my colleagues, if you would just stop trying to burn down the house, we can talk”, said Rep. Doyle (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov).
Rep. Doyle serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is one of only four exclusive committees in the House.
There he sits on the subcommittees on Communications and Technology and Energy and Power.