{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221084555/http://hankjohnson.house.gov/house-republicans-don%E2%80%99t-seem-get-it", "House Republicans don\u2019t seem to get it", "2013-10-03", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "GA", "Hank Johnson", "J000288", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "As seen in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. \nHouse Republicans control just one half of one of the three branches of government, but they tyrannically seek to impose their will on the majority by shutting down government unless we agree to stop Obamacare.\nLove it or hate it, Obamacare is the law of the land. It was passed by Congress, signed into law by President Obama, declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and ratified by a majority of Americans, who reelected the president for a second term.\nThe tea party extremist wing of the Republican house caucus is literally holding America hostage in a selfish and reckless attempt to undo what has been lawfully done. Shutting down the government unless Congress kills Obamacare \u2013 otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) \u2013 would destroy the extension of affordable healthcare to 50 million uninsured or underinsured Americans. Its passage was won fair and square. This attempt to kill a hard-won victory by shutting down the government is undemocratic and destructive to the nation\u2019s economic recovery, and it stains our image at home and abroad. It is also selfish and imprudent.\nAnd this didn\u2019t have to happen.\nA resolution funding the government sits in the House awaiting a vote. If Republican leadership allowed a simple yes or no vote on the \u201cclean\u201d continuing resolution already passed by the Senate \u2013 it would pass and government could reopen. The funding of our government is the issue before us, not tired, old and parroted talking points that the ACA is a train wreck.\nEven though they\u2019ve already voted 45 times to defund or delay the health care law, this group of House Republicans is so obsessed with sabotaging the ACA that they\u2019re willing to take the nation's economy hostage to do it.\nAnd while the shutdown is bad enough, we now face the prospect that extremists will repeat this plot with the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling, which could cause the U.S. to default and create a global economic crisis.\nThe consequences of the shutdown are already being felt: 800,000 government employees thrown out of work, more than a million more without pay, offices that provide important services shuttered, and hungry children who depend on nutritional programs cut off from assistance.\nJust as we\u2019re recovering from the recession, some in Congress think it\u2019s a good thing to shut down the government\u00a0 to exact ideological demands \u2013 costing the nation $150 million a day and about $1 billion a week.\nWhy? So we can put insurance companies back in charge? So we can prevent 50 million Americans from getting affordable insurance? So insurance companies can discriminate against women and people with pre-existing conditions?\nSince going live at midnight Oct. 1, healthcare.gov \u2013 a one-stop shop for the exchanges \u2013 has been visited more than 3 million times. Enrollment for 2014 has officially begun.\nTo all of this, my Republican colleagues say \u201cno.\u201d And of course they do so at the nation\u2019s peril.\nAccording to a new Quinnipiac poll, seventy-two percent of Americans are opposed to Congress shutting down the federal government to block implementation of the ACA. Nearly 60 percent of Americans reject cutting off funding to stop the law.\nThe myopic obsession of the tea party with destroying health care reform and wounding the president has led Republicans astray.\nA new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll shows a plurality of Americans say that causing political problems for President Obama is now the GOP\u2019s top priority in Washington.\nThe American people understand. Why don\u2019t House Republicans get it?\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221084555/http://hankjohnson.house.gov/house-republicans-don%E2%80%99t-seem-get-it"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.4318117648363113, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}