Remembering back to the 1995-1996 partial shutdown of the federal government, Republicans are more concerned now than ever. Even though this helped Bill Clinton recast his House Reps into partisans and overturned his decreasing riches, the government is curious to know if history will repeat itself, and whether or not these Republicans are the ones to take credit for the fall.
With this fatal memory in mind, leaders of the Republican Party look to avoid all of this from happening again and are confident of what the end result may turn into, even if it means yielding the amount of spending cuts they might be willing to reject. Keeping the government’s shutdown in perspective, Senator Tom Coburn informs Fox News that “it’s good for political rhetoric to talk about a government shutdown. But I don’t know anybody that wants that to happen.” He tried to inform his audience of the Republicans’ circumstances, and how willing they are to not have a shutdown from happening again.
On the other hand, according to one Democratic leader, the Senate officials seem to be making more time for the Congress’ President’s Day recess week, dreading over the proposal passed by the House earlier on that day. “We are prepared to negotiate right away,” Senator Chuck Schumer pronounces. Speaking to the news cast, he then talks about the workers who handle social security benefits and are being warned of the possibility of taking on a leave of absence or being let go. Now, all of the Democratics and Republicans are making quick accusations of one another to be roughly approaching the government to the edge until they finally snap.
“So much is at stake if this great government shuts down,” House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi says. “I would hope that instead of having ultimatums, we go forward with an approach that talks about how we keep government open.” With this being said, it is safe to say that there are other options that the Republicans can take, in order to keep away from all of this mess.
From 1981, the federal government has had more than a dozen shutdowns, with the exception of the two-stage partial shutdown of 1995 and 1996. As Congress had failed to support the government for a full fiscal year, agencies relied on a group of “continuing resolutions” to keep them in business, while lawmakers were being disputed.
As a result, Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree on one thing: that it is almost expected for the president to turn away from a shutdown and prevent all of this from happening again. Obama chose to even avoid talking about a shutdown at his news conference last week. With all of this being mentioned, President Obama assured his viewers that this must be tamed. He said “let’s use a scalpel. Let’s not use a machete. And if we do that, there should be no reason at all for a government shutdown.”
