Government Shutdown

[waltky]

Granny all for it if it'll put dem politicians outta work...

GOP eyes shutdown as ‘fiscal sanity’ jolt
Friday, January 4, 2013 - Sees it as way to press need for cuts

The appetite for a government shutdown is growing among Republicans, who shied away from one during the debt and spending fights in the last Congress but now say one may be needed. Several high-profile senators have begun laying the groundwork for a shutdown, saying it may be necessary in order to restore “fiscal sanity” on the federal budget. “I think the last time we saw a shutdown, the fact that Republicans were willing to stand together — on fiscally conservative principles — ended up producing a result that was responsible and that benefited the country and that ultimately produced enormous economic growth,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas.

Fellow Texan Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the chamber, wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle on Friday saying a partial shutdown may be needed to show that Congress is serious about cutting spending. “It may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well-being of our country, rather than plod along the path of Greece, Italy and Spain,” he wrote. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, stopped short of endorsing the idea Sunday but didn’t rule it out, either. Instead, he called it a “shame” that Republicans are forced to consider such tactics in order to gain Democratic cooperation on spending cuts. “None of us like using these situations like the sequester or the debt ceiling or operation of government to try to engage the president to deal with this,” Mr. McConnell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s a shame we have to use whatever leverage we have in Congress to get the president to deal with the biggest problem of our time, and that’s our excessive spending.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said shutting down the government would be preferable to picking a fight on the debt ceiling, another tool in the Republican arsenal. Mr. Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, also noted that he opted to shutter the federal government twice in the 1990s during budget negotiations with President Clinton, paving the way for a balanced budget and welfare reform. “I helped close the government twice. It actually worked,” Mr. Gingrich said on “Meet the Press.” “Bill Clinton came in and said, ‘The era of big government is over’ after two closures, not before.” Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, also said members of his party need to be ready “to tolerate a temporary, partial government shutdown.” He told MSNBC last week that it could be disruptive, but it’s better than accepting ever-increasing spending.

After losing on most of their demands in last week’s tax deal, which included minuscule spending cuts, congressional Republicans have warned that they will not cave again. The upcoming budget fights include another increase in the government’s debt limit, due within two or three months, and another battle over automatic spending cuts, due by March 1. A month after that, the government’s funding runs out and must be renewed for the next six months. Missing the debt deadline would force the government to cut about 40 percent of services immediately, and missing the six-month spending deal would mean an even broader shutdown. The automatic spending cuts, or sequesters, would impose nearly $90 billion in immediate cuts.

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'Fiscal cliff' deal won't do 'anything really' to tackle deficit
1/06/13 - The deal allowing tax rates to rise on the wealthy falls far short of what’s needed to truly tackle the national debt, the authors of a prominent deficit-reduction plan said Sunday.

Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson (Wyo.) and Democrat Erskine Bowles, who crafted the Bowles-Simpson plan, said the tax package is only a small part of what’s needed. “This thing isn’t going to do anything, really,” Simpson said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” He said tackling the deficit will still require significant spending cuts, especially to entitlement programs. Simpson lambasted Senate leaders for not working together, and he noted that increases in lifespan are rapidly straining Medicare and Social Security. “What the hell? Who’s kidding who?” Simpson said.

Bowles, too, said the "fiscal cliff" deal was a missed opportunity. And although spending cuts form the bulk of the next step, he disagreed with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and said some further revenues are still necessary. President Obama has noted that he offered Republicans significant cuts to Medicare and Social Security as part of earlier debt packages, but Republicans rejected calls to let any tax rates rise until last week, when across-the-board hikes were set to take effect.

The spending cuts enacted in the Budget Control Act and last week’s tax agreement solved about half the problems, Bowles said. He said Congress needs to cut about $1.6 trillion more in spending and raise about $600 billion more in revenues by closing loopholes. “Yes, the president has taken some steps forward on the entitlement programs, but has he done enough? Absolutely not,” Bowles said. “And has the speaker shown the flexibility he needs to show in order for us to broaden the base and simplify the code and reform our tax structure — or to be specific about which forms of the entitlement he would actually reduce? No.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/video/policy-are...les-call-for-more-spending-cuts#ixzz2HNoQyVGq