The shutdown
On November 14, major portions of the federal government became inoperative. The Clinton administration later released figures detailing the costs of the shutdown, which included losses of up to $800 million in salaries paid to furloughed employees.
[2] The first budget shutdown was resolved with the passage of a temporary spending bill, but the underlying disagreement between Gingrich and Clinton was not resolved, resulting in the second shutdown.
[edit] Result
Daily News cover illustrated by
Ed Murawinski.
The Republicans blamed Clinton for the shutdown, but public opinion seemed to favor the president. President
Clinton's approval rating rose to the highest it had been since his election. The Republican's support was further diminished two days later when Gingrich made a widely-reported complaint about being snubbed by Clinton;
Tom DeLay called it "the mistake of his [Gingrich's] life".
[1]
DeLay writes in his book
No Retreat, No Surrender:
[3]
"He told a room full of reporters that he forced the shutdown because Clinton had rudely made him and Bob Dole sit at the back of
Air Force One... Newt had been careless to say such a thing, and now the whole moral tone of the shutdown had been lost.
What had been a noble battle for fiscal sanity began to look like the tirade of a spoiled child. The revolution, I can tell you, was never the same."
Gingrich's complaint resulted in the perception that he was acting in a petty, egotistical manner, and Clinton defended the seating arrangement as a courtesy to Gingrich, the back of the plane being closer to his pickup car.
[1] Later, the polls suggested that the event badly damaged Gingrich politically.
[4]
The shutdown also influenced the 1996 presidential election.
Bob Dole, the
Senate Majority Leader, was running for president in 1996. Because of his need to campaign, Dole wanted to solve the budget crisis in January 1996 despite the willingness of other Republicans to continue the shutdown unless their demands were met.
[5] It also has been cited as a role in Clinton's successful re-election in 1996.
[6]
Its like playing a chess game against yourself for Republicans
