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Congress Looks To Prevent Federal Government Shutdown With Short-Term Compromise

Kevin Douglas Grant |
February 28, 2011 | 9:50 a.m. PST

Executive Editor

The existing federal budget expires March 4, but Congressional leaders appear to have found enough common ground to fund the government until March 18.

The compromise cuts $4 billion in spending from programs that President Obama had already marked for elimination, and gives the GOP a short-term victory.  The big prize is yet to come:

"Lawmakers remain sharply divided over how to fund the government through Sept. 30, with Republicans demanding unprecedented reductions in domestic spending to trim a budget deficit projected to hit a record $1.6 trillion this year. Last week, in response to public anxiety over deficit spending, the House approved a plan to cut a total of $61 billion from virtually every federal agency over the next seven months."

Congressional Democrats oppose such extreme cuts, and are banking on Republicans to back off rather than face public wrath if the federal government closes.

The last time that happened was a pair of shutdowns in late 1995 and early 1996, as then-President Bill Clinton vetoed a spending bill passed by the GOP-controlled Congress.  The government was closed for about a month total.  Veterans of that era have warned current leaders against going down that road.

 “'The House has every right to take the positions they took, but it cannot be their way or the highway,' said G. William Hoagland, staff director of the Senate Budget Committee from 1982 to 2002. 'In some ways, that’s where it’s similar to the position Speaker [Newt] Gingrich took in the winter of 1995 where it had to be his way or no way.'"

A poll conducted for The Hill suggested that Americans would blame Democrats more heavily for a shutdown than they would Republicans, whereas the GOP took more heat in 1995.

That is likely because this is not a Newt Gingrich situation.  House Speaker John Boehner, who served under Gingrich, has said directly that he wants to avoid a shutdown:

"'Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money,' Boehner said. 'We don't need to shut down the government to accomplish that. We just need to do what the American people are asking of us.'"

In the event of a federal closure, many government employees would be prohibited from working and many agencies and offices would close.  



 

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