Washington Post (October 8)
John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”
Tags: Danger, Debt, Default, Democrats, House, John Boehner, Lifeline, Obama, Predicament, Republicans, Shutdown, U.S.
New York Times (September 30)
Driving “the United States government to the brink of shutting down,” the House of Representatives “decided that crippling health care reform was more important than keeping the government’s doors open. It was one of the most irresponsible votes since the last shutdown in 1996.” The Senate should “reject the entire House package immediately,” but “it may be impossible to prevent a shutdown at this point if the House continues to prefer dueling to governing.”
Tags: Governing, Government, Health care reform, House of Representatives, Ｉrresponsible, Senate, Shutdown, U.S.
Washington Post (September 25)
“If the federal government shuts down Oct. 1, a depressingly plausible prospect, D.C. residents will feel the impact more than most Americans because the city is barred from spending its revenues absent a federal appropriation. Even though D.C.’s budget is largely comprised of locally raised taxes, in a shutdown only essential services can continue. That translates into fewer garbage pickups, no street cleaning and shuttered libraries and recreation centers.”
Tags: Essential services, Garbage, Government, Libraries, Recreation, Revenues, Shutdown, Streets, Taxes, U.S., Washington D.C.
Financial Times (September 25)
“Congress needs to regain its senses before disaster hits.” Without Congressional action, the government will shut down next week and in several more begin defaulting on its sovereign debt. “As the sole superpower and provider of the international reserve currency, the US owes a duty to the world, as well as to itself, to uphold one of the most basic functions of a nation state. Flirting with a government shutdown is pantomime enough. Toying with whether the US will honour its sovereign debt obligations is pure recklessness.”
Tags: Congress, Defaulting, Duty, Recklessness, Reserve currency, Shutdown, Sovereign debt, Superpower, U.S.
