The new Senate GOP Whip argued in an op-ed this morning that a partial government shutdown may be the best thing to get the country’s fiscal house in order.
Like all lawmakers who voted for the New Year’s fiscal cliff deal, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the bill imperfect but necessary in the immediate term to avoid tax hikes from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
“Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the fiscal cliff ordeal was that President Obama engaged in the same type of brinksmanship that has become his hallmark. For the fourth time in two years, he stalled and delayed on critical fiscal policy actions,” Cornyn wrote in the Houston Chronicle.
Noting the pattern of 11th-hour legislative crises from the 2011 government shutdown threat to the 2012 debt ceiling crisis, Cornyn said “in every instance, the White House has purposefully slow-walked the process in a shameless attempt to score cheap political points.”
“Over the next few months, we will reach deadlines related to the debt ceiling, the sequester and the continuing appropriations resolution that has funded federal operations since October. If history is any guide, President Obama won’t see fit to engage congressional Republicans until the 11th hour. In fact, he has already signaled an unwillingness to negotiate over the debt ceiling. This is unacceptable,” Cornyn wrote.
“The coming deadlines will be the next flashpoints in our ongoing fight to bring fiscal sanity to Washington. 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. President Obama needs to take note of this reality and put forward a plan to avoid it immediately.”
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