GOP Sen. Rob Portman reminded Democrats on Friday that government shutdowns historically don’t end well.
With the midnight Friday deadline looming, many Senate Democrats are against a short-term spending bill that’s needed to keep the government funded through Feb. 16.
Democrats want the bill to include protections for so-called dreamers — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and were protected from deportation by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Republicans say the issue is unrelated to the spending bill.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Portman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush, noted that Republicans forced a government shut down in 2013. “It didn’t turn out too well,” the Ohio Republican said.
That shut down came after tea party Republicans sought to use the spending bill to force then-President Barack Obama to delay implementation of his health-care bill.
The GOP also forced a shut down in 1995 under then-President Bill Clinton over disagreements, including funding for Medicare.
The 16-day shutdown in 2013 forced hundreds of thousands of federal workers to take temporary leaves and lopped about three-tenths of a percent off real gross domestic product growth that year.
“This is an opportunity to remind ourselves of what happened in 2013,” Portman said. “Let’s not shut down the government, let’s keep it running.”
Portman said Democrats are opposing the short-term spending bill to “score political points” with constituents and the party’s behavior Friday is “unusual.”
Also on “Squawk Box,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the House’s short-term spending bill, passed late Thursday by 230-197, is an example of irresponsible governance.
He said the bill did not sufficiently address Democrats’ concerns about the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The House bill “simply meets a political agenda,” said Jeffries, a member of Judiciary and Budget committees.
Jeffries, who voted against the House bill, wrote a letter to President Donald Trump that outlined key priorities that he believes must be addressed in any spending bill, including CHIP and the DACA program.
“[DACA] is a priority,” Jeffries “The president triggered the DACA crisis. There is significant agreement across party lines … that we need to provide a permanent resolution of the ‘dreamer’ situation.”
