Posted on 10/17/2013 8:43:49 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
After helping negotiate a bipartisan deal to end the partial federal government shutdown, and extend the debt limit, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he hopes House Republicans learned a lesson: “this is unacceptable.”
“We have got to sit down in a mature, bipartisan way, and solve our problems,” he said. “I hope that Speaker [John] Boehner and the House Republicans have learned a valuable lesson: this is unacceptable. And we need to come together to solve our problems.”
Durbin said there were no winners in the battle over shutting down the federal government, but reporters in Chicago asked whether Republicans were the losers, after failing to get any major changes they sought to the Affordable Care Act.
“I have to say that the Republican strategy of shutting down the government, running the risk of defaulting on our debt, was a complete disaster,” he said. “The Tea Party has been discredited, but still they are a faction within the House Republicans, and Boehner is enthralled by them. So many times he’s turned his back on his country, turned his back on the House, turned his back on a majority of the Republican members of the House, to listen to a handful of Tea Party disgruntled people. That is unacceptable.”
Asked if Republicans would pay for that in the 2014 elections, Durbin said “let the voters make that decision.”
“The numbers suggest the voters believe they’re responsible for it, but I hope they’ve learned a lesson. This is not the way to run a great nation. Shutting down our government, diminishing our role in the world, reducing our credit rating — that hurts ordinary Americans and working families,” Durbin said.
Durbin was in the U.S. House of Representatives during the last federal government shutdown in 1996, and while that shutdown lasted slightly longer, Durbin said the effects of the latest shutdown were more serious.
“This was dramatically worse. There were more victims of this Republican shutdown. This notion that we could take 800,000 federal employees and furlough them? That we could deny services to millions of Americans? That no one would notice? Why, of course we noticed,” Durbin said.
The agreement on funding the government lasts only through Jan. 15, and the extension of the debt ceiling lasts only through Feb. 7, leaving many to question whether there will be a repeat of the Congressional stalemate in a few months. When you have a family — 17 families — notified that they’ve lost a loved one in combat in the military, who can’t receive their military benefits, as promised — that is a complete disgrace.”
Durbin, however, said he believes the public won’t allow that to happen.
“If the American people speak up, and say to Speaker Boehner ‘This is unacceptable,’ that will make a difference,” he said. “And then they have the last word. Come the election in November of next year, the American voters have the last word.”
The only member of the Illinois congressional delegation to vote against the deal was U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL), who said it does nothing to reduce the massive federal debt.
What a surprise thing to hear from Turban Durbin!
Dear Turbin; pass a budget.
Was it? Or was it working—look at Obamas Poll numbers.
Dear Turban: Resign
it’s politics durbin you louse
everything is acceptable
not negotiating which is what the lowlife in the white house did is what is totally unacceptable
This is disturbing. Turban is an authority on disasters.
One might even say, this Dick is a Master of Disaster.
FUDD !
The hubris of gloat.
Lighten up Dick. If you communists didn’t own the liars in the national “media”, we would have kicked your asses and saved the country’s future at the same time. You ‘RATS all owe your “media” toads a big wet one on the lips for saving your asses.
No.
Durbin said there were no winners in the battle over shutting down the federal governmentThat's a lie. The size of McConnell's bribe is a winner (for him). I hope everybody's congress critters had enough sense to not leave any money on the bribe table. TREAT: McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $2 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project...
ObamaCare is a tar baby and Turbin is too stupid to see the disaster.
When “our side” decided to trash Cruz and Co., they ensured this would be the outcome.
Instead of sticking together and fighting a meaningful battle, they betrayed us and lent credibility to all these BS charges.
I doubt the GOP ever wins anything of significance again, and now that they have proven that they hate us just as much as the Dems do, who cares?
Sometimes you do the opposite of the polls and are rewarded in the election.
Pray America is Waking Up
Obama’s approval rating dropped to 37% during the shutdown.
Notice how Durbin doesn’t address this factoid.
Nice job betraying us, Boehner; here's your reward.
Besides, with the Healthcare.gov roll-out being such a massive, massive failure and with ABSOLUTELY NO PROSPECT of Obama and his admin fixing it in the next 3-4 months, I believe that the Pubbies decided to get out of the way of this train wreck before Obama figured out how to blame them for it.
Even this McConnell gambit of requiring a majority vote to halt a debt limit increase in February plays into this. Don't create any distractions and Republican blame at the crucial time when 40,000,000 people face the Valentine's deadline to get insurance six weeks before the March 31 "drop dead" penalty date.
Long-term, Congress cannot abdicate their responsibility to raise the debt limit. This is a one-time deal to avoid a Republican blamefest in February.
There has been a lot of tape of the ‘Rats defending that horrible law the past couple of weeks. It should be useful in 2014. I am really surprised that they do not see it coming.
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