“They will pay a bigger price, but they seem willing to pay it in part because most of their members are in completely safe [congressional] districts. The only thing they have to worry about is a challenge from the right in the Republican primary. So they do not want to let anybody get to their right.”
For the moment, Larry Sabato sees no quick end to the shutdown.
“They are so deeply polarized by party and by institution that it is difficult to see, if people stick to the principles they have articulated, how this is going to be resolved. It could go on and on. And of course it will do tremendous damage, not just to our economy but to our image around the world.”
Political observer Charlie Cook says some of the Republican opposition is also driven by deep feelings against President Obama.
“There are a lot of Republicans where if President Obama said ‘up,’ they would say ‘down.’
The last politically driven government shutdown began in December of 1995. It lasted three weeks.
And right now there is another issue. Congress will soon have to raise the borrowing limit or risk the United States not being able to make all of its loan payments. Congress must renew the government's power to borrow money by October 17 or risk a first-ever federal default.
And that's In the News from VOA Learning English. I’m Avi Arditti.
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