Reference News Network, October 4 report: Associated Press published an article titled "Everyone in Washington Hates the Government Shutdown, Unless It Becomes a Useful Tool" on October 2. The article argues that the government shutdown has become a tool for partisan struggles in the United States. Excerpts are as follows:
The U.S. government shutdown, Donald Trump called on Democrats and Republicans to work together to get out of the dilemma.
But that was in 2013, when Trump was still a businessman who had not entered politics. Now, as president, Trump and his Republican colleagues have taken a completely different stance. In this government shutdown, which the Republicans accuse the Democrats of instigating, they refuse to negotiate with the other side.
Last year, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was criticizing some dreamers who "believed that if the government shut down to achieve their goals, it would be somewhat good." Now, Schumer and most other Democrats have rejected the bill to open the government and provide funding, because they want to include healthcare provisions in it.
Both parties use the government shutdown as a threat to force a policy outcome, and both condemn the other for doing so. No one likes the government shutdown, but both sides insist that the American people are on their side - whether or not they support the government shutdown.
Other than a small number of moderate politicians who are always annoyed by the manipulation of the government shutdown, few politicians do not do this.
Last year, when Vice President Vance was still a senator, Congress was once again on the brink of a funding shortage, and he firmly advocated using the government funding as a bargaining chip to achieve the goals of the Republicans.
Vance now takes a completely different attitude. This week, he stood with Republican leaders at the White House and said that the Democrats use their proposals "as a bargaining chip, closing the government unless we meet all your demands," which is "unreasonable."
In 2013, during her first term as a senator, Elizabeth Warren advocated that "the least we can do" is to pass a short-term funding bill "to prevent the government from shutting down and to keep it running." Now, Warren has voted twice against the temporary measures pushed by Republican lawmakers and the White House to keep the government running.
The difference each time the government shuts down is the specific policy that the party instigating it wants to achieve. A common theme is that the party that forces the government to shut down almost never achieves its own goals. If the past was just the prelude, it means that the Democrats will not achieve their goals this time either. (Translated by Ge Xuele)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7557196128324780579/
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