Was President Barack Obama reasonable to demand an end to the federal government shutdown now in exchange for negotiations with his Republican opponents later?
Harry Stein, associate director of fiscal policy for the progressive Center for American Progress, sided with the president in saying that negotiations and discussions to end the impasse should come only after the government has been restarted and the debt ceiling extended. Both issues have the the subject of a week-long tug-of-war between Obama and the leaders in the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, versus the leaders in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Republicans.
"We absolutely ought to be having negotiations," he said. "Those negotiations can include health care reform."
Stein said that the battle is happening at a precarious time for the country. People are dealing with the government shutdown and concerns about upcoming debt ceiling deadline, but also the sequestration cuts to the federal budget begun earlier this year, Stein said.
"Those negotiations shouldn’t be happening when the American people are living through … two crises … and facing a third," he said.
But Tom Giovanetti, president of the conservative Institute for Policy Innovation, said Republicans were asking for "eminently reasonable" concessions from Democrats in demanding a delay to the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
Furthermore, while he was doubtful that Republicans would ultimately refuse to extend the debt ceiling, he supported concessions in the process.
"I think that Republican leadership strongly understands that the best thing to do is go ahead and extend the debt limit," Giovanetti said. "But, I think that they have every right to expect some political concessions in exchange for that. I think that’s how our system is designed."
But Stein said the individual mandate absolutely couldn't be on the table, and was in fact different from the delay of requirements for some businesses and labor unions. Unlike the other two, he said the individual mandate was "central" to the success of the law as it would ensure enough healthy people purchased insurance to keep costs low for the sick.
Stein agreed that the government would eventually reopen and the debt ceiling crisis again averted, hopefully with a legislative framework in place for more long-term discussions.
“As long as that framework goes on without an ongoing crisis, that would be I think an acceptable outcome,” Stein said.
