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WASHINGTON D.C. — Members of Utah's delegation have held firm in opposition as tension continues to rise in the capitol.
In the past three months, Senator Mike Lee has been a key figure in opposing the budget and Obamacare. Lee spoke in front of the Senate Tuesday afternoon urging his compatriots to "hold their ground."
Lee used an analogy about a trip to the grocery store to make his point.
"The cashier said ‘OK, here's what you owe for these items. But we won't allow you to buy just bread, milk and eggs. In order to buy items at this store, we will also require you to purchase a half ton of iron ore, a bucket of nails, a book about cowboy poetry and a Barry Manilow album,' " Lee said.
The President also spoke Tuesday, specifically focusing on the fact that Congress is not willing to negotiate the federal budget without also talking about the national debt ceiling. He urged Americans not to hold its debt ransom to pay the federal budget.
"We won't pay a ransom for America to pay its bills," Obama said.
The debt is not part of the budget, the President said, and Congress is holding one issue hostage.
After President Obama's speech, all members of the Senate were called back to the floor. The situation in Washington seems to be ramping up, but time will tell if the ramp up is toward a resolution or toward more separation on the issue of the shutdown.
Boehner and President Obama spoke on the phone today, but it didn't end with a new plan. Boehner wants negotiations regarding the debt ceiling now, but the President wants the shutdown over first.
"My suggestion to the speaker — has been and will continue to be — let's stop the excuses, let's take a vote in the house, let's end this shutdown right now," Obama said. "Let's put people back to work, then serious negotiations could proceed around every item in the budget."
"There's going to be a negotiation here," Boehner said. "We can't raise the debt ceiling without doing something about what's driving us to borrow more money and to live beyond our means."
Both sides in Washington can only seem to agree on one thing: it's going to be difficult to negotiate an end to these two crises.
I think it's interesting that many of the folks who are driving this are people who have no real experience in government at the federal level.
–Bob Bennett, former Utah Senator
But there is some sign of compromise, because when you have President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner talking in a public forum, you know that some conversation is being had, which was not the case toward the end of last week.
Former Utah Senator Bob Bennett weighed in, and he said that when you start essentially playing hostage negotiator between the debt ceiling and the government shutdown, you're playing with fire.
"Don't take a hostage you're not willing to shoot," Bennett said. "And to take the United States credit worthiness around the world hostage and say ‘we're willing to shoot this hostage in order to get what we want on this other matter that's far less important' … you're assuming the people will pay the ransom.
Bennett said government wasn't like this even a few years ago before he was ousted from his Senate seat by Mike Lee, who is now at the center of the ongoing debate.
"When I was there, the primary focus was on ‘What can you get done? What can you accomplish for your home state? What can you do to move things forward?' " Bennett said. "Today it's ‘What position can you take that is ideologically pure, that can make the point?' "
Bennett said where we are now — the current government shutdown and the impending debt ceiling crisis — is all being handled by politicians who aren't able or willing to cross the aisle, because many haven't been there before and don't know how.
"I think it's interesting that many of the folks who are driving this are people who have no real experience in government at the federal level," Bennett said.
This week the division between both parties continues. And now it appears Congress will be forced to deal with both the federal government shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis at the same time. Which is a move Bennett says could backfire and create an even bigger mess.
The government has been in shutdown for eight days.
