Democrats hit shutdown threat: GOP tactics on oil drilling 'a last gasp'

Washington Times

Democratic leaders slammed Republicans on Monday for threatening to force a government shutdown this fall unless Congress lifts the ban on offshore oil drilling and for simultaneously demanding lawmakers return from the August recess to vote on more drilling.

”This is a last gasp of a party without ideas, hamstrung by a politically weakened president and fully understanding that they are going to lose a significant number of seats in November,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.

He said Republicans should have learned that government shutdowns don't work in 1995, when voters mostly blamed the then-Republican-led Congress for the budget standoff with President Clinton that brought the federal government to a virtual standstill.......