IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Here we go again: GOPers threaten to shutdown government

Shut ‘er down. That’s what some Republicans are threatening to do to the government if they don’t get the spending cuts they want.
.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)(R) watches as John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to the press on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 14, 2012. Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted Cornyn as the new minority whip on Wednesday.   REUTERS/Jason...
.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)(R) watches as John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to the press on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 14, 2012....

Shut ‘er down.

That’s what some Republicans are threatening to do to the government if they don’t get the spending cuts they want.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn wrote in a Houston Chronicle op-ed on Friday that a partial government shutdown may be necessary to “secure the long-term fiscal well being of our country, rather than plodding along the path of Greece, Italy and Spain.”

The GOP whip did not detail what a partial shutdown would look like or how long it would last. Cornyn, who voted in favor of the latest fiscal cliff deal,  ripped President Obama, writing, "If history is any guide, President Obama won’t see fit to engage congressional Republicans until the 11th hour."

Sen. Pat Toomey had previously argued on msnbc’s Morning Joe that the prospect of a partial government shutdown is “a hell of a lot better” than allowing Obama to spend more money.

House Speaker John Boehner has gone as far to say he’s ready to use the debt ceiling fight to get the spending cuts he wants.

At stake is $110 billion in automatic spending cuts that the Senate and the House put off for two months in order to pass the fiscal cliff compromise.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell weighed in on Friday’s Hardball, saying the conservatives were wrong to think a partial government shutdown wouldn’t be a big deal. He said the consequences would be "drastic."

“If they don’t lift the debt ceiling, the economy shuts down. Not only the U.S. economy, maybe the world economy," the Democrat said. He added, "The bottom line on this…nobody should be threatening or rattling sabers. Everyone. President Obama, Harry Reid, everyone knows we need significant spending cuts. It’s about time we act maturely and get together and try to find out what the spending cuts we have to make can be made in the least onerous way for the American people.”

Ohio Republican Steve Latourette, who just retired from the House, said spending is the problem but “where [the GOP]  missed the boat was by  resisting on the tax side so long that it became all about the taxes that the spending got lost.”