Both sides agree: Shutdown is no game

WASHINGTON -- Both sides are making it clear Friday that they take the partial shutdown of the federal government seriously.

House Speaker John Boehner, in calling for talks with the White House, said, "This isn't some damn game."

And President Barack Obama responded today to a question about an unidentified senior administration official who was quoted as saying the White House was "winning" the showdown over the shutdown. Obama said of federal employees, "As long as they're off the job, nobody's winning."

Obama again urged the Republican-controlled House to pass a short-term spending measure that would reopen the government without strings attached.

Republicans say with both Obama and Congress in town this weekend, it's the perfect time to start talks on ending the shutdown.

Republican leaders say the House will be in session tomorrow so that it can continue passing bills that would reopen selected parts of the government. The White House is responding by issuing fresh veto threats, saying Congress should reopen the entire federal government.

Clinton: Shutdown shows 'scorched earth' politics

Hillary Rodham Clinton says the partial government shutdown is emblematic of too many people in politics choosing "scorched earth over common ground."

In a speech Friday night at Hamilton College in upstate New York, the former senator and secretary of state said that it's difficult to recall a time when politicians were willing to risk, in her words, "so much damage to the country to pursue their own agendas."

Clinton notes that the government shutdown forced President Barack Obama to cancel his trip to an Asian summit. She says countries like Russia and China plan to attend, but, quote, "we're not there."

She says when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, worked with Republicans during shutdowns in the mid-1990s, neither side got everything it wanted but still balanced the budget.

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barack obama, republicans, obamacare, health care, health insurance, congress, government shutdown, politics

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