This cartoon is from 1995, when Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government when he felt snubbed after having to sit in the back of Air Force One. The public did not appreciate the shutdown, and opinion shifted in favor of President Clinton, who was easily reelected in 1996, just two years after his party’s massive defeat in the 1994 midterm elections.
This item, from today, shows the Republicans have learned nothing since then:
For the second consecutive day, Senate Republicans angry over the health care legislation blocked Senate committees from meeting on Wednesday, including an Armed Services Committee session that top officers stationed in Hawaii and Korea had traveled to Washington to attend.
Showing their pique over the Senate’s plunging ahead with an expedited process to consider changes in the newly enacted health care law, Senate Republicans refused to allow panels to meet after 2 p.m.
Under Senate rules, the afternoon schedule requires agreement from all senators, which is typically given pro forma. But with Republicans annoyed at being steamrolled by the reconciliation process, that approval was not granted, much to the unhappiness of Democrats who contended that Republicans were inconveniencing a lot of people in their temper tantrum.
“We have three commanders testifying this afternoon,” Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said. “They’ve been scheduled for a long time. They have come a long, long distance.”