The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) issued a scathing indictment on Wednesday following the reported end of America’s longest government shutdown. Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB, said the political stalemate “accomplished nothing and caused significant harm to many individuals, not to mention our reputation around the world.”
MacGuineas, leader of a bipartisan budget watchdog, had a bipartisan rebuke for Congress. “Policymakers gave new meaning to fiscal irresponsibility,” she said, since the previous standoff was over a deficit-busting $1.5 trillion in health-care subsidies and the current reopening package locks in what the CRFB calculates as $3.4 trillion of new borrowing by wiping the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) scorecard, a favorite policy of the CRFB.
“Lawmakers should stop papering over their fiscal recklessness and face the tough decisions head-on,” MacGuineas argued, “or at the very least, follow their own rules.”
The resolution to end the shutdown, which had been ongoing since before October 1, came as the Senate approved an amended version of a Continuing Resolution (CR) on November 10. The House is now preparing to vote on this CR-Minibus appropriations bill.
