Dem Rep. Panetta on Shutdown in January: 'We've Had to Shut Down' 'to Fix Our Differences'

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) responded to a question on whether Democrats should shut the government down over healthcare by saying that he doesn’t want a shutdown, but “it’s gotten to that situation where we’ve had to shut down the government in order to fix our differences.”

“NewsHour” Correspondent Lisa Desjardins asked, “There’s a funding deadline in January, at the end of January. Should Democrats demand healthcare action in return for funding government again?”

Panetta responded, “Look, that’s what we demanded during the shutdown, and we got to this point right now. And, hopefully, that’s something where we’ll be able to fix it in early January, because the last thing we want is a government shutdown. That’s not what I wanted back then. It’s not what I’ve wanted throughout my time in Congress. But, unfortunately, it’s gotten to that situation where we’ve had to shut down the government in order to fix our differences. Hopefully, this is something, with this discharge petition, we can pass it out of the House, get it to the Senate, and then have something, a foundation to extend the tax credits well before the budget deadline.”

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