Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich knows a thing or two about government shutdowns and he wants President Donald Trump to hold the line in the battle with Congressional Democrats.
Prior to the current record-breaking shutdown debacle, Gingrich was one of the key players in the former longest government shutdown in U.S. history. His 21-day shutdown battle was between him and former President Bill Clinton over balancing the budget in December 1995.
Gingrich refused to raise the debt ceiling to allow Clinton more flexibility in spending. In the end, Republicans got Clinton to sign a seven-year plan to maintain a balanced budget.
Although Republicans were blamed for the shutdown Gingrich led, he did manage to get the legislation he wanted.
Now, he’s encouraging Trump to stay in the battle for wall funding.
He made his case for continuing the shutdown during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Watch:
“The president’s position ought to be that we’re not going to kick the can any farther down the road. We’re going to get it solved now. And he ought to call the Congress in and keep their feet to the fire and say, ‘Look, you guys have an obligation to stay here and to focus on this.’”
Gingrich claimed that the more liberal side of the Democratic party is tracking much too far to the left for most moderate Democrats. He suggested pressuring moderate Democrats to vote with Republicans rather than declaring a national emergency to build the wall.
“You have a hard-line leftwing Democratic Party whose radical wing now is far to the left of Bernie Sanders. They have no interest in governing. They have no interest in working with the president of the United States.”
As Gingrich suggested, there are a few Democrats who have toyed with the idea of working with Republicans to pass a bill with wall funding, including Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).