Search
Sections
Sections

Commentary

Brookings Scholars on Government Shutdown Crisis

Fred Dews
Fred Dews Managing Editor, New Digital Products - Office of Communications

October 2, 2013

  • 11 min read

A partial shutdown of U.S. federal government services commenced on October 1. The Brookings Now blog highlighted in real time what Brookings experts said about the shutdown, its implications for governance and the economy, and the potential showdown over the debt limit. Tweet this »

Visit FixGov blog and the federal budget topic page to continue following what Brookings scholars are saying about the government shutdown.

4:40 pm

3:31 pm:

2:06 pm:

1:46 pm:

1:17 pm:

11:49 am:

10:46 am:

10:37 am:

10:36 am

10:28 am:

10:27 am:

10:24 am:

10:18 am:

9:15 am:

9:13 am:


9:02 am: Bruce Katz writes that “This shutdown further exposes that the responsible leaders in this country are primarily in our cities and metropolitan areas.” 

8:28 am:

8:21 am:

7:40 am:

Wednesday, 6:26 am

 

 

Tuesday, 6:16 pm: Darrell West says “Save the Pandas! Don’t close government videos and websites.”

5:14 pm:

4:58 pm: Philip Wallach—”There are all sorts of important functions that will be suspended.”

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/10/01/Non-essential-federal-employees-head-home-worry-about-pay/9971380658764/#ixzz2gVRWNUnA

4:43 pm:

3:37 pm:

3:21 pm:

2:31 pm:

2:24 pm:

2:16 pm:

1:09 pm:

12:53 pm:

12:48 pm:

12:11 pm:

12:02 pm:

12:01 pm:

11:51 am:

11:28 am:

11:28 am:

10:54 am:

10:49 am:

10:40 am:

10:33 am:

10:04 am: John Hudak explains that mandatory spending programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid, “would be untouched by the current budget battle we’re having.”

9:48 am: Bill Galston says the GOP overplayed its hand with Obamacare in the government shutdown fight.

9:48 am:

8:10 am:

7:10 am:

6:37 am:

4:11 am:

3:35 am: Sarah Binder explains the difference between congressional “ping-pong”—the back and forth of amendments between the House and Senate—and a conference committee.

2:45 am:

Tuesday, 12:01 am: News update—The federal government shutdown has commenced.

11:50 pm:

11:38 pm:

11:32 pm:

11:05 pm:

10:55 pm:

10:42 pm

10:36 pm: Tom Mann, co-author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, on MSBNC tonight: John Boehner “feels such enormous pressure to produce the entire majority on the floor of the House from his own party, and since 30 or 40 of those members are just completely out of touch with reality and care nothing about governance or problem-solving or practical matters he’s become completely at their disposal and can’t get anything done.”

10:14 pm

9:29 pm:

8:54 pm:

4:47 pm:

4:19 pm:

4:10 pm:

4:07 pm: Elaine Kamarck calls Rep. John Boehner “an extraordinarily weak Speaker of the House” in her discussion on WSJ live of probable winners and losers in the event the government shuts down. Watch the video below:

 

3:30 pm:

3:11 pm:

3:08 pm:

2:33 pm:

2:28 pm: News update—The Senate voted 54-46 to reject the most recent House bill that included language to delay the Affordable Care Act for one year and repeal the medical device tax.

1:32 pm:

1:09 pm:

12:57 pm: Doug Elliott would rather be writing about something else—like the German elections and their impact on the euro crisis or a new free trade zone in Shanghai—but instead he’s had to note that “the shutdown will create costly inefficiencies, distract our leaders from more important tasks, and reduce our influence in a dangerous world by making us look incompetent and divided.”

12:46 pm: Justin Wolfers will track Gallup’s daily consumer confidence data during shutdown. “I bet it heads further south,” he tweeted.

11:35 am: Alice Rivlin told a gathering of health insurers last week that “this is the most broken I have seen our decision-making process.”

9:30 am: Philip Wallach, writing on the new FixGov.com blog, says budget sequestration “creates lingering policy uncertainty.”

6:00 am: Bill Galston says “the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate is a lot more cautious of a government shutdown than the troops are.”

Sunday, 7:40 pm: Elaine Kamarck, director of the new Center for Effective Public Management, says it will take a few days for citizens to start to notice the trickle-down impact on state and local services.

Sunday: Henry Aaron says President Obama should “ignore” the debt ceiling. 

From last week:

• How Boehner, like Moses, could part the Red Sea
• Alice Rivlin Was In Charge of the Last Government Shutdown. This is What She Saw.
• How Clinton Won the Government Shutdown Fight & Why Obama Will Too
• Economic Studies Experts On the Government Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Standoff

For all research, commentary and activites from Brookings related to the federal budget, visit our topic page.

More On