Obama wasn't overly impressed with Republicans not shutting down the government

President Obama zings Congress over government shutdowns
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Wednesday evening, President Obama signed a stopgap spending measure that will fund the federal government through Dec. 11, hours after the Republican-led House and Senate approved the measure and hours before a midnight deadline. The measure passed easily in the Senate, 78 to 20, but House Republicans had to rely on Democrats the clear the bill, 277-151, because conservative members were displeased that it didn't include a measure to strip all funding from Planned Parenthood.

Obama told a group of state lawmakers that he was pleased the Republicans didn't force a government shutdown, as they had for 17 days in October 2013, but he threw in a touch of sarcasm. "The good news is that it looks like the Republicans will just barely avoid shutting down the government for the second time in two years. That's a somewhat low bar but we should celebrate where we can," Obama said. "The bad news is that it looks like Republicans will just barely avoid shutting down the government again for the second time in two years."

As Paul Waldman notes, the shutdown threat isn't over — it's just delayed until Dec. 11. Stay tuned.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.