NECN: Sen. Warren: We have to negotiate when we're not on the brink
Elizabeth Warren also talk about what Democrats are doing to hammer out a long term budget deal
NECN Politics
October 16, 2013
(NECN) - Votes are expected to begin in the U.S. Senate on a bill that would end the partial government shutdown and avoid defaulting on the country's debts Wednesday evening.
Massachusetts' Senator Elizabeth Warren says it sounds like there is a "real majority" to pass the bill.
"The United States cannot default on its debts and we're going to get the government reopened, just like we should," she says.
However, the deal is only a short term one. The agreement would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and allow the U.S. to continue to borrow through Feb. 7.
Warren says the only way to avoid another shutdown is for both sides to keep an open dialogue.
"We got to remember how costly going to the edge is for us. You know, this shutdown of the government combined with this threat to default on our debt has cost our country billions and billions of dollars and that's at a time when little kids are being kicked off Head Start, seniors are being pushed out of Meals on Wheels, scientists can't get the funding to do their research and Congress keeps saying 'There's not enough money, not enough money, not enough money,' and yet a crisis like this is just taking billions and flushing it down the drain," Sen. Warren says. "I think what we have to do is we have to keep reminding everyone of that and saying we got to come together and do our negotiations not when we're on the brink of default. We got to be doing them all the time. That's what's essential."
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