Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Sunday that talks about ending the standoff over government funding are “at an impasse” — and a partial shutdown "could last a long, long time."
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee said discussions have to “move away from the blame game.”
“Our negotiations are at an impasse at the moment,” he said. “I wish it were not so. But we've got to move away from the blame game. Blaming the president, blaming the Democrats, [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.] and [Sen. Charles] Schumer [D-N.Y.] and others, and get back to doing what we're sent there to do, to fund the government.”
He added that being “at a standoff… that's not good for the Senate, the House, or America.”
“We can do better and we've got to figure out a way to get to ‘yes’,” he continued. “If we blame each other this could last a long, long time.”
Shelby added that “nobody wins in a shutdown.”
“At the end of the day, all of this will end,” he said. “We don't know when, in negotiations. It's not a question of who wins or loses. Nobody's gonna win this kind of game. Nobody wins in a shutdown. We all lose and we kind of look silly.”
Shelby also said the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell — who has been the target of President Donald Trump’s ire amid the recently volatile stock market — can’t be fired without cause, and is doing “a good job.”
“The economy's been very good… probably the best economy I've seen in years and years if not my lifetime,” he said. “But the Federal Reserve is the back bone, is the bedrock of our financial system. It's set up to be independent.
“I don't believe blaming the Federal Reserve for this or that, whoever the president or a congressman or senator is, helps matters. The president cannot fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve except for cause. I think Chairman Powell, myself, is doing a good job.”
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