Shutting down the government is a "big mistake," Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole said Tuesday.
The government closure forced Americans who want to be at work on Tuesday to stay at home, Oklahoma’s Republican Rep. Tom Cole said.
“Ending it sooner rather than later is better in my view. I’ve never been for shutting down the government; I think it’s a big mistake,” the Republican representative said Tuesday on Morning Joe. “At the end of the day, it’s not who gets the blame but who gets hurt.”
For the first time since November 1995, the government shut down after Congress failed to pass a bill Monday that would have provided a plan for federal funding.
But there are elements in President Obama’s budget that could form the basis for a compromise, Cole said. The sooner the situation ends, the better off the country will be.
“No special treatment for politicians–which they’re getting right now–and I think probably getting illegally, so we should just end that,” he said, commenting on the fact that Congress continues to get paid in a shutdown even as other federal workers do not.
Watch more on Morning Joe.
