Does This Gov't Shutdown Proposal from Rand Paul Surprise You?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday House Republicans should submit a “clean” short-term funding bill to the U.S. Senate in order to keep the government open “while we negotiate."

“I think what we could do is pass a very short-term, maybe not six weeks, but what about one week, so we could negotiate over a week,” Paul said on CNN, hours after the federal government went into partial shutdown.

“I think a continuing bill to keep the government open while we negotiate is a good idea. I do agree that negotiating with the government closed probably to [Democrats] appears like strong-arm tactics,” he said.

But Paul said the continuing resolution doesn't need to be short-term enough “that we are having an active negotiation that we don’t just say we’re going to fund it for three months or two months and come back.”

“I think if we did it for a week or two, we could still continue to negotiate, have a conference committee and really I think the American people do want us to work this out,” Paul said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday the Democrat-controlled Senate would not consider anything other than a clean, six-week continuing resolution. That means the House must remove all provisions aimed at chipping away at Obamacare.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), for his part, said that was “not going to happen.”

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(H/T: Politico). Featured image Getty Images.

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