McCain: I Hope GOP Learned Its Lesson From Shutdown

Sen. John McCain opposed the strategy of some Republicans that led to the partial government shutdown and he says he hopes they have learned the lesson he and his colleagues learned in 1995.

McCain and others say Republicans caught the blame for that shutdown, and that's why there hasn't been another one until now.

"After '95 we waited all these years before we tried this idiotic experiment again," McCain said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record." "And I hope it'll be another 15 or 20 years … before we do it again."

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The Arizona Republican repeated his criticism of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, calling his leading of those who tried to tie defunding Obamacare to the federal budget resolution "a fool's errand."

Cruz may say  he's standing with the American people, but, McCain noted, 74 percent of the public disapproves of Republicans as a result of the shutdown. The American people also have been hurt "to the tune of $40 billion while we went through an exercise that could not succeed," McCain said.

But McCain also had harsh words for the deal hammered out earlier Wednesday by Senate leadership.

An amendment by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to force members of Congress to participate in the Affordable Care Act without receiving a subsidy did not make the final bill. But other add-ins such as funding for a dam and other "anomalies" did.

McCain said such action contributes to the cynicism Americans feel toward Congress.

"That's a terrible way to do business," he said.

Vitter vowed to continue pushing his amendment, promising a vote on the Senate floor.

"I don't have a crystal ball; I can't tell you when, on what bill," Vitter told Fox News Channel. "But I can tell you I am going to get a vote. And it will give every senator a chance to either stand with the American people or to stand with the Washington elites."

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