Shutting down the government over defunding Planned Parenthood will cost the nation more money and "disrupt people's lives with no result," Sen. Kelly Ayotte said Friday.
"I think we've seen this movie before," the New Hampshire Republican told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "We know how it ends; it doesn't end well."
On Thursday,
Ayotte sent a letter to fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, asking him how he plans to defund Planned Parenthood, as there are not 67 votes currently in the Senate that will be needed to overcome a presidential veto.
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She told show host Joe Scarborough that she hopes not only to avoid another shutdown, but the drop in GOP poll ratings that could occur as the 2016 presidential race ramps up.
"I didn't get an answer last time in 2013," Ayotte said of efforts to determine pro-shutdown Republicans' endgame, "So I'm asking it again. What's the strategy for success here? I just don't see it."
She said that this time around, though, there is much more discussion against a shutdown, and how
the last shutdown did not achieve its goal of defunding Obamacare. The 16-day government partial shutdown eventually cost American taxpayers $1.4 billion.
"If you think about it also disrupted people's lives," said Ayotte. "And so I hope we don't want to go down that road again ... the question is, after the president vetoes it, what's next? Seems to me that we have to be in a position, and if you're running for president, what's your strategy for success here? Because shutting down the government is not good for the country. Especially if you're not going to achieve a result."
Ayotte continued that she is "tired of the political games on both sides of the aisle," and the calls for a shutdown are "obviously people pushing a position, but with no strategy for success."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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