Alan Simpson: Partisan Politics a 'Sense of Madness'

There's a "sense of madness" in Washington between Republicans and Democrats over how to fund the federal government, former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson said Tuesday.

"We used to collaborate on things. We worked together on things. This is a sense of madness," the former Republican senator said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Simpson is known for his bipartisan fiscal policy efforts with Democrat Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. The two co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. They now co-chair the Moment of Truth Project, to study deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility and offer policy solutions for the federal government.

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Simpson recognized that "every solution is out there," but added that he and Bowles are "just stunned at the stubbornness of both sides (Republican and Democrat)."

Appearing with Simpson on "Morning Joe," Bowles said that the idea of shutting down the federal government, as some Republicans have mentioned, in an effort to defund Obamacare was "crazy."

"Why in the world would somebody put the full faith and credit of the U.S. government in jeopardy? It would be catastrophic, not just in this country, but because we're the world's currency," Bowles said.

Congress has avoided doing the "tough stuff," Bowles said. "It's our generation that created this problem, whether we're Republicans or Democrats. And it's our responsibility to clean it up.

"We can't be the first generation of Americans to leave the country worse off than we found it. It's just not acceptable," Bowles said.