After Congress finally sent President Obama a budget bill to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, the president resisted the urge to gloat over the losing GOP and instead urged his adversaries to view the occasion as new opportunities for bipartisan compromise in the weeks ahead.
Speaking directly to the renegade Republicans who almost brought the global economy to its knees because they didn’t get their way, the president said, “You don’t like a particular policy, or a particular president, then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don’t break it.”
The president spoke to the public from the State Dining Room of the White House, saying the “full faith and credit of the United States remains unquestioned.”
The agreement the president signed finances the operations of government until Jan. 15 and raises the nation’s debt limit through the middle of February—meaning that Congress will be dragging us through the same pain in a matter of months.
The Senate passed the legislation first, and the House followed at around 10:15 p.m. But even as they accepted painful and embarrassing defeat, the stunningly stubborn conservative Republicans in the House and Senate vowed to renew their fight for cuts in spending and changes to the Affordable Care Act.
Obama, in his 15-minute address, thanked federal workers for their dedication during the 16-day shutdown that forced nearly a million of them to stay at home without pay.
“What you do is important, and don’t let anybody else tell you any different,” he said.
The president said he planned to renew his push for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws over the course of the next several months. While the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill this year, the House has not moved on it.
He urged Republicans in the House not to let problems in the immigration system “keep festering.”
“Let’s start the negotiations,” he said.
Obama also made a similar plea on the farm bill, a version of which has also passed the Senate with bipartisan support.
“If House Republicans have ideas that they think would improve the farm bill, let’s see them,” the president said. “Let’s negotiate. What are we waiting for?”
