September 6, 1996
THE DAILY FED
Panetta on Shutdowns
White House Chief of Staff Panetta Thursday accused congressional Republicans of "deliberately" hurting people by shutting down the government twice last winter to push through their agenda.
Speaking before the Women's National Democratic Club, Panetta said: "I've been in public service for 30 years. I have never in that period of time seen a situation in which people were saying, 'We will deliberately hurt others to implement our objectives.'"
Panetta further contended: "If there are differences, then let them be fought out in the Congress. But you don't hurt people [by shutting the government down] in order to implement something that you may believe in. You just don't do that."
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