Michael Grimm calls for a debt ceiling deal to end the shutdown

Rep. Michael Grimm said the moderate voices in the Republican Party have "two problems" in trying to negotiate an end to the current government shutdown, "one on the left, and one on the right."

"Within my own conference, everyone knows we have a far right faction," Grimm said on CNN's "New Day" this morning. But he also said Senate majority leader Harry Reid has been unwilling to listen to Republican overtures, and that President Obama hasn't effectively led on the issue.

Democrats have said flatly that they won't accede to any Republican demands to defund or delay the president's signature health care law, and Republicans have refused to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government that does not include such provisions.

"There's been a group of us from the beginning that said from day one, we don't want a shutdown," said Grimm who favored funding the government in the short-term, without the delay provisions, but also voted along party lines for the bills that caused the shutdown.

On CNN, Grimm proposed including the upcoming negotiations over the debt ceiling into the discussions.

"Why not deal with it right now?" he said. "Let's get everything done and finished so that there's some certainty in the markets and the American people aren't wondering are we going to go from a shutdown to failing on our credit."

Grimm said he was working with Rep. Peter King to build a moderate faction that could then approach leadership with some kind of a solution to end the shutdown. King told me yesterday the shutdown would do "lasting damage" to the Republican brand and could hurt members in marginal districts next year.

That list could include Grimm, whose Staten Island and Brooklyn district has historically flipped between the two parties. He's facing a challenge from Democratic councilman Dominic Recchia, who has issued a steady stream of press releases attacking Grimm for his role in the shutdown.

Source: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/10/8534228/michael-grimm-calls-debt-ceiling-deal-end-shutdown

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