【明報專訊】When a federal government shutdown was announced last month which would last 16 days, comparisons were immediately made with what happened nearly two decades ago. The similarity is obvious: both resulted from bitter arguments between a Democratic (民主黨的) president and a Republican-controlled (共和黨控制的) legislature.

1. The background

The fiscal year (財政年度) of the United States begins on October 1 of the previous calendar year. Congress (國會), the legislative body, is supposed to discuss and pass a budget (財政預算案) to provide funding for the government's various programmes and submit it to the president for signature.

However, by 30 September 1995, the last day of the fiscal year, the Republican-controlled Congress had yet to pass a budget, and had to rely on a "continuing resolution" to provide temporary funding for government programmes.

All this resulted from arguments between Clinton and Newt Gingrich (金里奇), then Speaker of the House of Representatives (眾議院院長), over the government's finances. Gingrich thought the country was too heavily in debt, and the government should slow the rate of its spending. President Clinton, however, wanted more resources for education, the environment, Medicare (a national social insurance programme) and public health.

2. The shutdown

As the continuing resolution was to expire on November 13 that year, Congress passed another continuing resolution for funding and a bill to limit debt, but they were vetoed (否決) by Clinton. The next day major portions of the federal government suspended operations.

This shutdown lasted five days, until the White House agreed to congressional demands that the budget be balanced within seven years. But the two parties disagreed again over how that should be done. As a result, the federal government experienced another shutdown a month later, which lasted 21 days.

3. The cost

In the two shutdowns, non-essential government workers were put on furlough (無薪假), and non-essential services were suspended. Processing of applications for visas and passports was delayed. Cleanup at 600 toxic waste sites was suspended. National museums, monuments and 368 national park sites were closed, causing losses to some 7 million visitors and the airlines and tourist industries that served them.

Some economists estimate the two shutdowns cost the economy US$1.4 billion.

4. The Winner?

President Clinton's popularity plummeted (下跌) during the shutdowns, but it rebounded significantly as soon as they ended. This was largely due to the willingness to make a deal he displayed throughout the quarrel with the Republicans. This also contributed to his subsequent re-election.

5. The loser?

Speaker Newt Gingrich. As political analysts have pointed out, he looked too eager for the federal government's shutdown during the showdown (攤牌) with President Clinton.

The disastrous moment for him came when he, during a media conference, explained why he had chosen to go head to head with the president. He said that, when they were on the way back from the funeral of the assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (已故以色列總理拉賓), he came up to Clinton and suggested they talk about the budget, but Clinton declined and made him exit from the rear of Air Force One (空軍一號).

The media interpreted Gingrich's determination to shut down the government as a response to this perceived affront (冒犯). The New York Daily News ran a sarcastic editorial cartoon showing a baby Gingrich throwing a tantrum (發脾氣). This contributed to his resignation as Speaker in 1998.

Gingrich ran for Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election but was defeated by Mitt Romney.