Remembering the Uproar of the 1995 Shutdown

WASHINGTON--How does the percolating showdown over federal spending compare to the one in 1995, which resulted in a government shutdown? The fiscal problems are worse, the proposed solutions less sweeping--and the outcome is similarly unpredictable and volatile.

That's the assessment, at least, from two former Connecticut lawmakers--one Republican and one Democrat--who served during that 1995 clash and who are watching this one from the sidelines.

Ex-Reps. Chris Shays, a Republican who represented Connecticut's 4th District, and Barbara Kennelly, a Democrat from the 1st, each played a role in that earlier spending battle.

Shays was an ally of John Boehner, now the House Speaker and then a relative newcomer to the GOP's leadership circle. Shays recalled the excitement among Republicans as they began to seriously tackle entitlement spending.

"We were blessed because we had Ross Perot, who educated the public in a very sustained way, with his charts and all of that stuff," Shays said of the Texas billionaire, who ran for president in 1992 and helped plant the seeds, in Shays' view, for a serious discussion about the federal debt.

"There was this real sense that he was on to something and we better pay attention," Shays said. "There was a real movement, not unlike the Tea Party... he was the precursor to the Tea Party."

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