Sam Gibbons: “last Friday the President decided that wag the dog was not good enough. Congress passed a bipartisan agriculture…”

“last Friday the President decided that wag the dog was not good enough. Congress passed a bipartisan agriculture appropriation bill that included billions of dollars in emergency assistance to hard-hit farmers, and the President vetoed it. He played wag the farmer, in a suspicious attempt to divert attention from the national debate over whether or not felonies by the chief magistrate of the United States would rise to the level of an impeachable offense. Now the President is poised to go to yet another fund-raiser, this one in New York, while the important business of government is left unattended and a government shutdown is upon us. Mr. President, we in Congress urge that you do not shut the government down. Do not wag the farmer and do not go to New York to raise money from the very people you bash whenever Republicans propose tax cuts. The President should clear his fund-raising calendar and stay in Washington and work with Congress to finish the job we were elected to do. Mr. Speaker, I suggest the President not shut the government down.”