Rice University expert available to comment on possible government shutdown

CONTACT: Franz Brotzen
PHONE: 713-348-6775
EMAIL: franz.brotzen@rice.edu

Rice University expert available to comment on possible government shutdown

Rice University Political Science Professor Paul Brace is available to comment on the possibility of a federal government shutdown and its political ramifications.

Republicans and Democrats both insist that they want a resolution of the budget stalemate before the government’s authority to spend money runs out tonight. But both are also trying to position themselves to avoid blame should negotiations fail.

“The main difference between today’s budget impasse and the shutdown of the 1990s is that Republicans had control of both houses of Congress in 1995,” Brace said. “This time they are passing measures in the House they know won’t be accepted by the Senate or the president. They’re trying to stake their claim to funding the U.S. military and painting the Democrats as willing to let that funding lapse to members of the military serving overseas.”

Brace is Rice’s Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science. To read Brace’s bio, go to http://politicalscience.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=59

To speak with Brace, contact Franz Brotzen at 713-348-6775 or franz.brotzen@rice.edu.