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Former Senator Ben Nelson weighs in on shutdown

The federal shutdown was the focus of a talk delivered by former U-S Senator Ben Nelson at UNO last week.

He says he’s disappointed that so many in Washington seem unable to put aside partisanship. 

Nelson says there are plenty of people criticizing the current stalemate so he hopes that means politicians will not push the stalemate to the brink of default. 

Nelson says continuing the stalemate up to the point of or even past default could have seriously damaging effects on the U-S economy.

"I heard somebody say the other day it’s a terrible thing to waste a crisis.  I think we are wasting this crisis by the stalemate rather than using it as an opportunity to establish some certainty and predictability for business.  Businesses have been saying to me recently that they’ve given up on the government helping them but they just would prefer the government not try to kill them.”

Nelson says there is some suggestion that the government will run out of money on October 17th.