Gregg: Fears of GOP-led government shutdown 'absurd'

Worries that a Republican-led Congress would lead a shutdown of the government similar to the one carried out in 1995 are "absurd," Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said Tuesday.

Asked on CNBC's "Kudlow Report" what the prospects are of a government shutdown should the GOP take the majority in the midterms, the retiring senator said, "It's absurd. And I think this is just the left trying — you know, the media trying to create an issue that doesn't exist.

"That's not our goal at all. Our goal is to get control over the spending ... to do it in a responsible way," he continued.

Gregg sought to tamp down talk of a government shutdown and refocus the debate around President Obama's tax and spending policies, which Republicans are looking to capitalize on heading into the midterm elections.

Should the GOP retake the House, some Republican lawmakers, such as Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.), have raised the possibility of shutting down the government to force a standoff with Obama over spending similar to the way the Newt Gingrich-led Republican House did with then-President Clinton in the mid-1990s.

Democrats have pounced on their statements, arguing that if the GOP wins the majority, they will simply go back to their old ways.

Gregg said that the only way a government shutdown would happen would be if the country went bankrupt.

"But understand, if we continue to run up all this deficit and debt, the shutdown will come because we'll basically be bankrupting the country," he said. "That will cause the shutdown."

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