There's no agreement.
How far apart are we?
They're leaving the building.
“Shutdown” · Season 5
In this episode: C.J. Cregg (3), Josh Lyman (2), Toby Ziegler (2), Leo McGarry (2), Donna Moss (2), Josiah Bartlet (1), Will Bailey (1), Bob Russell (1)
Well, I'm not going to negotiate with anyone who holds a gun to my head. We had a deal. I don't care if my approval ratings drop into single digits. I am the President of the United States, and I will leave the government shut down until we come to an equitable agreement.
Don't go out there again until morning.
Okay, but the enemy's advancing and you had better give me more than a squirt gun before the sun comes up.
That's one way to make the shutdown seem real to the country -- don't mail eleven million checks.
It'd be catastrophic if we don't fix this.
FDR will rise from the dead?
Millions of angry grandparents are going to march on Washington, burn us in effigy.
Sell me.
We had agreed to a one percent cut on a thirty-day continuing resolution, but the Speaker pulled a bait-and-switch.
One percent, two percent -- what's so unreasonable about three percent?
Three percent equals X dollars, which is Y flu vaccinations, Z school lunches...It's more convincing with numbers.
What's happening?
You remember when we went to Atlantic City?
We never went to Atlantic City.
Remember when I went to Atlantic City and I came back complaining that all the pro poker players suck all the fun out of the game, no cigars, no pizza, no beer.
You played one hand.
Those guys, they bet the bank when they have a good hand. And you either fold, or you go in all the way with them. I think the President's gonna stay in.
And how good is Haffley?
He's better than anyone we've seen on the other side of the table in a long time.
How's the President doing?
He's fighting a cold.
Think it's about time for me to talk to a few of my former colleagues in the House?
Mmm, not yet sir, no.
I served on energy with Haffley.
I appreciate that.
I sang in the Congressional Quartet with the majority whip. I've gotten drunk on fact-finding with most of the guys...
[interrupting] With all due respect sir, we can't send mixed signals.
You saw their deal two days ago and turned them down. If you're waiting for Haffley to call, you've misjudged your man. You can't treat the Speaker like...
[interrupting again] The President will decide the terms.
No, he won't! Like it or not, we have a Republican Congress. They get to write the budget. The President only gets to edit it a bit. You want to blame someone, call James Madison.
Thanks for the history lesson, sir. I'll be sure to pass it on to the President.
[pause] You know what they call a leader with no followers? Just a guy taking a walk.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.