Hello and welcome to Whistlestop, a podcast of the presidency. I'm John Dickerson.

A rare animal appeared in the Rose Garden on September 30th, 1990, that some say hasn't been seen much in Washington,

at least in peacetime, a president of one party flanked by the leaders of another party that

controlled Congress.

They were there to promote a substantial piece of legislation.

It had been produced on the forge of the bipartisan Enville.

It was a moment of coming together, but while its example may bind those who pine for such cooperation

in the model of our founders, it was this event, this seeming act of togetherness that did

cleave the Republican Party in Twain, hasten the

end of a presidency and the decline of a cooperative era and ushered in a new combative norm that

we have with us today. Our whistle stop today is the 30th of

September 1990. Twin Peaks was the most popular television show. Saddam Hussein

had invaded Kuwait the previous month and was facing the threat of military

retaliation. But the news of the day on that overcast Sunday was the federal

government. It was on the verge of a shutdown. The nation's newspapers told the tale on their front pages

State Braces for layoffs, service cuts, if talks fail.

Read the headline on the front page of the Indianapolis Star.

The article read,

if Congress cannot come to terms on trimming the federal budget by midnight

tonight, the law will automatically cut government spending by

85 billion government workers will be ordered to take days off,

and citizens will find many government services dwindling.

...