As the United States moves into a second consecutive week set upon the backdrop of the government shutdown, on Monday evening "Piers Morgan Live" hosted a lively debate between two men who lay claim to distinctly different perspectives.

"I was there in 1995, 1996, with the previous shutdown," began Robert Reich, a noted political economist and author. "The most important issue there, was about what the budget was going to be. It wasn't about a piece of legislation already on the books. Once you open the door to the kind of extortion that the Republicans are now wanting to use ... once you open the door to the Republicans using a shutdown and a threat to basically default on the nation's debt as a means of getting their way to change that legislation, or to delay that legislation, or to repeal that legislation, then no piece of legislation is safe."

Seated directly across from host Piers Morgan, Newt Gingrich remembered previous shutdowns differently:

"Bob is a terrific person, a great scholar, but this is errant nonsense," said the former Speaker of the House. "The Constitution was written to separate powers, the power of the purse is in house. The whole point is, that the president's not a king, the president can't demand. He has to negotiate."

In response to Gingrich's claims, Reich first qualified his relationship with the former GOP presidential candidate, before quickly and decisively dismissing him:

"You are absolutely wrong historically. Newt, with all respect, and you are my friend, but you're absolutely wrong."

Watch the clip to hear Gingrich's response to Reich's classification of his opinions, and for the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.

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