When asked if a government shutdown was possible in the current situation, Brooks seemed optimistic it could be avoided, but remained realistic in his personal goals. "We don't want to shut down the government, but we also, in the long term, don't want an insolvency or bankruptcy that would be debilitating to the United States of America." For Brooks, spending cuts need to be addressed sooner, rather than later. "(The Democratic Party) already got the tax increases, now we have to try to balance the budget." He said. "Foreign aid is in the neighborhood of 50 billion dollars a year, that's money we don't have. We're having to borrow money - a lot of it - from foreign nations, to give to foreign nations... We'd like to help them, but we've got to help ourselves first."