U.S. government shutdown begins after Congress fails to break impasse
White House rejects latest Republican offer to end shutdown
The White House rejected a Republican plan to reopen portions of the U.S. government on Tuesday as the first shutdown in 17 years closed landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and threw hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work.
The back and forth offered no sign that President Barack Obama and Republicans can soon end a standoff over health care that has sidelined everything from trade negotiations to medical research and raised new concerns about Congress's ability to perform its most basic duties.
The Republican plan would restore funding for national parks, veterans services, and the District of Columbia. Other government services would remain unfunded.
While the selective funding approach appeared to unite conservative and moderate Republicans for now, the White House said Obama would veto it. Democrats who control the Senate said they would reject it before it reached Obama's desk.
Republicans who control the House of Representatives said Obama could not complain about the impact of the shutdown while refusing to negotiate. "The White House position is unsustainably hypocritical," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.
An even bigger battle looms in coming weeks, when Congress must raise the debt limit or risk a U.S. default that could roil global markets.
"This is a mess. A royal screwup," said Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.
In first day of U.S. shutdown, no sign how it will end
President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans came no closer to ending a standoff on Tuesday that has forced the first government shutdown in 17 years and thrown hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work.
As police cordoned off landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and government agencies stopped cancer treatments and trade negotiations, Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to restore funding to national parks, veterans care and the District of Columbia.
An effort to pass the three bills fell short on Tuesday evening, but Republicans plan to try again on Wednesday. They are likely to be defeated by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The standoff has raised new concerns about Congress's ability to perform its most basic duties. An even bigger battle looms as Congress must raise the debt limit in coming weeks or risk a U.S. default that could roil global markets.
"This is a mess. A royal screwup," said Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.
Obama accused Republicans of taking the government hostage in order to sabotage his signature health care law, the most ambitious U.S. social program in five decades.
U.S. Government Shut Down With No Quick Resolution Seen
The partial shutdown of the U.S. government showed no signs of ending quickly, as lawmakers stiffened their positions and sought to shift blame to the other side.
Day one of the first shutdown since 1996 wrapped up with no talks scheduled between the White House and Congress, making it more likely the standoff would merge with the fight over raising the U.S. debt limit later this month to make sure the government can pay all its bills.
We’re this far, so you have to let it play out,” said Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican who has criticized his party’s hard-liners for dictating its strategy.
Stocks fell and Treasuries rose, a day after as many as 800,000 federal workers were sent home with no paychecks and parks and other services were shuttered across the country. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures slid 0.8 percent as the first partial shutdown in 17 years entered its second day with no talks scheduled between the White House and Congress.
House Republicans sought a way out of the impasse, flinging proposals at the Democrats and seeking to engage the Senate and President Barack Obama in direct talks.
“The president isn’t telling the whole story when it comes to the government shutdown,” House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, wrote in USA Today. “Washington Democrats have slammed the door on reopening the government by refusing to engage in bipartisan talks.”
Does anybody actually care for the US government shutdown?
I mean : they are the one that caused it. And it is not clear at all why. They can tell that it is because of Obamacare. But it is obvious that the reasons are not the ones that are stated and that we can not exclude that it is done in order to hide something else.
A joke or not a joke? 
White House meeting ends without deal
A meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders ended Wednesday night with no deal to re-open the U.S. government.
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that Obama repeated he wouldn’t negotiate about passing a funding bill. With the Senate gaveled out for the day, the stalemate continued and meant the government shutdown would continue for a third day on Thursday.
House Republicans have sent funding bills to the Senate that would at the same time delay or weaken Obama’s signature health-care law. Democrats reject changes to the law, commonly known as Obamacare.
“We had a nice conversation, a light conversation, but at some point we’ve got to allow the process that our Congress gave us to work out,” Boehner said. “All we’re asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare.”
Obama and the leaders met as much of the U.S. government was shut down for a second straight day. Thousands of workers have been furloughed; national parks are closed; and the IRS has suspended audits during the first shutdown in 17 years.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is creeping up against its debt limit. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday night reiterated that the government will lose the ability to borrow on Oct. 17.
Here's What Gold, Rates, And The Dollar Did During The Last 8 Shutdowns
Congress' inability to arrive at a short-term budget deal has led to a government shutdown. Investors worry about the impact this has on their investments.
There have been 17 U.S. federal government shutdowns since 1976, and Scott Minerd at Guggenheim Partners analyzed eight of the shutdowns in the past 30 years. From Minerd:
"Excluding drastic moves in commodity prices and bond yields in the late 1970s, analysis of eight occasions during the past 30 years reveals that U.S. equities and the dollar tend to decline during shutdown periods, while gold and commodities tend to perform well. Shutdown periods do not appear to have a significant effect on 10-year Treasury yields. Historically, when a shutdown ends, market performance reverses quickly, and Treasury yields fall by an average of 22 basis points over the following 10 days."
Government Shutdown? 36 Facts Which Prove That Almost Everything Is Still Running
All of this whining and crying about a "government shutdown" is a total joke. You see, there really is very little reason why this "government shutdown" cannot continue indefinitely because almost everything is still running. 63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this "shutdown". Yes, the Obama administration has been making a big show of taking down government websites and blocking off the World War II Memorial, but overall business in Washington D.C. is being conducted pretty much as usual. It turns out that the definition of "essential personnel" has expanded so much over the years that almost everyone is considered "essential" at this point. In fact, this shutdown is such a non-event that even referring to it as a "partial government shutdown" would really be overstating what is actually happening. The following are 36 facts which prove that almost everything is still running during this government shutdown...
#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this "government shutdown".
#2 Approximately 1,350,000 "essential" federal employees will continue to work during this "government shutdown".
#3 Overall, 63 percent of the federal workforce will continue to work during this "government shutdown".
#4 The U.S. Postal Service will continue to deliver our mail.
#5 U.S. military personnel will remain on duty and will continue to get paid.
#6 Social Security recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#7 Medicare recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#8 Medicaid recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#9 Food stamp recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#10 Those on unemployment will continue to get their benefits.
#11 Federal retirees will continue to get their pensions.
#12 The federal school lunch program has enough money to go through at least the end of this month.
#13 Public schools all over the country will continue to stay open.
#14 Almost all federal law enforcement officials will continue working.
#15 The Federal Reserve will remain "completely functional".
#16 The Supreme Court will continue to operate normally and federal courts have enough money to keep going for at least two weeks.
#17 TSA employees will continue to molest travelers at our airports.
#18 Air traffic controllers will continue to monitor traffic at our airports.
#19 Hopelessly outmanned border patrol agents will continue to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
#20 Visas and passports will continue to be issued by the State Department.
#21 The Veterans Administration will continue to offer substandard medical services, and it will be able to continue processing benefit payments at least for now.
#22 The Obama administration apparently has plenty of money to spend on closing open-air memorials that are usually open to the public 24 hours a day.
#23 The Department of Defense announced the awarding of 94 new contracts worth a combined total of more than 5 billion dollars on September 30th - the day right before the "government shutdown".
#24 The "government shutdown" has not prevented the new two billion dollar NSA spy center from opening up.
#25 Federal prisons will continue to operate normally.
#26 Amtrak trains will continue to run.
#27 The Patent and Trademark Office will be open.
#28 The Consumer Product Safety Commission will continue to issue product recalls if the products "create an immediate threat to the safety of human life".
#29 The National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center will continue to track weather patterns.
#30 If the federal government needs to respond to a natural disaster, this "shutdown" will not affect that.
#31 NASA will continue to support the Mars Rover and the two American astronauts up on the International Space Station.
#32 All city employees of the D.C. government have been deemed "essential" and will continue to go to work.
#33 Even though the Obamacare exchanges are not working properly, people will still be able to access them.
#34 The IRS will continue to collect taxes, but it will be suspending punitive audits of conservative organizations.
#35 Barack Obama will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown".
#36 The U.S. Congress will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown".
Boehner Insists on Health Law Changes to End Shutdown
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said the way to end the government shutdown would be for Democrats to negotiate with him and accept changes that would produce “fairness” under the Affordable Care Act.
Boehner, speaking to reporters after a private meeting with House Republicans, criticized an unidentified White House official quoted in The Wall Street Journal today as saying it doesn’t matter to the administration how long the shutdown lasts because Democrats are winning.
“This isn’t some damn game,” Boehner, 63, said in remarks that continued the partisan standoff. “The American people don’t want their government shut down and neither do I.”
The speaker, an Ohio Republican, is trying to unite Republicans around a plan to end the budget impasse, raise the nation’s borrowing limit, and achieve as many of the party’s priorities as they can.
The shutdown, in its fourth day, has furloughed about 800,000 federal employees and is becoming a prolonged deadlock that is merging with the debt-ceiling debate.
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), the largest U.S. government contractor, said today it will furlough about 3,000 employees on Oct. 7 because of effects of the shutdown, including the inability of workers to get to their jobs in shuttered government facilities and a halt to government inspections.
Washington enters fifth day of shutdown, no end in sight
Washington entered the fifth day of a partial government shutdown on Saturday with no end in sight even as another, more serious conflict over raising the nation's borrowing authority started heating up.
The U.S. House of Representatives prepared for a Saturday session but with no expectations of progress on either the shutdown or a measure to raise the nation's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. Congress must act by October 17 in order to avoid a government debt default.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner tried on Friday to squelch reports that he would ease the way to a debt ceiling increase, stressing that Republicans would continue to insist on budget cuts as a condition of raising the borrowing authority.
On the shutdown, Boehner said Republicans were holding firm in their demand that in exchange for passing a bill to fund and reopen the government, President Barack Obama and his Democrats must agree to delay implementation of Obama's health care law.
The launch date for Obamacare health insurance exchanges came and went on October 1, meaning Republicans are now in a more difficult political position of trying to stop something that has already begun.
Although essential government functions like national security and air traffic control continue, the economic and policy effects of the shutdown are amplified the longer hundreds of thousands of federal workers remain at home and unpaid.
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The U.S. government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years, potentially putting up to 1 million workers on unpaid leave, closing national parks and stalling medical research projects.
Federal agencies were directed to cut back services after lawmakers could not break a political stalemate that sparked new questions about the ability of a deeply divided Congress to perform its most basic functions.
After House Republicans floated a late offer to break the logjam, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected the idea, saying Democrats would not enter into formal negotiations on spending "with a gun to our head" in the form of government shutdowns.
The political dysfunction at the Capitol also raised fresh concerns about whether Congress can meet a crucial mid-October deadline to raise the government's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling.
With an eye on the 2014 congressional elections, both parties tried to deflect responsibility for the shutdown. President Barack Obama accused Republicans of being too beholden to Tea Party conservatives in the House of Representatives and said the shutdown could threaten the economic recovery.
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