US Shutdown: Senate Rejects Budget Changes
Sky News- 3 hrs ago
The Senate has rejected conditions imposed on the federal budget by the House of Representatives, paving the way for a partial shutdown of government services.
Senators in the Democrat-dominated upper house refused to support a bill by their colleagues in Congress which delayed the introduction of the controversial Obamacare.
The rejection of the bill means there is no agreement on how federal money should be spent in the coming budgetary year.
If the Democrats and Republicans fail to find a solution before the deadline at midnight on Monday, the shutdown goes into force at 12.01am EST on Tuesday (5.01am BST).
President Obama addressed the nation on Monday afternoon (US time), frankly setting out what a shutdown would mean for the people of the United States.
"Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on will be hamstrung.
"Tourists will find every one of our national parks and monuments ... immediately closed and of course the communities and small businesses that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.
"These Americans are our neighbours, their kids go to our schools, they worship where we do ... they are the customers of every business in this country. A shutdown will have a very real economic impact, right away.
"The idea of putting progress at risk, is the height of irresponsibility. One faction, of one party, in one House of Congress, in one branch of government, does not get to shutdown government just to refight the results of an election.
"My hope and expectation, is in the 11th hour once again, Congress will choose to do the right thing, once again."
His comments came after the Senate's 54-46 vote refusing to accept the House of Representative's spending plans.
Although there have often been spats over the amount federal government should be spending or gathering in tax, the federal funding bill is usually considered routine business.
This time, however, the spending plans are tied to the highly controversial health care law promoted by President Obama.
Assuming no compromise is reached before midnight EST, it will be the first shutdown in 17 years.
While essential services such as mail delivery would remain in place, up to about 800,000 government employees could be forced off work, possibly without pay.
National parks, some museums and such tourist attractions as the Statue of Liberty would be closed. While Social Security and Medicare benefits would keep coming, there could be some delays in certain cases.
The healthcare law was previously passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, despite opposition by the Republican Party, especially Tea Party conservatives.
Although Obamacare has become a legal entity, it still has to be funded.
Funding for the scheme was due to be in this year's federal budget, which was due to start on October 1.
A number of the most hardline Republicans in the House of Representatives have sought to frustrate the introduction of Obamacare by finding a way to stop it being funded.
Their latest move was to introduce conditions to the federal funding bill that would have delayed the start of the health care scheme and altered Obama's plans to tax medical devices.
The Senate rejection of the House's bill, leaves federal funding in a stalemate. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have to agree before a budget can be approved.
The fear that a shutdown could occur had an immediate effect on Wall Street, which was down 150 points, or 1%, at the start of the day.
With a solution looking increasingly elusive, both sides have been blaming the other.
Markets in other countries also fell in response to the fears. In Japan the Nikkei closed 2% lower while the FTSE 100 was almost 1% lower on the day.
The last time the federal government shutdown was under President Bill Clinton, when services ground to a halt for 28 days between December 1995 and January 1996.
It nearly happened again in April 2011.

smemud: US Shutdown: Senate Rejects Budget Changes
Sky News- 3 hrs ago
The Senate has rejected conditions imposed on the federal budget by the House of Representatives, paving the way for a partial shutdown of government services.
Senators in the Democrat-dominated upper house refused to support a bill by their colleagues in Congress which delayed the introduction of the controversial Obamacare.
The rejection of the bill means there is no agreement on how federal money should be spent in the coming budgetary year.
If the Democrats and Republicans fail to find a solution before the deadline at midnight on Monday, the shutdown goes into force at 12.01am EST on Tuesday (5.01am BST).
President Obama addressed the nation on Monday afternoon (US time), frankly setting out what a shutdown would mean for the people of the United States.
"Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on will be hamstrung.
"Tourists will find every one of our national parks and monuments ... immediately closed and of course the communities and small businesses that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.
"These Americans are our neighbours, their kids go to our schools, they worship where we do ... they are the customers of every business in this country. A shutdown will have a very real economic impact, right away.
"The idea of putting progress at risk, is the height of irresponsibility. One faction, of one party, in one House of Congress, in one branch of government, does not get to shutdown government just to refight the results of an election.
"My hope and expectation, is in the 11th hour once again, Congress will choose to do the right thing, once again."
His comments came after the Senate's 54-46 vote refusing to accept the House of Representative's spending plans.
Although there have often been spats over the amount federal government should be spending or gathering in tax, the federal funding bill is usually considered routine business.
This time, however, the spending plans are tied to the highly controversial health care law promoted by President Obama.
Assuming no compromise is reached before midnight EST, it will be the first shutdown in 17 years.
While essential services such as mail delivery would remain in place, up to about 800,000 government employees could be forced off work, possibly without pay.
National parks, some museums and such tourist attractions as the Statue of Liberty would be closed. While Social Security and Medicare benefits would keep coming, there could be some delays in certain cases.
The healthcare law was previously passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, despite opposition by the Republican Party, especially Tea Party conservatives.
Although Obamacare has become a legal entity, it still has to be funded.
Funding for the scheme was due to be in this year's federal budget, which was due to start on October 1.
A number of the most hardline Republicans in the House of Representatives have sought to frustrate the introduction of Obamacare by finding a way to stop it being funded.
Their latest move was to introduce conditions to the federal funding bill that would have delayed the start of the health care scheme and altered Obama's plans to tax medical devices.
The Senate rejection of the House's bill, leaves federal funding in a stalemate. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have to agree before a budget can be approved.
The fear that a shutdown could occur had an immediate effect on Wall Street, which was down 150 points, or 1%, at the start of the day.
With a solution looking increasingly elusive, both sides have been blaming the other.
Markets in other countries also fell in response to the fears. In Japan the Nikkei closed 2% lower while the FTSE 100 was almost 1% lower on the day.
The last time the federal government shutdown was under President Bill Clinton, when services ground to a halt for 28 days between December 1995 and January 1996.
It nearly happened again in April 2011.

US begins government shutdown as budget deadline passes
1 October 2013Last updated at 10:47
The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.
The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill.
More than 800,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
It is the first shutdown in 17 years and the dollar fell early on Tuesday.
Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdown could shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter.
Some Republicans have decided the House, and the House alone, embodies 'the will of the people' - and the people hate 'Obamacare'. They know it is so, not because of the rather indecisive opinion polls, but because the people in their district and on talk radio tell them so
By Mark Mardell
North America editor
The White House's budget office began notifying federal agencies to begin an "orderly shutdown" as the midnight deadline approached.
Shortly after midnight, President Obama tweeted: "They actually did it. A group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget."
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he hoped the Senate would agree to a bipartisan committee known as a conference "so we can resolve this for the American people".
"The House has voted to keep the government open but we also want basic fairness for all Americans under Obamacare," he said.
The Senate is to meet again at 09:30 (13:30 GMT) on Tuesday.
The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says the divide in US politics has grown so bitter that government itself cannot function.
Who is affected?
*.State department will be able to operate for limited time
*.Department of defence will continue military operations
*.Department of education will still distribute $22bn (£13.6bn) to public schools, but staffing is expected to be severely hit
*.Department of energy - 12,700 staff expected to be sent home, with 1,113 remaining to oversee nuclear arsenal
*.Department of health and human services expected to send home more than half of staff
*.The Federal Reserve, dept of homeland security, and justice dept will see little or no disruption
*.US Postal Services continue as normal
*.Smithsonian institutions, museums, zoos and many national parks will close
US shutdown in 60 seconds
Who will be affected
Q&A: 2013 US budget brawl
Democrats were never likely to make concessions on healthcare reform - Mr Obama's signature achievement and a central issue in last year's presidential election, our correspondent says.
But Republicans have made demands that they knew would not be met rather than be accused of weakness and betrayal by their own hardliners, he adds.
On Monday afternoon, the Democratic-led Senate voted 54-46 against a bill from House Republicans that would have funded the government only if President Obama's healthcare law was delayed for a year.
Major portions of the healthcare law, which passed in 2010 and has been validated by the US Supreme Court, are due to take effect on Tuesday regardless of whether there is a shutdown.
President Obama went on national television to criticise Republicans for trying to refight the last election.
A shutdown would have "a very real economic impact on real people, right away," he said, adding it would "throw a wrench" into the US recovery.
"The idea of putting the American people's hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn't have to happen."
After the Senate vote, the chamber's Democratic majority leader blamed Republicans for the imminent halt to all non-essential government operations.
"It will be a Republican government shutdown, pure and simple," said Harry Reid, referring to the Republicans as "bullies".
For all the talk of the rise and rise of China, the US remains the biggest and most important economy in the world.
By Robert Peston
Business editor
Mr Obama has signed legislation ensuring that military personnel would be paid. The defence department had advised employees that uniformed members of the military would continue on normal duty, but that large numbers of civilian workers would be told to stay home.
Under the shutdown, national parks and Washington's Smithsonian museums will close, pension and veterans' benefit cheques will be delayed, and visa and passport applications will go unprocessed.
Programmes deemed essential, such as air traffic control and food inspections, will continue.
The US government has not undergone a shutdown since 1995-96, when services were suspended for a record 21 days.
Republicans demanded then-President Bill Clinton agree to their version of a balanced budget.
As lawmakers grappled with the latest shutdown, the 17 October deadline for extending the government's borrowing limit looms even larger.
On that date, the US government will reach the limit at which it can borrow money to pay its bills, the so-called debt ceiling.
House Republicans have also demanded a series of policy concessions - including on the president's health law and on financial and environmental regulations - in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
"I'm thoroughly disgusted with our politicians," Ken Griffith from Kentucky told the Associated Press news agency.
"They're acting like a bunch of three year old children. It's who can hold their breath the longest."