US government shutdown begins
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The standoff that partially shut down the US government yesterday deepened as the Democratic-led Senate rejected the latest House Republican effort to negotiate a solution to a dispute over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
In a 54-46 party-line vote, the Senate turned aside a House request to name negotiators to a conference to resolve differences. The shutdown began when Congress missed a midnight deadline on Monday to pass a temporary funding bill, stalled by conservative efforts to push through a delay in the health care law.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would not negotiate as long as Republicans were holding up a straightforward spending bill to keep the government operating.
About 800,000 federal workers are being forced off the job in the first government shutdown in 17 years, suspending most nonessential federal programs and services.
It wasn’t clear how long the standoff will last, but there were no signs of compromise. The Senate vote marked the fourth time during this fight that it has rejected House Republican efforts.
Obama was telling federal workers yesterday he hopes Washington quickly resolves the shutdown.
In a letter e-mailed to federal employees, he says the shutdown was “completely preventable.” And he calls on the House of Representatives to pass a law reopening the government and giving workers back pay.
The president also laments that government employees have become “punching bags” in Washington’s partisan fiscal fights.
Obama says that if the shutdown continues, it will make it more difficult to recruit talented people for government jobs.
His communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, told MSNBC that the White House was open to changes in the health care law in future negotiations, but not as part of passing a budget bill. She compared that to negotiating with “a gun pointed to your head.”
Stock markets around the world reacted resiliently, with analysts saying significant damage to the US economy was unlikely unless the shutdown lasted more than a few days.
The stalemate pits Democrats against a core of conservative small-government activists who have mounted a campaign to seize the must-do budget measure in an effort to dismantle the 2010 health care reform intended to provide coverage for millions of Americans now uninsured.
Republicans passionately oppose the plan they dub “Obamacare” as wasteful and restricting freedom by requiring most Americans to have health insurance.
A key part of the health law was taking effect yesterday, unaffected by the shutdown. Enrollment opened for millions shopping for medical insurance.
Exempt from the shutdown are people classified as essential government employees, including air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents and most food inspectors.
National parks, museums in Washington and agencies such as NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency mostly closed. The National Zoo in Washington closed and turned off a panda cam that had showed off a weeks-old cub.
Pentagon and administration lawyers were looking for ways to expand the number of Defense Department civilians who are exempt from furloughs, amid worries that the shutdown is damaging US credibility among its international allies, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
Until now, such temporary spending bills have been routinely passed with bipartisan support, ever since a pair of unpopular shutdowns in the winter of 1995-1996 severely damaged Republican prospects and revived then-President Bill Clinton’s standing.
The Republican leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, said he didn’t want a government shutdown, but he insisted that the health care law “is having a devastating impact. ... Something has to be done.”
Republican leaders have voiced reservations about the effort and many lawmakers predicted it wouldn’t work, fearing the public will blame their party for the shutdown. But individual Republican House members may face a greater risk by embracing a compromise. Many represent heavily partisan congressional districts, and voters in Republican primaries have ousted lawmakers they see as too moderate.
It appeared for now that the Democrats had the upper hand.
“We can’t win,” said Republican Senator John McCain, adding that “sooner or later” the House would have to agree to Democrats’ demands for a simple, straightforward funding bill reopening the government.
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