With time fast running out and no meeting ground to break the political deadlock between the Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the United States was on Monday increasingly bracing for a partial Government shutdown for the first time in nearly two decades.
The Democrat-controlled Senate, due to reconvene on Monday afternoon, was expected to reject the Bill passed on Sunday by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approving Government spending beyond October 31 but with a stinging clause unacceptable to the Democrats: a one-year delay of President Obama’s signature healthcare reform plan.
Some 800,000 federal workers in jobs deemed to be “non-essential” would bear the brunt if a breakthrough was not achieved by the end of the day. They would be asked to stay home without pay under a furlough plan in the works.
Two years ago, there was a similar crisis, but a shutdown was averted at the eleventh hour. As of Monday morning, there was no room for any optimism as there were no bipartisan negotiations or emergency meetings on the horizon.
The gloomy sentiment was reflected on Wall Street with stocks opening sharply lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 170 points, or 1.1 per cent soon after the opening bell.
The Republicans and Democrats are busy slamming each other for the mess. “The President and Democrats here in Congress would like to see a Government shutdown,” Republican Senator John Thune told Fox News. But Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen countered: “What you’ve got is a far-right extreme faction of the Republican Party running the show in Washington.”
Senate Democrats and House Republicans have been tossing the bill back and forth in recent days with their own versions. While House Speaker John Boehner urged the Senate leaders to pass the measure, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid rejected the House version. The Senate will pass its own spending bill yet again with no provision to delay Obamacare and toss it back to the House once more.
“The Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures,” a Reid spokesman said, adding: “At that point, Republicans will be faced with the same choice they have always faced: put the Senate’s clean funding Bill on the Floor and let it pass with bipartisan votes, or force a Republican Government shutdown.”
President Obama has so far stuck to his stand that he would not negotiate with the Republicans on the subject. He, however, has been attacking the Republicans in campaign-style meetings to build public pressure on them to pass a clean spending bill.
“The President is the one saying, ‘I will shut down the Government if you don’t give me everything I want on Obamacare’,” charged Republican Senator Rand Paul.
Although one top House Republican said a shutdown could still be averted, there seemed to be few takers, given the continuing verbal fusillades between the two sides. “We have to negotiate longer and we will continue to negotiate,” House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday, but there was no sign of parleys as of Monday morning.
In the event of shutdown, tourism will be one of the areas to take a big hit with reported plans to close down all national parks, forests and monuments, including Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Statue of liberty and the Smokey Mountains.