The United States may be faced with a rather prolonged Government shutdown as the political establishment is still busy sparring instead of trying to sit together and find a way out even as a bigger crisis is looming with the deadline for raising America’s debt ceiling just two weeks away.
In the first official recognition that there may be no early end in sight to the shutdown, President Barack Obama has cancelled his visit next week to Malaysia and the Philippines, while his planned trip to Indonesia and Brunei is under evaluation based on how events develop here this week.
Some lawmakers fear the shutdown may stretch for a couple of weeks or even more, something that could spoil the turf for tackling the more contentious issue of raising the debt ceiling by the October 17 deadline. The previous political war over this ceiling in 2011 had led to the first-ever downgrading of America’s credit rating.
Republican lawmakers, facing sharp criticism for causing the shutdown by not passing a “clean” bill to authorise short-term spending beyond October 1, sought to reopen some federal departments in piecemeal fashion, but the Democrats rejected the bid after the White House threatened a presidential veto of anything short of a complete reopening of the government.
President Obama slammed the Republicans, asking them to reopen the Government at once and to give up their protracted bid to dismantle “Obamacare”, which became the law of the land three years ago and has been upheld by the US Supreme Court.
“This shutdown is not about deficits. It’s not about budgets. This shutdown is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don’t have it,” Obama said at a White House event, adding: “As long as I am President, I will not give in to reckless demands by some in the Republican Party to deny affordable health insurance to millions of hard-working Americans.”
Holding the Republicans entirely responsible for the crisis, Obama said: “This Republican shutdown did not have to happen….They’ve shut down the Government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. In other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job.”
Republican Speaker John Boehner, who has been under pressure from the far right wing of his own party, attacked Obama in turn for not even caring to hold negotiations to forestall the shutdown. “None of us want to be in a shutdown. And we’re here to say to the Senate Democrats, ‘Come and talk to us’,” House Republican leader Eric Cantor said, adding: “At each and every turn, the Senate Democrats refused to even discuss these proposals.”
The shutdown has put nearly 8,00,000 federal employees out of work across America. Facing the prospect of salary cut, groups of workers demonstrated in Washington on Tuesday, demanding that they be allowed to work. There were also television footages of war veterans visiting Washington and not being allowed to visit the World War II memorial and other monuments that were all closed down indefinitely.
The Republicans came up with three emergency funding bills aimed at reopening parks and monuments, continuing veterans’ benefits and allowing the municipal Government of the District of Columbia to function, but they failed as the Democrats blocked the measure. The White House had already rejected this idea, saying the president will veto the measures if they landed on his table.
“Just another whacky idea,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said, adding: “It is time for Speaker Boehner to stop the games, think about the people he is hurting, and let the House pass the Senate’s bill to re-open the Government with Republican and Democratic votes.”