The U.S. government was on the brink of a partial shutdown Monday after the Democratic-led Senate refused to back down in a clash with the Republican-led House over President Barack Obama's landmark health law.
Less than 10 hours before a midnight deadline, the Senate voted 54-46 to reject a proposal by House Republicans work a delay of health care plan into a temporary funding bill. It is now up to the House of Representatives to accept a bill that doesn't delay the health initiative — which it has refused to do — or find an alternative acceptable to the Senate.
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If it fails to do either of those options, the government faces its first partial shutdown in 17 years. It would force 800,000 federal workers off the job without pay and rattle the shaky U.S. economic recovery.
Ramping up pressure on Republicans to avoid a post-midnight government shutdown, Obama warned such a move would "throw a wrench into the gears" of a recovering economy and hurt hundreds of thousands of government workers.
We're at the brink," said Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat, as House Republican leaders calculated their next move.
House Republicans, reacting swiftly after the Senate rejected their proposal, decided to try again. Their new proposal was to allow the government to remain open, while imposing a one-year delay in a requirement in the health care law for individuals to purchase coverage or face a financial penalty. Their measure also would require members of Congress to bear the full cost of their own coverage by barring the government from making the customary employer contribution.
"This is a matter of funding the government and providing fairness to the American people," said House
The prospect of a shutdown contributed to a decline in stock markets around the world. U.S. stocks sank as Wall Street worried the budget fight could lead to something much worse for the economy — a failure to raise the nation's borrowing limit.
Whether or not Congress averts a shutdown, Republicans are sure to move the health care fight to a must-do measure looming in mid-October to increase the borrowing cap. The U.S. risks a market-rattling, first-ever default on its obligations if Congress fails to raise that limit.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-govern ... -1.1872873
Americans if I were you i'd start rioting.
