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SHUTDOWN: Hundreds of thousands to go without pay as federal government loses funding for first time in 17 YEARS. Lawmakers fail to pass budget after Democrats refused to alter Obamacare

• At midnight the federal government entered a new fiscal year without passing a budget - leaving it with no funding
  
• Obama administration's Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies to 'execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations'
• Republicans offered three stepwise concessions while the White House said it wouldn't negotiate and the Senate Majority Leader refused to sit down with the GOP, saying they had 'lost their mind'
• House leaders in the GOP aimed for both parties to appoint 'conferees' – negotiators – who could try to find common ground with the Senate
  
• Democrats blamed the GOP for holding back on government funding unless changes were made to Obamacare
• Lack of compromise means a million federal workers go on unpaid leave until the two legislative bodies come to an agreement
  

By Daily Mail, 1 October 2013

The federal government shut down for the first time in 17 years last night.

Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled Congress failed to pass a budget allowing for the federal government to continue to be funded as it headed into the new fiscal year at midnight.

Late-night negotiations ended in deadlock after the Senate Democrats refused to consider any version of the budget that included changes to President Obama's signature health care law.

This lack of compromise means that nearly a million federal workers will go on unpaid leave until the two legislative bodies come to an agreement.

As the zero-hour drew closer on Monday, with other avenues exhausted, the White House's Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies that they 'should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO




Men of the night: John Boehner and President Obama squared off in a proverbial sparring match that ended up in a government shutdown on Monday night



Empty: The federal government will be forced to furlough between 800,000 and a million workers, leaving the halls of Washington much emptier in the coming days (including the Capitol Rotunda, pictured)



Too late: The funding for the federal government ended at midnight on Monday when the 2013 fiscal year came to a close

House Republican leaders on the Rules Committee had discussed the procedures for both parties to appoint 'conferees' – negotiating representatives – for a joint House-Senate conference committee empowered to hash out a compromise of the budget battle that has consumed Washington for days.
The House GOP scrambled all day to avoid being the party without a chair when the shutdown music stops and the federal government moves to a new fiscal year without money to spend.
Republicans have been insisting that a Continuing Resolution funding the federal government – a 'CR,' in Capitol Hill-speak – must include language defunding, delaying or otherwise changing the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature health care legislation.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had said hours earlier that House GOP members had 'lost their minds.' That barb followed the House's decision to send its third such budget proposal to the Senate – one that everyone in Washington understood would be dead on arrival.


On guard: Like all other departments of the federal government, the White House will be operating with a smaller staff than usual during the shutdown





Waiting for word: Reporters were seen idling in the halls of the Capitol late Monday as the budget bill passed to and from the House of Representatives before being rejected by the Senate

'They keep trying to do the same thing over and over again,' Reid said on the Senate floor. 'The Senate will vote it down and the House Republicans will be in the same pickle they're in now, but even with less time before the government shuts down.'

But Reid also said on the floor earlier in the day that he would welcome a conference committee. He qualified that after 11:00 p.m., saying that only a continuing resolution – a 'CR,' in Capitol Hill-speak – free from Obamacare politics would pass muster.

'We will not go to conference until we get a "clean" CR,' he said.
Debate in the House continued long after the clock struck twelve, with Democrats demanding an up-or-down vote on the Senate's version.
The Senate, meanwhile, recessed until 9:30 a.m. Reid said Democrats expect to see the final funding bill from the house then, along with the formal request for a conference. He also said neither has a chance of being debated or voted on.

'When we receive that message from the House ... I’ll make a motion to table it,' he said.
The House passed that measure by a 228-199 vote around 1:00 a.m., officially 'insisting' that its Obamacare-related amendments should be adopted in the Senate, and requesting the conference committee.

The real death-knell for House GOP efforts, however, came at 11:45 p.m. when New York Rep. Louise Slaughter, the top Democrat on the rules committee, said she wouldn't support such a conference.




Faced with a government shutdown whose political implications are far from certain, Obama recorded a video message for U.S. military personnel in which he avoided blaming the GOP, saying only that 'Congress has not fulfilled its responsibility'




The 1995-1996 federal government shutdown lasted a total of 28 days but left few economic scars as GDP growth skyrocketed after the government reopened. Republicans are hoping the public remembers that the result wasn't as apocalyptic as some had feared

The coldest cut: New York Rep. Louise Slaughter, the Democrats' ranking member of the House Rules Committee, killed the idea of a bipartisan conference committee where House and Senate leaders could meet to iron out a solution

Conference committees, she said, should be reserved for ironing out minor differences in competing versions of legislation that both the House and Senate had already passed.
And 'it's too late now,' Slaughter added, looking at the clock in the House chamber.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor tweeted before 11:00 p.m. that the GOP's final attempt at a resolution would be 'a motion insisting on our last amendment and request a conference with the Senate.'


WHAT HAPPENS IN A SHUTDOWN

Up to one million U.S. federal workers may face furloughs without pay beginning Tuesday morning.

All military personnel will continue in a normal duty status but a large number of civilian employees may be temporarily furloughed.

The employees who will be put on unpaid leave are those classified as excepted workers, meaning that the president's staff of 1,265 at the White House will dwindle to 436.

Staff at National Parks and museums across the country will be stopped from coming to work, closing those sites to the public.

Both domestic and international air travel will remain relatively unchanged as air traffic controllers will be kept at their posts and TSA agents will continue security checks. One problem may arise as the State Department will be understaffed, meaning that while it will not stop processing passport applications.

Federal courts will remain open for about 10 business days. By October 15, the federal judiciary will need to provide more guidance.

Meat inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, considered necessary to national food security, will stay on job.


That amendment came hours earlier, as the GOP-led House passed its third failed attempt at a stopgap budget resolution. Their legislative language sought to delay for a year the Obamacare law's so-called 'individual mandate' that forces Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

Earlier in the day, Republicans had also sought to close a loophole that subsidizes 75 per cent of the resulting costs for members of Congress, their staffers, and White House aides, and to repeal an unpopular medical device tax.

Twelve Republicans defected from their party in the 228-201 vote, including a handful of moderates who have grown weary of the budget squabbles and some conservatives who don't believe the House GOP's position is strict enough.
As Washington-watchers had seen twice already, the Senate quickly 'tabled' – disregarded – the proposition on a 56-44 party-line tally, leaving a few hours for the House GOP to start the dance all over again before the clock strikes twelve.

House Republicans' strategy has been to make Senate Democrats look like an intransigent 'party of "no," forcing them to either act or face at least part of the blame for the first government shutdown since the 1995-1996 fiscal year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican seen as a moderate foil to fire-breathing tea partiers like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said Monday evening after the Senate's third consecutive dismissal of a House proposal that 'Americans don't want a government shutdown and they don't want Obamacare. But Senate Democrats have once again blocked a House-passed bill to keep the government open while protecting Americans from the consequences of Obamacare.'

'Unfortunately,' he added, 'Senate Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they’d rather shut down the federal government than accept even the most reasonable changes to Obamacare. It’s past time that Democrat leaders listen to the American people and act.'



Spin room: Senator Ted Cruz is one of the top Republicans pushing for Obamacare to be gutted and pressing to make it a condition of funding the government



Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said 'Americans don't want a government shutdown and they don't want Obamacare'

Cruz, who spearheaded a marathon quasi-filibuster last week on the Senate floor marked with absolutist pitches for 'no compromise,' seemed to soften that stance Monday afternoon by hoping out loud for Senate approval of a watered-down GOP proposal from the House.

'If the House of Representatives acts tonight,' he said, 'I believe this Senate should come back immediately and pass ... whatever the House passes. I don't know what it will be, but it will be yet another good faith effort to keep the government running and to address the train wreck of a law that is Obamacare.'

President Barack Obama castigated the Republicans on Monday afternoon, saying they aimed to 'extract a ransom' from the White House as a condition of continuing to fund his administration past midnight, when the federal government's fiscal year ends.
Maintaining their leverage by insisting on changes to the Obamacare law as a condition of writing a new series of checks, he said 'would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy.'


TROUBLE FOR TRAVELLERS AS ICONIC SITES CLOSE AFTER SHUTDOWN


Tourists in the U.S., whether they are American or not, are likely to be seriously affected by the government shutdown.

National parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite will be closed for as long as the shutdown continues, with anyone staying in campsites or on-site hotels forced to leave within two days.

World-famous attractions such as the Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia's Independence Hall and the Smithsonian Institute will also be closed to visitors until funding is restored.

Even American military cemeteries outside the U.S. will be closed, as their operation is funded by the federal government.

Airports are expected to run as normal, as immigration, security and air traffic control are all considered to be essential services which continue to run no matter what.

Passport offices are supposed to stay open, but some are located within federal buildings which are otherwise closed.

Visa applications could also be affected, but the State Department claims that as consular services are self-funding they will be able to continue.




Preparing for the shutdown: The President ran through the various sections of the federal government that will be forced closed as of midnight on Monday if a deal is not struck




Rep. Kevin Brady has argued that Obamacare isn't ready for prime-time, and that a special exemption for members of Congress and their staffers should be yanked out of the White House's implementation plan because it wasn't in the written law


'The federal government is America's largest employer,' Obama reminded reporters at the White House, cataloging the categories of civil servants whose income he said would be threatened by a government shutdown if Republicans in the House of Representatives don't 'pass a budget and pay America's bills.'

Social Security and Medicare payments, he conceded, would continue, and the Postal Service would still deliver the mail. Government workers involved with national security, public safety, air-traffic control, prisons and border control, though would find their daily lives affected.





SAFE: Military servicemen and servicewomen will not see their paychecks interrupted, thanks to the sole bright spot of cooperation in an otherwise politically rancorous Monday


Obama said 'their paychecks will be delayed.'
Office buildings would close, he said, and services for seniors, veterans, women and children 'would be hamstrung.'

Obama said military servicemen and women wouldn't be affected, a change from earlier in the day. That's because House Republicans passed a standalone bill funding Pentagon salaries regardless of whether or not other government agencies shut down at midnight.

And in contrast with a series of other unqualified denials, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declined to block the legislation.

Senators passed it by unanimous consent, in a move that didn't require a roll call vote. Obama signed it into law at about 10:00 p.m.

'They weren't going to stand in the way of soldiers' paychecks,' a senior aide to a Republican senator told MailOnline, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Harry Reid wasn't about to commit political suicide today.'
As the president took the podium, the White House's Office of Management and Budget issued a statement saying that '[b]y including extraneous measures that have no place in a government funding bill and that the President and Senate already made clear are unacceptable, House Republicans are pushing the Government toward shutdown.'
If a GOP-amended budget reached the president's desk, OMB said, 'he would veto the bill.'

'It does not have to happen,' Obama scolded. 'All of this is entirely preventable if the House chooses to do what the Senate has already done, and that's the simple act of funding our government without making extraneous and controversial demands in the process.'
'One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of the election.' he said.




Not happy: President Obama said he will not negotiate over Congress' obligation to approve payment of obligations the government has already approved




Dog and pony show: The President met with his Cabinet on Monday in preparation for the seemingly inevitable shutdown


He saved special scorn for the right wing of the GOP, whose tea party House caucus has held moderates in line by refusing to back what Senate Democrats have called a 'clean' spending resolution – one that doesn't involve changes to the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature health insurance overhaul law.





Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans in the House of being crazy, slamming them for presenting proposal after proposal even though Senate Democrats have promised to kill each one until proposed changes to Obamacare are removed


The federal government has shut down 17 times since the end of the Gerald Ford presidency – many of them when Democrats in Congress strong-armed Republican President Ronald Reagan – but the 24-hour news cycle and online social media have made this year's budget brinksmanship especially toxic.
Club For Growth, an influential conservative political group, immediately renewed its call for House members to support Republicans' plan instead.

After several successive drafts interrupted by a 2:30 p.m. rejection from the Senate, the GOP's proposal sought a one-year delay in the Obamacare law's 'individual mandate' to buy health insurance, and a measure forcing members of Congress and their staffs to forgo insurance subsidies that ordinary taxpayers won't receive.

Earlier in the day, Republicans dispensed with plans to demand a one-year implementation delay in the entire Obamacare law, along with the repeal of a new 2.3 per cent medical device tax.

Senate Democrats said Monday afternoon that they wouldn't support that tax repeal, although a similar measure won the backing of 79 out of 100 senators earlier this year.



The federal government has shut down over legislative squabbles 17 times since the early 1970s, about once every 29 months




Ebullient: Sen. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, rejoiced that her party had killed a 'radical bill' from House Republicans that 'was deliberately designed to be politically provocative'


Tea party partisans on the Republican Party's right wing had said since before the Obamacare law passed Supreme Court muster that it will have unintended negative consequences on the economy, and that it's an unconstitutional attempt to force Americans to buy a service – health insurance – that they may not want.


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S MESSAGE

Obama recorded a video message on Monday evening for U.S. military men and women. It was broadcast on Armed Forces Television at midnight:

• 'Unfortunately, Congress has not fulfilled its responsibility, It has failed to pass a budget and, as a result, much of our government must now shut down until Congress funds it again.'
• 'Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status. The threats to our national security have not changed, and we need you to be ready for any contingency. ... Congress has passed, and I am signing into law, legislation to make sure you get your paychecks on time.'
• 'To all our DOD civilians: I know the days ahead could mean more uncertainty, including possible furloughs. And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we’re seeing in Congress. Your talents and dedication help keep our military the best in the world. That’s why I’ll keep working to get Congress to reopen our government and get you back to work as soon as possible.'

Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, said Monday in an emphatic statement that members of Congress should 'do your duty and protect the American public from this catastrophic law! ... Obamacare is not ready! Big labor, big government, and big business all know this and have already asked for exemption from this disaster.'
'You are the duly elected Representatives let the Senate know that a delay of the entire law is absolutely necessary, and fair.'

Obama also assured Americans on Monday that no matter what happens, a government shutdown won't affect the planned Oct. 1 rollout of Obamacare's state-level health insurance exchanges.

'You can't shut it down,' he said, claiming that the law is 'already providing benefits to millions of Americans.'
'You don't get to extract a ransom just for doing your job.'

Senate Democrats have maintained that their Republican counterparts in the House are radicals, bent on forcing the White House into a needless surrender on a health insurance law that has been passed on party-line votes and approved by the Supreme Court.

'We have just tabled the radical bill that the House sent over to us. It was deliberately designed to be politically provocative,' Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski said in a statement. 'Continuing Resolutions have always been about disputes over money. They were not about political, ideological viewpoints over past legislation.'





President Obama slammed the GOP for holding the budget for 'ransom' by sticking to its guns on Obamacare




Tea Party Patriots coordinator Jenny Beth Martin urged Republicans to stand their ground. A 'delay of the entire law is absolutely necessary, and fair,' she said. 'Anything less is unacceptable!'


GLOBAL STOCKS FALL AS TRADERS FEAR A DEBT CEILING BATTLE

Shares around the world fell today following the U.S. government shutdown, amidst fears that Congress might fail to raise the nation's borrowing limit later this month.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 was down 22 points at 6,440, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 1.5 per cent and the dollar fell to its lowest level since February.

Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 129 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 15,129.67. The S&P 500 slid or 0.6 percent, to 1,681.55 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 10 points, to 3,771.48.

While investors are clearly worried about the shutdown, which will depress the national economy by keeping government workers away from their desks, the damage is relatively small compared to the chaos which will follow if the debt ceiling is not lifted by mid-October.

But most House Republicans stuck to their guns, even as some news reports depicted a GOP in turmoil with a group of moderates encouraging conservatives to give up their fight.

'Senate Democrats have a clear choice: Protect special treatment for themselves and the politically connected, or shut down the government,' Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady said. 'I hope they put America’s middle class ahead of their own privileged class.
'Obamacare isn’t ready for families, patients and workers,' he claimed. 'Why don’t they get the same one-year waiver others have gotten? I hope the Senate doesn’t protect the politically connected and needlessly shut down the government.'

Brady's statement said the White House has acknowledged a host of implementation problems with the Affordable Care Act which could be fixed given a year-long delay.

As he has in recent weeks, Obama emphasized the value of low-cost health insurance plans, without noting that those policies' high deductibles can make a patient's out-of-pocket medical costs dwarf the policy's official price tag

The president said Republicans were 'sacrificing the health care of millions of Americans' by refusing to endorse the plan advanced by Senate Democrats.
He also hinted at his preference for a long-term solution, instead of stopgap measures that some Republicans have suggested publicly.

'Does anybody truly believe we won't have this fight again in a few more months?' Obama asked. 'Even at Christmas?'

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN MEAN FOR AMERICA?

What will happen during the shutdown?

All non-essential government services will close and their staff put on unpaid leave. More than 80 per cent of staff at bodies such as Nasa and the Environmental Protection Agency will be 'furloughed', but courts, the military and veterans' affairs will remain functioning almost as normal. National parks and government-funded museums such as the Smithsonian will be closed. Social Security pension payments and the 'Obamacare' health reforms will not be affected, because they are funded separately.

What happens next?

Democrats and Republicans will return to the negotiating table - but since neither side has been willing to compromise so far, it is hard to predict when they will reach an agreement. The White House insists it will not accept any delay to the implementation of Obamacare, the President's main legislative achievement, which tea party Republicans virulently oppose. The last shutdown, in 1996, lasted 21 days - this one could be much shorter, or it could be even longer.

What is the economic effect?

The shutdown is predicted to cost the American economy more than $1billion a day, according to Goldman Sachs, thanks to the drop in output caused by federal workers staying at home, and the loss of tourism.

SHUTDOWN: President Obama's message following historic loss

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Shutdown Leaves Thousands in DC Area in Limbo

Megan Barreto Oct 2nd 2013





Shot from above Interstate surrounding Washington , DC


WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON (AP) - The usually bustling District of Columbia will be uniquely affected Wednesday by the first government shutdown in 17 years, with thousands of federal employees who make up the backbone of the metro area's workforce ordered not to report to work.

Furloughed workers facing the prospect of an uncertain time without work - and without paychecks - were offered everything from free burgers, sandwiches and cups of coffee to admission to private museums, pilates lessons and activities at community centers.

At Pork Barrel BBQ in Alexandria, Va., just outside the District of Columbia, the disdain for the stalemate in Congress that led to the shutdown was clear. The restaurant gave away 275 pulled pork sandwiches to workers with a government ID on Tuesday, though it took pains to note in its Twitter announcement that the offer "EXCLUDES CONGRESSMEN."

Many workers were on edge, unsure of how long it may be before they could head back to work.

"Even if it's just shut down for a week that's a quarter of your pay this month. That means a lot to a lot of people," said Marc Cevasco, 30, who works in Congressional affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Washington region is expected to lose $220 million per day in federal payroll while the government is closed, said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis. So federal workers won't be spending money at small businesses and restaurants while they're not being paid, he said.

"They won't be buying anything," Fuller said. "They're just going to hunker down."

The effect on tourism already was being felt. Barricades were erected around some of the nation's most cherished monuments, from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial. More than 100 veterans passed the barriers at the World War II with help from several federal lawmakers. But most visitors could only admire landmarks from afar and found themselves staring at locked doors and "CLOSED" signs at the Smithsonian Institution's popular museums.
Even commuter rail lines adjusted their schedules to accommodate federal workers who in many cases worked only a few hours and left at midday because of the shutdown.

The city government is beholden to Congress, which has yet to sign off on a spending plan for the District. But the D.C. City Council approved an emergency measure Tuesday to keep tens of thousands of municipal workers on the job, including everyone from trash collectors to librarians. City officials expect an emergency fund to cover about two weeks of operations if Congress can't reach agreement on the budget.
Nationwide, about 800,000 federal employees were sent home - a number greater than the combined U.S. workforces of Target, General Motors, Exxon and Google. The effects played out in a variety of ways, from scaled-back operations at federal prosecutors' offices and the FBI to closures at national parks.

Campers and hikers at the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and other national parks were given two days to pack up and leave, and new visitors were being turned away. St. Louis' landmark 630-foot-high Gateway Arch was off-limits as well.
In Philadelphia, Paul Skilling of Northern Ireland wanted to see the Liberty Bell up close but had to settle for looking at the symbol of democracy through glass. And he wasn't optimistic about the chances of visiting any landmarks in Washington, the next stop on a weeks-long visit.

"Politics is fantastic, isn't it?" he said ruefully.

In New York, tourists who had hoped to see the Statue of Liberty were instead offered an hour harbor cruise.

"There has to be better ways to run the government than to get to a standstill like this," said Cheryl Strahl, a disappointed visitor from Atascadero, Calif. "Why take it out on the national parks?"

The government closings did not stop the launch Tuesday of the enrollment period for the online insurance marketplaces established under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul - the program at the very heart of the dispute that produced the shutdown.

The two federal employees in orbit around the Earth - NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Michael Hopkins - carried on as usual aboard the International Space Station, with essential employees at Mission Control in Houston supporting the lab and its six inhabitants.
There were no TV or web updates, however, as most of NASA's workforce was furloughed.

The IRS suspended audits for the duration of the shutdown, and call centers were left unmanned. In St. Paul, Minn., the voicemail warned callers they "should file and pay their taxes as normal."
The 12 million people who got six-month extensions must still file their returns by Oct. 15. But the agency will not issue tax refunds until the government resumes normal operations.

In northern Michigan, David Zorn and Jennifer Li were looking forward to a few days of camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Instead, their visit was cut short Tuesday as the park closed because of the partial government shutdown.

"It's a bummer," Zorn said as he and Li ate a hurried breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans, heated over the dying embers of their campfire. "It's something we were not closely following, but we didn't think it would actually affect us. It's one of those things that doesn't hit home until you're booted out."

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Is Lincoln Memorial the Next Objective? Defiant Veterans set to open New Fronts in Protest Against Government Shutdown

• Elderly servicemen yesterday 'stormed' barricades at WWII Memorial
• It had been closed after Congress failed to pass funding for government
• Today more veterans groups are set to arrive in Washington DC
• They say they are prepared to broaden protest to Lincoln Memorial
  

By Daily Mail, 2 October 2013


More veterans are set to storm the barricades of Washington DC's shuttered national monuments today in protest at the government shutdown after Congress refused to fund the healthcare act.
Former servicemen are plotting to occupy the capital's closed Second World War Memorial for a second day, and also broaden their protests to other sites including the Lincoln Memorial.
The planned acts of civil disobedience by defiant veterans in their 80s and 90s threatens to fan the flames of an already fierce fight over who is responsible for denying the federal government the funds to operate.





Next objective: Washington DC's Lincoln Memorial, which has also been closed by the government shutdown,
could be next on the list of veterans' targets as they seek to broaden their protest against the political deadlock






Beyond boundaries: Veterans from Iowa were able to tour the World War Two Memorial in Washington
after removing the fences closing the site due to the U.S. government shutdown






Defiant: Veterans on an Honor Flight tour visit the World War II Memorial in Washington DC
even the the site was officially closed because of the government shutdown

The National Mall's memorial to the U.S.'s Second World War dead became a political battlefield yesterday when a group of 91 former servicemen who had travelled from Mississippi 'stormed' its barricades.
They were among hundreds who had arrived for a planned visit to the memorial morning to find it shuttered by the National Park Service after the shutdown went into effect at midnight.

And they were quickly joined by conservative politicians who accused Democrats of being to blame for the monument's closure.

There could be a repeat of those scenes today when more groups from the Honor Flight Network - a non-profit group that arranges free visits to the Second World War Memorial for veterans - arrive in DC to visit the monument.
One Honor Flight volunteer said they were considering staging further protests elsewhere.
Jamie Miller, a five-year veteran of the Marine Corps, said:

'We are thinking about jumping the Lincoln memorial too. If Lincoln was a war memorial I would do it in a heart beat.'





Gulf Coast Coast Honor Flight veteran Wynon Stewart, left, and his escort,
Cat Aguda display a piece of police tape removed from the WWII Memorial


Yesterday members of Congress, including Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and Steven Palazzo, of Mississippi, rushed to Second World War Memorial and cut police tape to let in the veterans.
'I find it disappointing and disgusting for our country to have to go through this,' said Bob Hunter, 90, of Gulfport, Mississippi said.
Mr Hunter survived a plane crash and climbed the Eiffel Tower to post a radio transmitter on top as a member of the Army Signal Corps during the Second World War.

'I feel like we deserve better,' Hunter said. 'Somewhere, somehow, somebody screwed up.'

Tom Lucas, of Pontotoc, Mississippi was one of five brothers who fought in World War II, said the memorial’s closure 'hurt us.'

'I crossed the North Atlantic 20 times on convoy duty,' said Mr Lucas, 87. 'I ended up in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the surrender.'
'We did our share, and the last thing people should do is not let us in and not let people open the gate.'
'We took on the Germans and the Japs and we whipped them, and then we have to take this sort of thing? It makes you wonder if these people work for the U.S government or for themselves.'





Greatest generation: Rep. Steve King, of Iowa (bottom center), helped distract
Park Service officers to allow veterans to enter the memorial





Call of duty: Rep. King is pictured with one of the veterans who traveled from Iowa to pay respects to their fallen comrades




Meet and greet: U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (left) said she and her colleagues plan to
continue coming down to the memorial every day to ensure veterans' access to the site





Tour: A group of 91 veterans from Mississippi were flown down to DC by a charity group to visit the memorial


MIchelle Bachmann said it was ‘pure joy’ when members of the greatest generation were allowed in because they had traveled so far to honor their fallen comrades.
She added that her fellow congressmen and women plan to continue coming down to the memorial every day while the shutdown continues to ensure veterans’ access.

‘America is not shutting down,’ she said. ‘If we have anything to say about it, we're going to keep this open.’

Park spokeswoman Carol Johnson said the service didn't want to keep veterans out, but the agency was directed to close all memorials after the Congress failed to approve a budget resolution, leading to the first government shutdown in 17 years.





Tough guys: Many of the veterans at the site were wheelchair-bound or relying on walking canes to get around





On the fence: U.S. Park Police close off the World War II Memorial in Washington
after the first government shutdown in 17 years went into effect


A long-running dispute between Democrats and Republicans over President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act stalled a temporary funding bill, forcing about 800,000 federal workers off the job and suspending most non-essential federal programs and services.

‘We’re looking about how to deal with this in the future,’ Johnson said.

Leo Shane III, a reporter for the newspaper Stars and Stripes who was present at the memorial, tweeted that he witnessed Rep Steve King, of Iowa, distracting a Park Service officer while veterans knocked down the barricades.
Members of The Mississippi Gulf Honor Flight - a nonprofit group that arranges free visits to the Second World War Memorial for veterans - made their way to the capital visit the memorial.
Wayne Lennep, a spokesman for the organization, said they had planned the visit long before the shutdown and could not cancel the pilgrimage.





Keeping history locked up: One of the clearest examples of the effect of the shutdown
comes from the closure of all National Parks





Close as you can get: A last minute effort by Republicans to reopen the National Parks failed on Tuesday evening,
thought it was viewed by many as a stopgap to lessen the backlash against the GOP





Nationwide: A cyclist had to cut his ride short on Tuesday in Saguaro National Park in Tuscon, Arizona

The 91 veterans, many of them wheelchair-bound or using walking canes to get around, arrived at Reagan National Airport in an $80,000 chartered plane on Tuesday morning.

They boarded buses and arrived at the memorial at around 11.30am, only to discover metal fences around the site and printed signs announcing that the memorial has been closed due to the government shutdown.
Even though park police officers were patrolling the area, they made no attempts to stop the veterans and congressmen who came to their aid from moving the barriers and entering the site.

‘I thought I was going to have to stand back when we first got here,’ veteran Robert Meredith said ‘I feel extremely lucky. This is really nice, a great honor.’





Fighting back: Protestors demonstrated by the Capitol demanding the House pass a
Continuing Resolution without any amendments that attempted to defund the Affordable Care Act





Defending themselves: Republicans, led by Senator David Vitter at the podium, called
for Democrats to compromise and allow them to pass a version of a budget to end the shutdown





Sticking on message: Democratic House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi pushed for
Americans to enroll in the national healthcare system that was launched today


The gray-haired and stooped visitors were able to lay a wreath at the Mississippi pillar and take pictures before leaving the site less than an hour later.
Besides the travelers from Mississippi, a group of veterans from Iowa dressed in bright yellow shirts were also allowed to access the memorial.
At the Korean War Memorial, a group of veterans from Puerto Rico also stormed the barricades to lay a wreath.





Major hurdles: Park rangers erect barricades as a visitor is turned away
from a section of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia





March: Furloughed federal employes march in front of a shuttered
Independence Hall at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia





Blockade: A barrier blocks the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington
as national parks were closed due the budget battle


Rep. Bill Huizenga, of Michigan, called the veterans’ bold actions ‘the best civil disobedience we've seen in Washington in a while,’

The veterans’ decision to ignore the shutdown and move fences aside in order to pay their respects to military heroes has drawn bipartisan support from members of the House and Senate alike.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, posted on Twitter that he would be donating his pay during the shutdown to the Honor Flight organization in his home state, while Republican Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, simply tweeted, ‘Good for them.’

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As U.S. Shutdown Drags on, House Votes to Pay Idled Workers








By Thomas Ferraro and Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 5, 2013 4:47pm BST

(Reuters, UK) - Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on Saturday to retroactively pay 800,000 furloughed federal employees once the government reopens, but there was no end in sight to the shutdown that was in its fifth day.
The House of Representatives passed the bill unanimously and it is expected to clear the Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama. It was a rare moment of cooperation in the House as the two parties were entrenched in their positions on the shutdown.

The standoff, which began at the start of the new fiscal year on Tuesday and shuttered all but essential government operations, is the latest in a series of budget fights between Obama and Republicans.
In the past, Republicans have insisted on spending cuts as the price for budget deals or lifting of the government debt limit. Their current stand is aimed at derailing the president's landmark healthcare reform law to expand insurance to millions without coverage.

Republicans argue that the law is a massive government intrusion into private medicine that will cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, put people out of work and eventually lead to socialized medicine.

They have refused to pass a funding bill without attaching measures that would undercut the law, known as Obamacare.

Obama and his fellow Democrats vow that they will make no such concessions on the funding bill or on raising the debt ceiling, which must be done by October 17 to avoid default.
Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press released on Saturday that he does not expect to have to take any unusual steps to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt because he believes Congress will raise the debt ceiling.

In his radio address on Saturday, Obama said the government shutdown was having a "heartbreaking" impact on ordinary Americans, and renewed his call on Republicans in Congress to "stop the farce" and pass a funding bill without conditions.


UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES

While the retroactive pay bill enjoys bipartisan support, it does not end the uncertainty that federal workers face about when the government will reopen and they will be paid.

"These employees, who provide vital services to the American people, will have a little peace of mind," with passage of this bill, said Joseph Beaudoin, President of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

Democratic leaders in the House said on Friday they were working on a manoeuvre that, if successful, would force a vote on legislation to fully reopen the government.

The plan involves a rarely used "discharge petition" that would dislodge an existing bill from a committee and send it to the House floor if a simple majority of lawmakers in the chamber sign the petition.
Such a move would take a week or so to clear procedural hurdles in the House, according to Representative George Miller, a Democrat. A House vote might not come until at least October 14, which is a federal holiday, Miller said.

In the meantime, the shutdown is affecting the economy across the country, from companies that deal with government contracts to national parks that normally generate millions of dollars a day in tourism revenues.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, sent a letter to Obama on Friday urging him to either back a bill to reopen national parks such as the Grand Canyon, or at least allow states to use state and private funding to reopen them.

Facing public anger over the government shutdown, House Republicans have adopted a strategy of voting piecemeal to fund some popular federal agencies - like the Veterans Administration, the National Park Service and the National Institutes of Health - that are partially closed.
Democrats have rejected that, arguing that Congress has a duty to pass a bill funding the entire government.


DEBT CEILING

Republicans are also seeking concessions in exchange for raising the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit, which is due to be reached October 17. If the borrowing cap is not increased, the United States will go into default, with what officials and economists say would be seriously damaging consequences for the U.S. and global economies.

Boehner tried on Friday to squelch reports that he would ease the way to a debt ceiling increase, stressing that House Republicans would continue to insist on budget cuts as a condition of raising the borrowing authority.
Republicans blame the White House for the fiscal deadlock, saying the president is stubbornly refusing to compromise.

"Republicans are eager to end the shutdown and move ahead with the fiscal and economic reforms that our country so urgently needs," Senator John Cornyn said in the Republican weekly address on Saturday. "But we're never going to make real progress without greater cooperation from our friends across the aisle."
"The Democrats have calculated that by prolonging the shutdown, and maximizing the pain, they can bully Republicans into doing whatever President Obama and Majority Leader (Harry) Reid want them to do," Cornyn said.

The president and Democratic leaders in Congress have said that they are open to bartering over budget issues, but not under the threat of a shutdown, and that raising the debt limit - and avoiding default - is non-negotiable.
The president cancelled a week-long trip to Asia next week to deal with the crisis.

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Richard Cowan and Tim Reid; Writing by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)


RELATED - (Video):


US shutdown a momentary episode-Kerry

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America is Becoming Ungovernable: MAX HASTINGS' Chilling Verdict on the Visceral Political Hatreds Behind the Shutdown of the US Government


By Daily Mail UK, 12 October 2013


Washington this week has basked in autumnal sunshine and bitter hatred. Like players in one of those Hollywood movies about a divided hick town with lynch mobs baying, the legislators of the greatest nation on earth trade insults about blame for the government shutdown, resulting from the stand-off on the U.S. budget.

‘These people are Neanderthals,’ thundered a Democratic congressman. The Senate’s chaplain, Barry Black, rolled his eyes skywards and said: ‘Save us from this madness.’

The ‘madness’ is, of course, the insistence of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives that they will vote to enable the federal government to pay its bills only if the White House agrees to suspend or scrap its national health scheme, which they loathe to the point of obsession.





Madness: Protesters display placards during a demonstration in front of the US Capitol in Washington last week urging Congress to pass the budget bill


Obamacare (properly known as ACA, the Affordable Care Act) is the greatest — cynics say the only major — achievement of this disappointing presidency. It provides subsidies and new regulatory procedures to bring health insurance within reach of the poorest Americans. Long-term, it is intended to lower the horrific costs of public healthcare.

Republicans hate the scheme because they claim that it will make medical care more costly for middle America, and extend the reach of the hated federal government.

Yet it is still an extraordinary step to attempt to blackmail the Democratic administration into dropping a measure that became law in 2010.

As a host of commentators point out, if Obama gave way on this issue — as assuredly he will not — the road would be open for his congressional enemies to pull the same stunt about any other law they dislike.

They could defy the intentions of the Founding Fathers of the constitution as flagrantly as the gun nuts who exploit the 1776 provision for militias to bear arms, to enable modern mass murderers to equip themselves with machine-guns. But the Republicans are seized with a self-righteousness which is impervious to reason.





Not backing down: If Obama gave way on this issue, as assuredly he will not, the road would
be open for his congressional enemies to pull the same stunt about any other law they dislike


All week, a procession of fat, solemn, smug legislators has filled the country’s television screens, blaming the current farce on Barack Obama.

‘The President is using his enormous powers against the American people,’ said Utah Senator Mike Lee, ‘by refusing to recognise the enormous harm Obamacare is doing.’

One of the foremost advocates of the shutdown, Texan Congressman Randy Neugebauer, had the brass neck publicly to berate a Washington park ranger who had to explain to a couple of veterans they could not visit the World War II Memorial which — like all museums and monuments — has been forced to close to the public.

Bobby Jindal, Republican Governor of Louisiana, accuses the President of ‘obstinacy’, while another congressman charges Obama with ‘shamelessly pursuing his own political interests at the expense of the American people’.

This is serpent-speak, of course. But seldom, if ever, has the chasm between the sophistication of America’s East Coast and the primitive passions and thought processes of middle American lawmakers yawned wider.

At dinner parties in the capital this week, I have listened to government officials and academics venting fury about the irresponsibility of the Republicans.

‘Their behaviour is holding America up to ridicule,’ said my neighbour on Tuesday night. A State Department official said crossly: ‘We’re still working in my department for the next couple of weeks at least, but we can’t spend any money. This is a huge embarrassment.’




Impervious to reason: Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah has accused the President
of using his 'enormous powers against the American people'


In Britain, most MPs of all parties consider Westminster to be as much home as their constituencies.

But the United States is different. The senators and congressmen who fly into Washington on Monday nights and jet out again on Thursdays never cease to belong first and always to Kansas, Montana, Alabama or wherever else they hail from.

President Eisenhower said ruefully about Washington: ‘Everyone is too far from home.’
Most Republican constituencies are not merely thousands of miles from the capital; they are also culturally light years distant.

Many of the legislators orchestrating the federal shutdown feel as foreign among East Coast smart-asses — as they would characterise Washington’s elite — as did the Tennessee frontiersman Davy Crockett when he was elected to Congress in 1826.

Constituency boundaries have always been ruthlessly manipulated to create safe seats for either Republicans or Democrats. The consequence is that party primary elections are often decisive in determining who gets to go to Washington.

This is how the powerful Right-wing Tea Party, dedicated activists, have gained such leverage. Incumbent Republicans live in mortal dread of being ousted at election time not by Democrats, but by far-out Right-wingers on their own side.




Divided: Seldom, if ever, has the chasm between the sophistication of America's East Coast and the primitive passions and thought processes of middle American lawmakers yawned wider


Even if they would like to act temperately in this crisis, they dare not.

What a crew they are. Steve Stockman, a Texan who sits in the House of Representatives, is a former homeless man who has faced drugs charges. He distributed bumper stickers during his last election campaign urging the arming of foetuses: ‘If Babies had Guns, They Wouldn’t be Aborted!’

The grassroots are obsessed with firearms. I have sometimes struck up casual conversations about gun law in rural states such as Kansas or Wyoming; it is like holding a dialogue with Martians.

Many people out there sincerely believe the federal government may descend on their homes at any moment to confiscate their pistols and assault rifles, to appease the evil socialist anti-gun lobby. They insist that they must be ready to defend themselves. I have even heard one group cite a threat from extra-terrestrials.

In Britain, we sometimes deplore the decline of religion. But we should take heed of how malign its influence can be, not only in the Muslim world but also in much of the U.S. To be sure, American churches are packed on Sundays, but the gospel of intolerance which some espouse contributes mightily to today’s Washington political gridlock.

Fear is what a lot of this is about.

The Fox TV channel — the Wailing Wall of the American Right — currently advertises a hot best-seller entitled National Bankruptcy — Why The Middle Class Is Doomed. Most Republicans hate 2013.

They want to reset the clock to around 1955, when the world lived in terror of nuclear annihilation, but when Dwight Eisenhower occupied the White House, women and blacks knew their place, there was no swearing on TV, and sex was kept in its proper place under the carpet.

The British middle classes relish nostalgia: some root for UKIP because they fancy the weather would improve if we could leave Europe. But in our hearts, most of us accept that life moves on; even that some change is for the better.

But rural Republicans are not like that. They believe they have the right, duty and even power to roll back the 21st century. This week I chatted to a diplomat’s wife who attended both 2012 party conventions, who remarked on the contrast between them.

The Democratic event in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured delegates who were every colour of the rainbow, many of them young, all willing to hope.

The Republican get-together took place in a heavily-armed fortress in Tampa, Florida, and was attended almost exclusively by white-haired, white-skinned folk bereft of hope, moved only by their fears. If that seems a caricature, fast forward to now.

Those same Tampa dinosaurs have shut down large parts of Washington for 11 days. There is a real possibility that rather than give way, they will drive the jalopy over the cliff and subject the U.S. and the rest of the world to a traumatic debt default.

America has become the test-bed for a crisis of democracy.





'Exclusively by white-haired, white-skinned folk bereft of hope, moved only by their fears,' Republican senators Mike Lee, Mike Enzi, Tim Scott and Ted Cruz leave the White House yesterday


For centuries, the system has operated on the basis that societies acquiesce in majority poll verdicts.

Now, however, this principle is being fiercely challenged. Obamacare may have passed into law, have been tested in the Supreme Court, and upheld there in 2012. Yet the Republicans refuse to sanction government spending unless the measure is suspended or repealed.

Can anything be said in mitigation of their behaviour?

Obamacare is indisputably flawed — but so are all welfare systems.

There is a frightening debt chasm between U.S. government tax- raising and spending for which both parties share blame, but which Obama has made no real effort to address.

Even Democrats privately fume about the fact that their President may do some statesmanship, but he does not do much politics.

It is vital for all political leaders to privately meet, smooch and cut deals with legislators on whose votes they depend to implement their policies. Yet Barack Obama recoils from glad-handing.

This cool, even cold, man finds it hard to charm his friends, never mind his enemies. His natural habitat is a platform from which he can broadcast to a multitude. All successful reformers in U.S. history, notably including Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, owed most of their achievements to backroom skills such as Barack Obama lacks.

He would argue: ‘Yeah, but that was before the Tea Party came along.’ That was also before a substantial minority of the American people became seized with such manic distrust of their own government that they decided that any and all means are justified to frustrate its purposes.

Their hatred of President Obama is truly frightening.

It is no exaggeration to say that though they call themselves Christians, a terrifying number would rejoice to see him dead. That is how poisonous is the political climate of the U.S. today.


What Happens Next?

Polls show that the American people hold the Republicans chiefly responsible for the current mess. The party’s moderates are desperate to extricate themselves. But behind them stand the Tea Party’s gunslingers, holding ****ed pistols to their heads.





Outrage: Protestors in front of the closed Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
rally against the shutdown, many are angry that America is being held up to ridicule


A year ago, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said that he would have no part of an attempt to exploit the budget to wreck Obamacare, ‘the law of the land’.

Now, however, the wretched man is doing exactly what he promised not to, because he is battered and bullied by the extremists.
That description seems perfectly just, after listening to some of their commentaries on the crisis.
For example, Florida Republican Congressman Ted Yoho asserts that a continuing refusal to raise the government debt ceiling — forcing America to default on its obligations — ‘would bring stability to world markets’.

A Louisiana comrade calls Obamacare ‘the most existential threat to our economy since the Great Depression’.

In a way, the Republicans have done Obama a favour by hoisting their flag of defiance behind a demand so extravagant that the President cannot possibly yield.

He must win in the end, though, because defeat would spell the shipwreck of America’s system of government.

But this is already holed on the waterline.

I wandered down Pennsylvania Avenue the other evening, reflecting on the recorded message that greets phone-callers to the White House: ‘Due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call.’





For all: The affordable care bill - known as Obamacare would bring bring health insurance within reach of the poorest Americans and long-term, is intended to lower the horrific costs of public healthcare


Among the gawkers outside the railings of the Obama residence, I noticed a perspiring, overweight man wearing a T-shirt bearing the enigmatic message;

‘GAME OVER’.

Alas, it is not.


America remains the greatest society on earth, but its leadership looks sickly and feeble, for reasons that relate partly to this President but mostly to the fact that the U.S. constitution and its standard- bearers are failing their country.

In the name of freedom, the Supreme Court, third pillar of the check-and-balance system, persistently hands down conservative decisions which worsen the politics. For instance, the Court upholds the right of billionaires to provide unlimited campaign funding. This means that tiny minorities are empowered by Right-wing billionaires who use their riches as a club to bully and blackmail elected representatives.

The scariest part is that, even if somehow America struggles out of this crisis without precipitating a global financial disaster — which we should not take for granted — we are getting a preview of the likely pattern of American politics.

So sclerotic is the system, so mountainous the obstacles to reform, that the greatest democracy on earth looks set to shuffle and stumble towards the future, rather than march boldly as its allies hope and need.

The shutdown crisis shows that democratic freedoms, when brutishly abused, can produce consequences almost as scary as those of tyranny.

The United States of America looks frighteningly close to being ungovernable.

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U.S. Just Days away from 'Very Dangerous Moment'

October 13, 2013, 9:28 am



World Bank President Jim Yong Kim addresses the plenary session at the start of
the annual IMF-World Bank fall meetings in Washington, October 11, 2013.


REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president of the World Bank on Saturday warned the United States was just "days away" from causing a global economic disaster unless politicians come up with a plan to raise the nation's debt limit and avoid default.


US Borrowing Crisis 'Days away' From Disaster, says World Bank Head




Jim Yong Kim: "We are now five days away from a very dangerous moment"


US Budget Row


The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has warned that the United States is just "days away from a very dangerous moment" because of the government's borrowing crisis.
He urged US policymakers to reach a deal to raise the government's debt ceiling before Thursday's deadline.
The US Treasury will start to run short of funds if no agreement is reached for it to borrow on financial markets.
Mr Kim warned this could be a "disastrous event" for the world.
"The closer we get to the deadline the greater the impact will be for the developing world.
"Inaction could result in interest rates rising, confidence falling and growth slowing," said Mr Kim, speaking at the World Bank's annual meeting in Washington.

“Start Quote

There are three examples in US history that come close to default, with the most recent occurring in 1979”

"If this comes to pass it could be a disastrous event for the developing world and that will in turn greatly hurt the developed economies as well," he added.

'Uneasy'

If the US does run short of cash, this could cause it to default on its debts, a development which would be likely to have a severe effect on financial markets around the world.

The BBC's Andrew Walker said that finance ministers from other countries think the US probably won't default, but they are uneasy and want the crisis resolved very soon.

Republicans and Democrats failed to come to an agreement on Saturday, but Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said the aim was to reach a deal on extending the debt limit before markets reopen on Monday.
The White House rejected a deal for a short-term increase to the borrowing limit.

"It wouldn't be wise, as some suggest, to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple of months, and flirt with a first-ever intentional default right in the middle of the holiday shopping season," said President Barack Obama.


Shutdown

The US government has been in partial shutdown since Congress missed a 1 October deadline to pass a budget, with politicians being unable to agree funding for current spending.
This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of federal employees being sent home and government offices closing.





Arizona Governor Jan Brewer announces the reopening of the Grand Canyon National Park

Republicans refused to approve the new budget unless President Obama agreed to delay or eliminate the funding of the healthcare reform law of 2010.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has estimated that each week the government is shut down, 0.25% is shaved off economic growth, which was already expected to be a sluggish this quarter.


Debt Burden

Mr Lew has also has warned that letting talks over the debt ceiling go down to the wire "could be very dangerous".
The current debt limit of $16.699 trillion was reached in May.


“Start Quote

It would ripple through the world economy in a way that you couldn't possibly understand”

Jamie Dimon Chief executive, JP Morgan


Since then the US Treasury has been using what are called extraordinary measures to keep paying the bills, but those measures run out on 17 October.
Every week, the Treasury also has to refinance $100bn worth of debt in the form of US government bonds known as treasuries.
The US also has to pay interest on its huge debt burden.
An inability to pay that interest, or pay back debt if required, would put the US into default.

On Saturday, Jamie Dimon, boss of the American bank JP Morgan said the possible repercussions did not bear thinking about.

"You don't want to know what would happen," he said.


Debt Ceiling Crisis has Other Nations Angry and Scared

By Anthony Zurcher BBC News, Washington





Mr Obama has vowed not to negotiate terms with Republicans in Congress over a bill to raise the US debt ceiling

US Budget Row



At the start of the current US budget standoff, other countries viewed the situation with a mix of sympathy, concern and bemusement. With the 17 October deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaching, however, the international view has changed to fear and anger.
While many abroad have considered a US government shutdown unfortunate and potentially damaging to the global economy, it is a development the world has survived before. But the last time the US came close to defaulting on a sovereign debt obligation was in 1790, when the country was a backwater ex-British colony, a bit player on the world stage.
More recent examples of sovereign default include Mexico (1982), Russia (1998), Argentina (2001) and Greece (2012). Each of those sparked global financial crises that required US intervention. It is unsurprising, then, that with the US itself possibly causing the economic conflagration, foreign observers are hitting the panic button.




'Fundamentally Wrong'
“Start Quote

This is a matter involving the good faith and credit of the United States”

L Ian MacDonald Columnist, Ottawa Citizen



"What is chilling is that US politicians are willing to engage in a game of brinkmanship that is tantamount to detonating a nuclear device over their economy," writes the Times of India. "A bunch of intransigent American politicians are holding not just President Barack Obama, but the entire world to ransom."


Although the enormity of the crisis has yet to sink in for many around the world, those who are paying attention are starting to call into question an American system of government that would reach this point.



"There is something fundamentally wrong with a system that leaves a country without direction, in stagnation, without a budget and potentially without the wherewithal to settle its debts," writes UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor in The Arab Times.
"Obama must get his own house in order not only for the sake of the American people, but also to retain his nation's revered top slot in the global economic and geopolitical hierarchy before the world concludes the US is just an aging tiger without teeth."


In 2009, Zimbabwe adopted the US dollar as an official currency in order to stanch hyperinflation and bring stability to its economy. Now, it faces a possible American financial collapse that would drag it down, too.



"If the US defaults on its debt this would result in the country's credit rating plummeting and the US dollar falling and thereby causing havoc in the international financial markets," writes the nation's Financial Gazette.




'Thanks, Washington'




A debt default could cause a large drop in the value of US currency.



As America's largest trading partner, Canada faces a heightened threat, as well.
L Ian MacDonald, a columnist for the Ottawa Citizen, writes,



"This is a matter involving the good faith and credit of the United States." And because the crisis is already causing the Canadian dollar to increase in value relative to the US dollar, it is adversely affecting Canadian exports. "Thanks, Washington, we needed that," he writes.


Overseas leaders are also expressing their concerns - particularly in Japan and China, the two largest foreign holders of US national debt.
"The US must avoid a situation where it cannot pay, and its triple-A ranking plunges all of a sudden," Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso said.


"The US is the world's biggest economy and a major country issuing reserve currency," China's Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao said during a foreign ministry press conference. "Safeguarding the debt is of vital importance to the economy of the US and the world."

International Monetary Fund official Jose Vinals said that if the US defaults, it "adversely affects advanced economies, emerging markets, low-income countries. It will be a worldwide shock."

The Economist writes that hitting the debt ceiling could mean the US would "slash spending so deeply that it causes a recession. Or it could default on its debts, which would be even worse, and unimaginably more harmful than a mere government shutdown.

No one in Washington is that crazy, surely?"

It's a rhetorical question, but one that many in the world are starting to take seriously.

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