Republicans and Democrats have
reached an agreement in principle over border security to fund the government
and avoid another partial shutdown.
The deal was struck in a closed-door meeting in Washington on February 11
after several hours of talks.
However, the agreement contains only
a fraction of the money President Donald Trump wants for his promised border
wall and does not mention a concrete barrier.
The deal still needs to be approved
by Congress and signed by the president.
Speaking on February 12, President
Trump said of the deal: “I can’t say
I’m happy, I can’t say I’m thrilled.”
The president told reporters he
would have a meeting about the agreement later today.
The Democrats – who now control the
House of Representatives – have refused to approve the $5.7 billion for
President Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico, one of his key campaign
pledges.
Lawmakers expressed optimism that a bill
would be approved by February 15 when funding runs out for some federal
agencies.
The longest shutdown in US history
lasted 35 days and cost the country’s economy an estimated $11 billion.
Details have yet to be released but
aides familiar with the negotiations say it includes $1.375 billion in funding
for 55 miles of new fencing at the border, a small part of the more than 2,000
miles promised by President Trump.
The wall would be built in the Rio
Grande Valley, in Texas, using existing designs, such as metal slats, instead
of the concrete wall that Donald Trump had demanded.
According to recent reports, there
was also an agreement to reduce the number of beds in detention centers to
40,250 from the current 49,057.
The talks had reached an impasse earlier with Republicans strongly rejecting
Democrats’ demands for a limit to the number of undocumented migrants already
in the US who could be detained by immigration authorities.
Republican Senator Richard Shelby said on February 11: “We got an agreement on all of it.
“Our staffs are going to be
working feverishly to put all the particulars together. We believe that if this
becomes law, it’ll keep open the government.”
However, by yesterday, some of President Trump’s conservative allies had
already denounced the deal, with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity calling it a
“garbage compromise”.
House Freedom Caucus leader Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina said the agreement failed “to address the critical priorities outlined by Border Patrol Chiefs”.
The president initially gave a
positive account of the 90-minute meeting at the White House, describing it as
“very productive”.
However, when asked whether he had
considered using emergency presidential powers to bypass congressional approval
of funding, President Trump said he had.
He said: “I may do it. We can call a national emergency and build it very
quickly. That’s another way of doing it.”
“I’m very proud of doing what I’m
doing,” President Trump added.
“I don’t call it a shutdown, I call it
doing what you have to do for the benefit and safety of our country.”
On January 4, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the meeting had been
“contentious”, while Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: “We told the president we needed the
government open. He resisted.”
Democrats, who now hold the majority in the House, passed spending bills on
January 3 to reopen the government, including $1.3 billion of border security
funds until February 8.
However, the legislation cannot take effect unless it passes the Republican-controlled Senate, where leader Mitch McConnell said his party would not back any measure without President Trump’s support.
The majority of federal workers will be unable to report for work on January 22, as the Senate struggles to end a government shut-down.
Some will not be paid until the stalemate is resolved.
On January 21, a rare Sunday session of the Senate yielded no agreement between Democrats and Republicans, with immigration one of the main sticking points.
Essential services will still run but famous sites such as the Statue of Liberty have already been affected.
The monument was closed on January 21, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would dip into state funds to pay the daily employment bill and reopen the popular tourist site.
It missed a deadline. At midnight on January 19, lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill. The bill was not a plan for funding for the whole of 2018, but would have kept things running until the middle of next month.
Democrats refused to back a temporary deal until their concerns on immigration reform were dealt with.
Efforts to reach a compromise ahead of the working week failed on January 21.
A vote to end the shutdown was postponed until midday on January 22, meaning many federal government offices will not open and the shutdown enters its third day.
Under Senate rules, the bill needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber.
The Republicans currently have 51 senators, so they need some Democratic support to pass a budget.
Democrats want President Donald Trump to negotiate over immigration as part of a budget deal, but Republicans say no agreement is possible while federal government services are closed.
Republicans want funding for border security – including a proposed border wall with Mexico – and immigration reforms, as well as increased military spending.
On January 20, President Trump said the “nuclear option” of a simple majority vote was necessary to end the impasse.
It means no pay for those federal employees who are “furloughed” – on unpaid leave – even though their workplaces are not open.
Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on January 22. Half of workers in the treasury, health, defense and transportation departments will also not be going to work.
Visa and passport processing could be delayed.
However, essential services that protect “life or human property” will continue, including national security, postal services, air traffic control, some medical services, disaster assistance, prisons, taxation and electricity generation.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration said it planned to keep national parks open – their closure in the 2013 shutdown provoked an angry public reaction.
The shutdown began on the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. His trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has also been called into question.
The last government shutdown was in 2013, and lasted for 16 days.
It cost the government $2 billion in lost productivity and led to “significant negative effects on the economy”, the OMB said at the time.
This is the first time a government shutdown has happened while one party, the Republicans, controls both Congress and the White House.
January 19 vote fell 50-49, far short of the 60 needed to advance the bill. This is due to a number of key disagreements.
Democrats have demanded protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.
The US Senate has failed to pass the new budget and prevent the shutdown of many federal services.
A bill to fund the federal government for the coming weeks did not receive the required 60 votes by the deadline of midnight on January 19.
President Donald Trump accused the Democrats of putting politics above the interests of the American people.
The Democrats blame him for rejecting bipartisan compromise proposals.
Negotiations in both houses of Congress continued on January 20, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the chamber would be back in session on the next day to try to end the impasse.
The White House budget chief has expressed optimism that a resolution will be found before January 22.
If not, hundreds of thousands of federal workers face the prospect of no work and shuttered offices at the start of the working week.
The last government shutdown was in 2013, and lasted for 16 days.
This is the first time a government shutdown has happened while one party, the Republicans, controls both Congress and the White House.
The January 19 vote was 50-49, falling far short of the 60 needed to advance the bill. With a 51-seat majority in the Senate, the Republicans did not have enough seats to pass the bill without some support from the Democrats.
They want funding for border security – including the border wall – and immigration reforms, as well as increased military spending.
The Democrats have demanded protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.
The Republicans added a sweetener in the form of a six-year extension to a health insurance program for children in lower-income families. However, Democrats want this program extended permanently.
President Trump accused the Democrats of being “far more concerned with illegal immigrants than they are with our great military or safety at our dangerous southern border”.
However, the leading Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, blamed the president, saying President Trump was under pressure from “hard-right forces within the administration”.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders warned: “The president will not negotiate on immigration reform until Democrats stop playing games and reopen the government.”
The US budget must be approved by October 1 – the start of the federal financial year.
However, Congress has often failed to meet this deadline and negotiations continue well into the new year, with the previous year’s funding to federal agencies extended on a temporary basis.
Because Congress failed to agree an extension that would have maintained government funding through to February 16, it means many federal agencies effectively closed for business as of 00:01 on January 20.
Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on January 22. Half of workers in the treasury, health, defense and transportation departments will also not be going to work.
The Obama administration revealed on Thursday that last month’s 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government cost taxpayers more than $2.5 billion for work that furloughed federal employees never got a chance to do.
At the peak of the furloughs, about 850,000 workers – 40% of the civilian federal workforce – were not at work, President Barack Obama’s budget chief Sylvia Mathews Burwell said, although that number dropped once Congress passed the Pay Our Military Act, and 400,000 workers returned to their jobs.
A report from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found that federal employees were furloughed for a combined total of 6.6 million work days.
“The cost of pay due to federal employees furloughed during the shutdown is roughly $2.0 billion; total compensation costs are about 30% larger [about $2.5 billion],” the report said.
On a conference call with reporters, Sylvia Mathews Burwell pushed back at one reporter who wondered whether the Obama administration was releasing the report because the effects of the shutdown were underappreciated since Americans had seen the economy keep running during the 16-day work hiatus.
The Obama administration revealed that last month’s 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government cost taxpayers more than $2.5 billion
“One thing that did come out of the shutdown is a greater appreciation” for services that the federal government provides, Sylvia Mathews Burwell said.
The OMB report cited specific disruptions to regulations and other federal operations. For example, it said, “banks and other lenders could not access government income and Social Security Number verification services. Two weeks into the shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had an inventory of 1.2 million verification requests that could not be processed, potentially delaying approval of mortgages and other loans.”
Since the shutdown ended three weeks ago it has been eclipsed by news coverage of the botched debut of the Affordable Care Act website. But taking note of the damage done to their party by the shutdown, some Republicans are eager to avert another interruption of funding which would trigger another government shutdown. The current spending bill ends its funding on January 15, 2014.
A House-Senate budget committee is now meeting to try to devise a budget plan for Fiscal Year 2014 which began on October 1.
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill to re-open the government and extend the debt ceiling, just hours after the House and Senate passed the measure with broad bipartisan support.
Barack Obama said the measure would immediately restart federal programs that had been put on hold during the funding lapse.
The world reaction to the debt deal was one of relief Thursday, but there were signs the drawn-out process has undermined confidence in America’s global standing in both finance and politics. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Washington to build a more stable management of U.S. finances, mindful that Wednesday night’s deal only suspends the debt limit until February 7, 2014.
Asian money markets rose after the deal, but key European markets fell in early trading, Reuters reported.
After weeks of stalemate that shuttered the government for 16 days, the standoff is finally over
The GOP-dominated House passed the measure 285-144, with 87 Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The Senate passed it 81-18. In both chambers, only Republicans voted against the measure.
Office of Management and Budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell told federal employees to expect to return to work on Thursday morning.
Federal employees who were furloughed as a result of the shutdown will receive back pay “as soon as practicable,” according to the bill’s text.
The bill will fund the federal government through January 15 and extend the government’s borrowing power through February 7. It also calls for a congressional agreement by mid-December on a long-term budget plan.
After more than two weeks of standoff over the government shutdown, Republicans -faced with Thursday’s debt ceiling deadline – were forced to accept a deal with only minor concessions from Democrats.
The Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty and other tourist sites are reopening after state officials reached deals with the federal government.
Arizona and New York will fund the attractions from their own budgets, and are unlikely to be reimbursed.
Other states are now weighing up whether they can justify the outlay of cash to keep their parks open.
The tourist sites closed after Congress failed to agree a budget, forcing many government services to shut down.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described the Statue of Liberty as an “international symbol of freedom” and promised he would not allow “dysfunction” in Washington to keep it closed.
New York will have to pay out about $60,000 a day to keep the Statue of Liberty open.
The Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty and other tourist sites are reopening after state officials reached deals with the federal government
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said: “I’m gratified the Obama administration agreed to reverse its policy and allow Arizona to reopen Grand Canyon, Arizona’s most treasured landmark and a crucial driver of revenue to the state.”
Arizona will pay almost $100,000 a day to keep the Grand Canyon open, initially for the next seven days.
Analysts estimate that the Canyon brings in roughly 18,000 visitors each day during the current peak season, and revenue of roughly $1 million.
Elsewhere, South Dakota worked out a deal with corporate donors and the National Park Service to reopen Mount Rushmore on Monday.
And Utah and Colorado have also reached deals to keep their parks open.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement the states had found a “practical and temporary solution” that would “lessen the pain for some businesses and communities”.
The partial government shutdown, which has sent home hundreds of thousands of government workers on unpaid leave, began on October 1.
Republicans have refused to pass a new budget unless President Barack Obama agrees to delay or eliminate the funding of the healthcare reform law of 2010.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not undermine the law, known as Obamacare, nor negotiate over larger budget matters, until Republicans vote to end the threat of default.
Officials say about 15,000 workers in the private sector have already been laid off as a result of the shutdown.
As the well as the shutdown, the US is heading towards default if it does not raise its debt limit by October 17.
President Barack Obama has announced he is willing to sign a “clean” short-term increase to the US borrowing limit that is free from Republican budget and policy demands.
Barack Obama’s announcement came as the US is in the 11th day of a partial government shutdown.
However, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, closed by the shutdown, will now re-open.
Barack Obama has announced he is willing to sign a “clean” short-term increase to the US borrowing limit that is free from Republican budget and policy demands
The funding will be provided by the states of New York, Arizona and South Dakota, however, with other national parks and monuments remaining closed due to the deadlock in Washington.
As the well as the shutdown, the US is heading towards default if it does not raise its debt limit by October 17.
The partial government shutdown, which has sent home hundreds of thousands of government workers on unpaid leave, began on 1 October after Republicans refused to pass a new budget unless Barack Obama and the Democrats agreed to delay Obama’s signature healthcare reform law of 2010 or eliminate its funding.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not undermine the law, known as Obamacare, nor negotiate over larger budget matters, until Republicans vote to end the threat of default and reopen the government.
During 1995 government shutdown, Monica Lewinsky was allowed to spend some quality time with President Bill Clinton as the non-essential White House staff were sent home and unpaid interns were taking on extra responsibility.
In 1995, the Starr Report describes the events of November 15: “During the shutdown, Ms. Lewinsky worked in Chief of Staff Panetta’s West Wing office, where she answered phones and ran errands.The President came to Mr. Panetta’s office frequently because of the shutdown, and he sometimes talked with Ms. Lewinsky.She characterized these encounters as “continued flirtation.” According to Ms. Lewinsky, a Senior Adviser to the Chief of Staff, Barry Toiv, remarked to her that she was getting a great deal of “face time” with the President.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that Wednesday, November 15, 1995 – the second day of the government shutdown – marked the beginning of her s**ual relationship with the President…”
During 1995 government shutdown, Monica Lewinsky was allowed to spend some quality time with President Bill Clinton
The newspaper also wrote: “According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President made eye contact when he came to the West Wing to see Mr. Panetta and Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, then again later at an informal birthday party for Jennifer Palmieri, Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff. At one point, Ms. Lewinsky and the President talked alone in the Chief of Staff’s office. In the course of flirting with him, she raised her jacket in the back and showed him the straps of her thong underwear, which extended above her pants.
“En route to the restroom at about 8 p.m., she passed George Stephanopoulos’s office. The President was inside alone, and he beckoned her to enter. She told him that she had a crush on him. He laughed, then asked if she would like to see his private office. Through a connecting door in Mr. Stephanopoulos’s office, they went through the President’s private dining room toward the study off the Oval Office. Ms. Lewinsky testified: <<We talked briefly and sort of acknowledged that there had been a chemistry that was there before and that we were both attracted to each other and then he asked me if he could kiss me>>. Ms. Lewinsky said yes. In the windowless hallway adjacent to the study, they kissed.Before returning to her desk, Ms. Lewinsky wrote down her name and telephone number for the President.
“At about 10 p.m., in Ms. Lewinsky’s recollection, she was alone in the Chief of Staff’s office and the President approached. He invited her to rendezvous again in Mr. Stephanopoulos’s office in a few minutes, and she agreed.(Asked if she knew why the President wanted to meet with her, Ms. Lewinsky testified: <<I had an idea.>>) They met in Mr. Stephanopoulos’s office and went again to the area of the private study. This time the lights in the study were off.
“According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President kissed.”
Back in October 2013, this won’t happen again, as according to The Hill, White House interns will no longer be allowed to work during government shutdowns.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has announced that most of the 400,000 US defense department staff sent home amid the US government shutdown have been told to return to work next week.
Chuck Hagel said the decision was based on an interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act.
A budget row between Republicans and Democrats has forced the closure of federal services for five days now.
But the sides have now voted to approve back-pay for the 800,000 federal workers sent home without salaries.
Chuck Hagel has announced that most of the 400,000 US defense department staff sent home amid the US government shutdown have been told to return to work next week
In a rare moment of bipartisan co-operation, the House of Representatives on Saturday approved by 407-0 a bill to pay the federal workers once the shutdown ends.
There remains no sign of any deal on the federal budget, however.
Republicans who control the House of Representatives have refused to approve the budget, saying they would only do so if President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law was delayed or stripped of funding.
Barack Obama and the Democrats have refused, noting the law was passed in 2010, subsequently approved by the Supreme Court, and was a central issue in the 2012 election which Obama won.
The Pay Our Military Act was passed by Congress shortly before the shutdown.
Chuck Hagel said earlier in the week he wanted to find a way to get his civilian staff back to work.
He said lawyers had told him the Pay Our Military Act permitted employees “whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members” to be exempted.
“I expect us to be able to significantly reduce – but not eliminate – civilian furloughs under this process,” Chuck Hagel said.
US and EU negotiations on a sweeping free trade pact have been postponed because of a partial government shutdown in America.
US officials had been due in Brussels next week to discuss the deal aimed at boosting bilateral ties.
President Barack Obama earlier cancelled his trip to Asia because of the shutdown.
The US government closed non-essential operations on Tuesday after Congress failed to agree a new budget.
US and EU negotiations on a sweeping free trade pact have been postponed because of a partial government shutdown in America
Since then hundreds of thousands of government employees have not been working or paid.
On Friday, US trade representative Michael Froman informed the EU that financial and staffing constraints made it impossible to send a full negotiating team to Brussels.
But he stressed that Washington would continue working with the EU on drawing up the deal, but would have to wait until the shutdown was over.
Reacting to the US announcement, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the delay was unfortunate.
“But let me underline that it in no way distracts us from our overall aim of achieving an ambitious trade and investment deal,” he added.
Meanwhile, the White House said that Barack Obama would miss two summits in Asia, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting in Indonesia.
It said the decision was made due to the “difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown”.
The US government partially shut down operations on Tuesday after Republicans who control the House of Representatives refused to approve a budget, saying they would only do so if Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law was delayed or stripped of funding.
Several US government websites and Twitter feeds have been suspended due to a partial federal shutdown.
NASA’s website was unavailable as non-essential services were closed, and the White House web page was not being updated, after a lapse in federal funding.
The US Department of Homeland Security was not responding to public emails submitted via its website.
US government employees affected by the shutdown were not able to access email.
Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, the Affordable Care Act, lead to the government shutdown on Tuesday.
The act, known also as Obamacare, has caused legislative deadlock. Congress failed to pass legislation to fund the government on Monday.
Thousands of federal workers who had been sent home on Tuesday were barred from accessing work emails as part of US government policy.
Several US government websites and Twitter feeds have been suspended due to a partial federal shutdown
The same US law which gave the legal basis for the shutdown, the Antideficiency Act, also prohibited work “via mobile devices or remote computer connections” for employees who had been sent home.
Communications channels for members of the public were also affected by the shutdown.
US citizens can normally use federal websites and Twitter feeds to put queries to government institutions.
On Tuesday, email questions from the public were not being processed by US bodies including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.
“Due to the lapse in government funding, information on this website will not be routinely updated, the transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the department may not be able to respond to inquiries until funding has been restored,” read a notice on the Department of Justice site.
People trying to reach NASA’s main website were redirected to a US government notice explaining that the page was not available.
Other federal websites such as the US Department of Agriculture and the US Census Bureau displayed holding pages.
Dozens of Twitter feeds, including tweets from the National Park Service for the Statue of Liberty, were stopped.
Smaller federal institutions such as the Smithsonian National Zoo were affected by the shutdown.
The zoo’s webcams, which normally stream images of giant pandas, cheetahs, flamingos, and naked mole rats, were also down.
“None of our live animal cams will broadcast,” said a notice on the Smithsonian National Zoo web page.
“The cams require federal resources, primarily staff, to run and broadcast. They’ve been deemed non-essential during the shutdown.”
Shares in New York are trading lower as the prospect of a shutdown of some US government activities looks increasingly likely.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both fell 1% shortly after the open, but then recovered some lost ground.
The deadlock also unsettled European stock markets, already nervous about the political crisis in Italy.
The US needs to agree a new spending bill before the financial year ends at midnight on Monday.
But political divisions have resulted in a stalemate and there are worries over the economic impact of a shutdown of the US government.
If the government does shut down on October 1, as many as a third of its 2.1 million employees are expected to stop work – with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is resolved.
National parks and Washington’s Smithsonian museums would close, pension and veterans’ benefit cheques would be delayed, and visa and passport applications would be stymied.
Programmes deemed essential, such as air traffic control and food inspections, would continue.
Shares in New York are trading lower as the prospect of a shutdown of some US government activities looks increasingly likely
Investors will be keen to know if Friday’s job report will be released.
The monthly non-farm payrolls report is one of the most closely watched pieces of US economic data.
Employees at the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), who prepare the report, would be among those who would stood down in the event of a shutdown.
“All survey and other program operations will cease and the public website will not be updated,” said Erica Groshen, commissioner of the BLS, said in a memo published on the department’s website.
Republicans are targeting President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare.
Early on Sunday, the Republican-run House of Representatives passed an amended version of the Senate spending bill that removed funding for the healthcare law.
US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has vowed that his Democrat-led chamber will reject the Republican bill.
“Tomorrow, the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures,” said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“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.”
Speaking for the president, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: “Any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown.”
The president, he said, would also veto the Republican bill.
The US government shutdown is looming as Democrat and Republican lawmakers remain unable to strike a deal on a new plan to continue funding its operation.
If they fail to reach an agreement by midnight, the US government will be forced to close all non-essential federal services.
More than 800,000 staff could be sent home on unpaid leave, with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
The shutdown would be the first in the US for 17 years.
One of the key points of contention in the political stalemate has been President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare.
Republicans in the House of Representatives – and their allies in the Senate – have demanded the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government.
Major portions of the law, which passed in 2010 and has been validated by the US Supreme Court, are due to take effect on Tuesday.
The US government shutdown is looming as Democrat and Republican lawmakers remain unable to strike a deal on a new plan to continue funding its operation
As the Democrats and Republicans vie for political advantage with the shutdown approaching, on Monday Republican House Speaker John Boehner criticized the Democratic-led Senate for remaining in recess on Sunday after the House passed its version of a budget bill.
“The House has done its work,” he said.
“We passed a bill… The Senate decided not to work yesterday. My goodness, if there is such an emergency, where were they?”
Early on Sunday, the Republican-run House of Representatives passed an amended version of the Senate spending bill that removed funding from the healthcare law and repealed a $29 billion medical device tax.
US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid vowed that his Democrat-led chamber would reject the Republican bill.
“[On Monday], the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures,” said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Harry Reid.
“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.”
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has warned that his Democratic-led chamber will reject a House Republican bill to avert a government shutdown.
Early on Sunday, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed its amended version of the Senate bill, removing funding from President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
There is now less than 48 hours to avert a shutdown, which will begin on Tuesday if no spending bill is passed.
The Senate is not due to meet again until Monday afternoon.
In a statement, Senator Harry Reid said that “after weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one”.
Harry Reid added that Republican efforts to change the bill – that would delay the healthcare law for a year and repeal a tax on medical devices – were pointless.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has warned that his Democratic-led chamber will reject a House Republican bill to avert a government shutdown
Speaking for the president, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: “Any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown.”
The president, he said, would also veto the Republican bill.
However, House Republicans went ahead with the changes, ignoring the veto threat and passing the bill in a late-night session by 231 votes to 192.
The Senate is controlled by Barack Obama’s Democratic party, while the Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives.
“House and Senate like two locomotives barreling toward one another … in slow motion,” tweeted Republican Representative Scott Rigell.
The looming shutdown ,which would be the first in 17 years, is one of two fiscal crises facing the US government. On October 17, the US treasury department’s authority to borrow money to fund its debt obligations expires unless Congress approves a rise in the so-called debt ceiling.
On Friday, President Barack Obama urged House Republicans to pass the Senate’s stopgap budget bill and to extend the debt limit, and demanded they not threaten to “burn the house down because you haven’t gotten 100% of your way”.
Barack Obama said if the nation were to default on its debt, it would have a “profound destabilizing effect” on the world economy.
“Voting for the treasury to pay its bills is not a concession to me,” Barack Obama said.
“No-one gets to hurt our economy… just because there are a couple of laws [they] don’t like.”
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