US BRACING FOR GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

The US government is bracing for a possible shutdown as Republicans and Democrats in Congress have not yet reached a consensus on a budget to continue its funding.
On Friday, President Barack Obama gave Congress a stern warning against the looming shutdown, saying “over the next three days, House Republicans will have to decide whether to join the Senate and keep the government open or shut it down because they can’t get their way on an issue that has nothing to do with the deficit”.
Earlier on Friday, the Senate approved stopgap spending legislation in order to keep the government running through November 15, which included money for Obama™s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act which is also known as ObamaCare.
The Senate bill came one week after the Republican-led House of Representatives passed on Sep. 20 a stopgap funding bill that would continue to fund the federal government but would withhold funding for ObamaCare.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that there was no way House Republicans would approve a temporary spending bill if the Democrat-controlled Senate strips out the provisions that defund ObamaCare.

Large functions of the US government, such as national parks and museums, will close Tuesday, Oct. 1, unless US lawmakers agree on legislation authorizing new spending.
Furthermore, if the government shuts down on Oct. 1, nearly 1.4 million US troops will not get paid, the Pentagon said on Friday.
“Military personnel will not be paid until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them for this period of service,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter wrote in a memo.
In addition, œroughly half” of the 800,000 strong civilian workforce of the Defense Department will be placed on unpaid leave, if Congress does not agree on a new budget measure by September 30.
According to the Pentagon’s top financial officer Robert Hale, the remaining 400,000 employees of the Defense Department would continue their work but they would not be paid during the “lapse”.
US Congress also faces a mid-October deadline in order to raise the federal government™s debt limit.
The White House has said Congress should raise the debt ceiling without conditions and has refused to negotiate with lawmakers about how to do it.
AT/ISH
Copyright: Press TV

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