The United States Congress missed the deadline for passing a budget in relation to Obama’s health care law, pushing the United States government to partially shut down for the first time in seventeen years. The standoff means that nearly 800,000 workers will be furloughed and more than a million would be requested to work without pay.
Shortly before midnight, the Office of Management and Budget announced that the Congress had failed to keep the federal government financed and “agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to an absence of appropriations.”
After a day-long series of legislative crossfire between the Democrats and the Republications, the Congress and the Senate failed to reach a resolution, and the Senate halted business until later Tuesday while the House took steps to open talks. But Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, dismissed as game-playing the House proposal to begin conference committee negotiations.
“We will not go to conference with a gun to our heads,” he said, demanding that the House accept the Senate’s six-week stopgap spending bill, which has no policy prescriptions, before negotiations begin.
President Barack Obama accused Republicans of being too beholden to Tea Party conservatives in the House of Representatives and said the shutdown could threaten economic recovery.
The political stakes are particularly high for Republicans, who are trying to regain control of the Senate next year. Polls show they are more likely to be blamed for the shutdown, as they were during the last shutdown in 1996.
The shutdown signifies the culmination of three years of a divided government and growing political polarization, was spearheaded by Tea Party conservatives united in their opposition to Obama, their aversion towards Obama’s healthcare law and their campaign pledges to rein in government spending.
Obama refused to negotiate over the Republican demands as House Speaker John A. Boehner related: “I talked to the president tonight and he said “I’m not going to negotiate. I’m not going to negotiate.””
Some government offices and national parks will remain closed, but spending for essential functions related to national security, military and public safety will continue.