US Government Shutdown Reaches Second Week
The US
government shutdown entered its second week stressing instead the need to avoid
a debt non-payment.
Amid calls from Wall Street and US creditors to prevent a default on the federal debt, which would occur unless Congress moves to raise the country’s borrowing limit by October 17.
Global stocks fell again Monday, as major US creditors, including Japan and China, issued warnings to the US to prevent default on the government’s debts.
The House voted unanimously Saturday on a bill that would ensure that federal workers will receive back their pay when the government reopens;
Defense Department employees reported that half of the almost 800,000 federal workers have been affected by the shutdown.
Democrats and the White House responded to growing concerns within the political establishment over a debt default by proposing “a short-term bill, perhaps lasting only weeks, if necessary to avoid going over the brink,” the Post reported. Such a bill would contain no provisions to end the government shutdown and would set the stage for a broader deal to slash social spending.
The Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly changing their demands from the call to defend or delay the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care proposal) to attacks on right spending. “Any debt-limit increase is going to require cuts and reforms to address America’s enormous budget deficit,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, reinforcing remarks that the Speaker had made over the weekend.
With nine days left before October 17, the day the Treasury says the US will run critically low on cash, Wall Street and US creditors are more and more demanding that the budget negotiations do not in any way affect the country’s debt payments. Wall Street’s concern over the debt bound, however, in no way contradicts its demands for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which, though tremendously opposed by the majority of the population, are supported by both the White House and the Republicans.
Amid calls from Wall Street and US creditors to prevent a default on the federal debt, which would occur unless Congress moves to raise the country’s borrowing limit by October 17.
Global stocks fell again Monday, as major US creditors, including Japan and China, issued warnings to the US to prevent default on the government’s debts.
The House voted unanimously Saturday on a bill that would ensure that federal workers will receive back their pay when the government reopens;
Defense Department employees reported that half of the almost 800,000 federal workers have been affected by the shutdown.
Democrats and the White House responded to growing concerns within the political establishment over a debt default by proposing “a short-term bill, perhaps lasting only weeks, if necessary to avoid going over the brink,” the Post reported. Such a bill would contain no provisions to end the government shutdown and would set the stage for a broader deal to slash social spending.
The Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly changing their demands from the call to defend or delay the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care proposal) to attacks on right spending. “Any debt-limit increase is going to require cuts and reforms to address America’s enormous budget deficit,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, reinforcing remarks that the Speaker had made over the weekend.
With nine days left before October 17, the day the Treasury says the US will run critically low on cash, Wall Street and US creditors are more and more demanding that the budget negotiations do not in any way affect the country’s debt payments. Wall Street’s concern over the debt bound, however, in no way contradicts its demands for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which, though tremendously opposed by the majority of the population, are supported by both the White House and the Republicans.
