US Govt Shutdown: No progress on ending stalemate
Washington: The political stalemate over the budget between the Democrats and Republicans showed no signs of easing today as a meeting between an “exasperated” US President Barack Obama and lawmakers failed to end the crisis
”When you have a situation in which a faction is willing potentially to default on US government obligations, then we are in trouble,” he said.
House of Representative Speaker John Boehner told reporters that Obama during the meeting reiterated one more time that he will not negotiate.
”We sent four different proposals over to our Democrat colleagues in the Senate. They rejected all of them. We've asked to go to conference, to sit down and try to resolve our differences. They don't want to—they will not negotiate,” he told reporters after the meeting with Obama.
The US government closed non-essential operations on Tuesday after Congress failed to strike a deal on spending and budget due to differences over ‘Obamacare', the signature healthcare programme of President Obama. Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other for the impasse.
The shutdown has left nearly 800,000 employees on unpaid leave and closed national parks, tourist sites, government websites, office buildings, and more government establishments.