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Congress remained gridlocked Monday over legislation to continue funding the federal government. If both chambers fail to pass a resolution before midnight, the federal government will shut down.
With no negotiations or compromise in sight, the countdown to the first shutdown of the federal government in 17 years has begun.
The Senate, poised to convene at 2:00 p.m., is expected to reject a House bill, passed early Sunday morning by the lower chamber, that would delay “Obamacare” for a year as a condition for keeping the government running.
The Senate will almost certainly strip language from the bill about the delay and send a “clean” bill back to House that does just one thing – fund the government in the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday.
House Republicans would then have to decide, with the midnight deadline quickly approaching, whether to vote on it.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) arrives at the Capitol Monday. The Senate will convene around 2:00 p.m. to vote — and likely defeat — on a House bill that links keeping the government funded to delaying ‘Obamacare’ for one year.
But as recently as Monday morning, GOP congressional leaders said the “clean” bill would be a non-starter and maintained their push to link the bill with delaying the President’s signature healthcare law.
“The fact that nobody knows what the rules are, employers are scared to death to hire new employees, cutting the hours many of their current employees, and for what reason?” House Majority Leader John Boehner said Monday. “This law is not ready for prime time.”
But Democrats are hoping the GOP’s bravado fades as the day goes on.
“Do we have to sacrifice the economy and help for millions of middle-class people?” New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), seen arriving with his security detail at the Capitol on Monday, remained adamant that “Obamacare” be delayed. “This law is not ready for prime time,” he said.
“It’s real people with real lives at stake, and just to sacrifice them to the right-wing gods, for the sake of a day or two of showing, ‘oh yes, we’re serious,’ is a very cynical operation,” he added.
Even some Republicans began criticizing their party’s leadership as a shutdown became more likely.
“I disagree with the strategy of linking Obamacare with the continuing functioning of government — a strategy that cannot possibly work,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Monday.
Americans, for the most part, appeared to agree.
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Charles Dharapak/AP
If the government does shut down, only 36% of Americans would blame President Obama, a poll released Monday showed. Another 46% would blame Republicans.
A CNN poll released Monday morning showed that 46% of U.S. residents would blame Republicans for a federal government shutdown, whereas only 36% would blame President Obama.
Another 13% said they would blame both Republicans and Obama, the poll showed.
If lawmakers do fail to achieve a resolution by midnight, large sections of the government would close, hundreds of thousands of workers would be furloughed without pay, and millions more would be asked to work for no pay — creating new risks for the fragile economy.
U.S. markets appeared to react accordingly Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 150 points in the first minutes of trading.
In recent trading, the benchmark index was down 110 points, or 0.7%.
With News Wire Services
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