Obama signs bill ending US govt shutdown

President Barack Obama early on Thursday signed legislation that ends a US government shutdown and raises the debt ceiling, the White House said.

Congress late Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity.

Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, the Senate and House of Representatives each passed the spending measure after Republicans dropped efforts to link the legislation to changes in President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.

The deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another government shutdown early next year.

With the deadlock broken just a day before the US Treasury said it would exhaust its ability to borrow new funds, US stocks surged on Wednesday, nearing an all-time high. Share markets in Asia also cheered in early Thursday trade.

Taking the podium in the White House briefing room after the Senate vote and just before the House took up the measure Obama said that with final congressional passage, "We can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people."

"Hopefully next time it won't be in the 11th hour," Obama said. "We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis."

The standoff between Republicans and the White House over funding the government forced the temporary lay-off of hundreds of thousands of federal workers from October 1 and created concern that crisis-driven politics was the "new normal" in Washington.

Senator John McCain, whose fellow Republicans triggered the crisis with demands that the Democratic president's "Obamacare" healthcare reform law be defunded, said earlier on Wednesday the deal marked the "end of an agonizing odyssey" for Americans.

"It is one of the most shameful chapters I have seen in the years I've spent in the Senate," said McCain, who had warned Republicans not to link their demands for Obamacare changes to the debt limit or government spending bill. Polls showed Republicans took a hit in public opinion over the standoff.

The Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure on a 81-18 vote, and the Republican-controlled House followed suit 285 to 144, clearing the way for Obama to sign it into law no later than Thursday, when the Treasury says it will hit the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling.

Fully reopening the government was expected to take several days. While essential functions like defense and air traffic control have continued, national parks and agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency have been largely closed.

source: interaksyon.com

US lawmakers split despite October 17 debt deadline

WASHINGTON DC - The United States is still facing a potentially devastating sovereign debt default, after senators failed to agree on terms to reopen the federal government and raise the country's borrowing limit.

Republicans and Democrats -- at war over the country's finances and ideological direction for more than two weeks -- tried to shed a positive light Sunday on a weekend of talks that despite the threat of global economic censure did not produce a solution.

The Senate convened a rare Sunday session to try and break the budgetary impasse that prompted the government to shut down on October 1, a move that has since damaged domestic confidence and undermined America's reputation as the world's leading economic superpower.

If the US debt ceiling is not raised by October 17, the Treasury would run out of money and could begin defaulting on its obligations for the first time in history, with likely dire consequences for the global economy.

Seeking to avert that outcome, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, talked up the dialogue with Republicans -- represented by top Senator Mitch McConnell -- though nothing concrete was disclosed.

"I'm optimistic about the prospect for a positive conclusion," Reid said.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has told the International Monetary Fund's policy steering committee that Washington understood its reputation as a safe harbor was at risk.

Stock markets are already factoring in a possible default if no deal is reached between President Barack Obama, his Democratic Party and rival Republicans by Thursday night.

But the threat of a global economic rebuke has so far done little to prompt an agreement.

Polls released during the shutdown have shown Congress's approval rating at record lows, with Republicans blamed most for the political gridlock in Washington.

Both parties in recent days indicated a deal must be done at all costs, despite the bitter bipartisan rancor.

"This is something that's wreaking havoc around the world and will affect economic growth, and I do hope that over the next week we'll reach a conclusion and I think we will," Republican Senator Bob Corker told "Fox News Sunday."

Obama rejected an offer by Republicans in the House of Representatives to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks while negotiations would continue on reopening the government, insisting on a longer-term solution.

Following talks with the top House Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, the president said they were not budging from their position.

Obama and Pelosi "reinforced that there must be a clean debt limit increase that allows us to pay the bills we have incurred and avoid default," the White House said in a statement.

"The House needs to pass the clean continuing resolution to open up the government and end the shutdown that is hurting middle class families and businesses across the country."

Senate leader Reid had on Saturday turned down a second compromise proposal, offered by moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins.

It called for lifting the US debt limit for up to a year, reopening the government and repealing a tax on medical devices under Obama's signature health care law.

But Collins said her proposal could still become the basis of a deal, telling CNN's "State of the Union" she had support from a growing, bipartisan group of senators.

Senator Charles Schumer, a key Democratic power broker, said Reid and McConnell "were not that far apart" Saturday, when they held their first talks of the crisis.

"I'm cautiously hopeful, optimistic, that we can come to an agreement and open up the government and avoid default based on the bipartisan meetings that are going on," Schumer told CBS's "Face the Nation."

Democrats, meanwhile, have added a demand of their own -- that any deal also involve undoing the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester that went into effect earlier this year.

Schumer acknowledged it was a "sticking point."

Corker said House Republicans had gone too far in demanding that Obama's signature health care law be defunded, the initial cause of the government shutdown.

But "now the Democrats are on the verge of being one tick too cute," he said, referring to the bid to undo the sequester.

Global pressure for a deal in Washington is mounting.

"The standing of the US economy would, again, be at risk," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on NBC's "Meet the Press," comparing the effects of failing to raise the debt ceiling and reopening the government to the 2008 global financial meltdown.

source: interaksyon.com