US Senators fail again to pass spending bills; govt shutdown continues

The Senate has postponed further votes until October 6 and the House of Representatives has cancelled all votes for the upcoming week.

With two separate spending proposals—one from the Democrats and one from Republicans—failing to pass, the White House yesterday said it would be left with the ‘unenviable task’ of mass lay-offs to keep essential government services operating if the shutdown continues.

Democrats have declared they will not support the funding bill without their input, while Senate majority leader John Thune has signalled his party’s unwillingness to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to open the government back up. Talks with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer are “not going to accomplish a lot,” he was quoted as saying by US media reports.

“As Democrats hold the government hostage over their push to fund free healthcare for illegal aliens, the Council of Economic Advisers warns the US could lose $15 billion in GDP [gross domestic product] each week the government is shut down—a crisis that will ripple across every state," the White House said in an article on its website.

“A month-long shutdown may mean 43,000+ more unemployed Americans.…Consumer spending will fall as a result of lost wages from furloughed workers and reduced federal contract spending…. Like national GDP, state GDP (gross state product) is expected to decline,” the article noted.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)