- By
- SIOBHAN HUGHES
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- COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
The White House late Monday ordered federal agencies to suspend a vast array of activities after a day of frantic legislative volleying left Senate Democrats and House Republicans at an impasse over government funding and the 2010 health-care law. The Senate is expected to return Tuesday morning and reject a House-passed plan to convene a conference committee to negotiate a deal.
The next steps to resolve the first partial federal shutdown since 1996 are unclear.
Lawmakers remained locked in a standoff as Democrats continued to oppose the GOP's central demand—that Congress scale back the Affordable Care Act as part of an effort to keep the government funded. As it became clear late Monday that no budget deal would be reached, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) called it a "very sad day for our country."
Many federal workers reporting to their agencies Tuesday morning will undertake a half-day of shutdown preparations before hundreds of thousands of employees in the government's workforce of about 2.9 million are sent home. While essential functions such as law enforcement and air-traffic control will continue, a large number of federal activities, among them Internal Revenue Service audits and surveillance for flu outbreaks, will be suspended.
"We've got to sit down; we've got to talk," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said on CNBC on Tuesday. But he said the problem with the Republicans was "they've been so adamant the only option for them is to repeal or delay" the health law.
Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), a member of the House Republican leadership team, said Tuesday on MSNBC that shutting down the government always is a mistake and ending the funding impasse sooner rather than later is better for all involved. But he offered no predictions for how long the partial shutdown might persist.
Mr. Cole said that at this point, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) simply is asking the Senate to go to a conference committee. The aim, he said, is to see whether Democrats are "willing to negotiate on anything at all."
Mr. Boehner's decision to appoint conferees included one name that Democrats may see as a poison pill for any talks. The conferees would include Rep. Tom Graves (R., Ga.), who last month torpedoed an initial effort by House GOP leaders to pass a straightforward funding bill to prevent a government shutdown. He lined up 80 co-sponsors behind legislation that linked government funding to undermining the health law, touching off a Republican leadership decision to switch strategies.
While Republicans rallied behind their hang-tough strategy, through the day there were clear signs of growing anxiety about political fallout to the party from a shutdown.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz) said that while he agrees with House Republicans' goal of repealing the health-care law, tying it to legislation funding the government was the wrong strategy. Democrats were confident that if the government shut down, Republicans would be blamed, he said on MSNBC.
"If you're going to take a stand on something, the other side has to fear a shutdown," Mr. Flake said. "You're threatening to do something that the other side isn't very fearful of."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday on MSNBC that House Republicans were employing dangerous tactics, holding the economy and the middle class hostage.
"What we see happening with this Republican strategy is a willingness to threaten the very foundation of the world's greatest economic power," he said. "That is a very risky proposition."
Chris Krueger, a political analyst at Guggenheim Partners, summed up the situation in a research note on Tuesday: "There is no evidence to suggest that the federal government will re-open anytime soon as the various factions in Washington remain at odds with one another and themselves."
He said that a plan that passed Monday to continue paying the military in the event of a shutdown would compound the lack of urgency. "The most powerful constituency in America is military spouses, and without them calling lawmakers to reopen the government, this shutdown could continue until the next cliff of October 17, which is much steeper," Mr. Krueger wrote.
That is the date the Treasury Department has said the country will no longer be able to continue paying all its bills, and gives Congress a larger deadline— over the need to raise the nation's borrowing limit.
With Oct. 17 looming on top of a government shutdown, Mr. Cole told a reporter late Monday that "I think we're sort of sliding into a situation where these two fights effectively merge into one." He said that "you might have, once we're in it, a short-term" spending bill "that encompasses that debt ceiling."
Before the clock struck midnight, President Barack Obama signed a bill ensuring that the military would be paid during the shutdown. He recorded a video message to military and Department of Defense personnel, saying that Congress had failed to fulfill its responsibility while offering assurances that servicemen and women would have resources needed for their missions and would receive their paychecks on time.
"I know the days ahead could mean more uncertainty, including possible furloughs," Mr. Obama said. "And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress."
The president had said he was willing to discuss budget priorities and improvements to his health-care law but not under threat of shutting down the government or defaulting on the country's obligations. After remaining on the sidelines as the shutdown approached, Mr. Obama reached out to the top four leaders in Congress Monday night.
Mr. Boehner said later that the president's message in the brief phone call was that he wouldn't negotiate.
Mr. Obama said paying the government's bills and passing a budget were non-negotiable, adding that the U.S. couldn't be a country that lurched from crisis to crisis every few months.
"I shouldn't have to offer anything," the president told NPR in an interview that aired Tuesday morning. "They're not doing me a favor by paying for things that they have already approved for the government to do. That's part of their basic function of government."
The coming days will likely be marked by intense political maneuvering, with both sides trying to seek political advantage. Polls suggest the GOP would bear the blame for any repercussions, but Republicans believe that Democrats will face political risk as well because they are defending a health-care law that remains unpopular in many quarters.
In their final exchange, in the waning hours before Monday's deadline, the House passed by a 228-201 vote a short-term spending measure that would have funded agencies through mid-December while delaying for one year the law's requirement that most individuals carry health insurance or pay a penalty. It also would have limited government subsidies for lawmakers' own health-care premiums and those of their staffs. The Senate rejected it shortly afterward, 54-46.
After 1 a.m., with the shutdown of agencies already triggered, the House voted again to support the same proposal, returning it to the Senate with a measure that would set up a negotiating committee. The vote was 228-199.
The tea party and other conservatives have for months pressured congressional Republicans to try to undercut the law before Tuesday, when a crucial milestone will be passed—the launch of a new system of health-insurance marketplaces for individuals to buy policies.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) led the unsuccessful fight in the Senate to pass the House's initial legislation to eliminate money for the health law while funding the rest of the government.
—Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.
