Hoyer warns shutdown foreshadows worse crisis
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) warned Tuesday that the on-going stalemate over a short term spending bill to keep government open is a bad sign about negotiations to come over Washington’s next major fiscal deadline.He said the failure of a group of more moderate Republicans to step forward and join Democrats in supporting a clean continuing resolution to spare the country a shutdown was a discouraging sign for their ability to do so to renew the nation’s borrowing authority in two weeks.
“The debt limit extension is coming up in two weeks,” Hoyer told reporters. “This does not portend responsible action on the debt limit, without demands that somehow they think we are getting something because they act in the best interests of their country.”
“This is a harbinger of a destabilizing confrontation once again,” he said.
Latest updates
Live updates: The shutdown showdown
The U.S. government has begun to shut down for the first time in
nearly two decades, after the House and Senate negotiators failed to
reach a spending deal Monday night. The impasse means 800,000 federal
workers will be furloughed Tuesday. National parks, monuments and
museums, as well as most federal offices, will close. Tens of thousands
of air-traffic controllers, prison guards and Border Patrol agents will
be required to serve without pay.
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Reaction on social media
Check here for the latest updates.
Sign up for ‘The Showdown’ daily newsletter here.
Reaction on social media
Federal workers: Not just a D.C. thing
The impact of the shutdown is now being felt by federal employees, many who are being sent home today.But not all of them live and work in the D.C. area. In fact, they are all over the country.
Here’s a handy map, from GovBeat.
Hoyer warns shutdown foreshadows worse crisis
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) warned Tuesday that the on-going stalemate over a short term spending bill to keep government open is a bad sign about negotiations to come over Washington’s next major fiscal deadline.He said the failure of a group of more moderate Republicans to step forward and join Democrats in supporting a clean continuing resolution to spare the country a shutdown was a discouraging sign for their ability to do so to renew the nation’s borrowing authority in two weeks.
“The debt limit extension is coming up in two weeks,” Hoyer told reporters. “This does not portend responsible action on the debt limit, without demands that somehow they think we are getting something because they act in the best interests of their country.”
“This is a harbinger of a destabilizing confrontation once again,” he said.
Google salutes shuttered national parks
One of the most talked-about aspects of a shutdown is how national parks are closed, canceling the vacation plans of many Americans.Google salutes these national parks today via its ever-changing homepage graphic.
Shutdown closes visitor areas, bike paths
Runners, cyclists and hikers take note: The shutdown means the closure of the 184.5-mile towpath from Georgetown to Cumberland, Md., along with the visitor areas at Great Falls and the rest of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.It will also affect Washington bicycle commuters who use the popular Capital Crescent Trail, which runs on C&O Canal park property in the District, according to Mike Nardolilli, president of the C&O Canal Trust, a non-profit organization that supports the park.
Nardolilli attended a meeting with National Park Service officials on Monday, and learned that, during the shutdown, park police will tell anyone they find on park property to leave. Barricades will block vehicle access to such popular picnic areas as Carderock, just downriver from Great Falls. Fencing will block the Crescent Trail at the DC line.
“While we don’t like it one bit, we have to respect it. Disregarding the closure can create potentially unsafe and hazardous situations, damage Park resources, and create undue work and stress on the few staff left standing,” Nardolilli said in an email to Trust members.
The shutdown also shutters the old lock houses that can be rented out for overnight stays as part of the Trust’s “Canal Quarters” program, he said. The Trust’s offices are within the national park’s headquarters in Hagerstown, and Trust employees must begin working at home, he said. But the big loss will be felt among park visitors who normally flock to banks of the Potomac in autumn.
“This is like prime season. This is really going to affect a lot of people who are looking forward to sending time in the national parks in this ideal period in October,” Nardolilli said.
Non-essential Senate staffers head for the exits
Around 11 a.m. several of the more junior Senate staffers were seen leaving the U.S. Capitol. The reason? No, not the nice weather but because they too were deemed non-essential.A staff assistant for Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) said she was told she had to go shortly before 11.
“But hey, it’s 84 degrees out, so it isn’t do bad,” said the staffer, who asked not to be identified due to congressional policy that forbids junior staffers from being quoted.
Others were seen leaving the building in groups and one staffer was overheard saying he was carrying home a late tote bag of items he’d been meaning to bring home.
Closer to the Capitol, dozens of tourists approached the building to take a look and see if they could get inside, but officers with the U.S. Capitol Police shooed them away.
Will this shutdown be worse for the GOP?
PostTV’s In Play takes a look back at the last government shutdown in 1995 and how the Republican party has changed since then.To find out what percentage of Republicans approve of the way GOP lawmakers are handling the budget debate, watch this In Play segment.
What the shutdown will look like, as told by one D.C. block
PostTV’s The Fold explains what might start to look different in D.C.’s commercial areas as a government shutdown takes effect. For more on which agencies will be impacted watch this In Play segment.Shutdown expected to bring early rush hour
Despite the shutdown, the morning commute on area roads was just as crowded as a typical Tuesday morning, according to a regional traffic monitoring system. Meanwhile, Metro ridership was down on trains and buses.Still, with some federal workers heading to the office this morning to secure work stations and wrap up e-mail, there are concerns about an early afternoon rush hour.
“Our biggest concern is after noon,” Valerie Weeks, an operator for the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC) program, told The Post’s Katherine Shaver.
An extended afternoon rush period is expected to start between noon and 1 p.m., she said, as workers head home early. There might be a slight lull between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., she said, before private employers let out as usual starting around 4 p.m.
Metro is not planning on adding additional trains or increasing the frequency of trains. Local commuter trains are beefing up some service: MARC trains and the Virginia Railway Express will run longer trains during the midday window to accommodate the expected surge in ridership. Suburban buses are also increasing midday service. Alexandria’s DASH service will run extra buses to and from the Pentagon and the Mark Center station, while Prince William County’s OmniRide will also run some extra buses during the day. The Fairfax Connector will run extra buses beginning at 1 p.m.
D.C. chef Jose Andres: Will I have to postpone citizenship?
The Reliable Source writes that famous Spanish-born chef/restaurateur Jose Andres, based in Washington, is on track to become a U.S. citizen and has been worried that he and his wife might have to postpone his swearing-in ceremony.“We’ve done the whole process,” he said, “and the last thing is still the swearing-in.”Find out what his prospects are by reading the full story.
Video: Obama: Military will be paid despite shutdown
In a video message to members of the military, President Obama said those in uniform will remain on normal duty status and will be paid on time during the government shutdown. (Associated Press)A shutdown wouldn’t immediately affect D.C. government after mayor taps reserves
‘Unless somebody takes me out in handcuffs, I’m not shutting down anything,’ Mayor Gray says.Read more
How the shutdown is playing in the states
GovBeat’s Reid Wilson takes a look at how the shutdown is affecting federal workers across the United States. Here’s an excerpt:As many as 40,000 Utahns who work for the federal government or government contractors will stay home from work today. That includes 215 state employees who oversee federal programs and 192 members of the Untah National Guard, according to Juliette Tennert, chief economist in Gov. Gary Herbert’s (R) Office of Management and Budget. If the shutdown lasts more than a week, the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides food stamps to about 66,000 state residents, will run out of reserve funding.
Durbin says budget deal could include Obamacare
Senate Democrats may be moving slightly away from their firm insistence on a so-called “clean” (i.e. no changes) continuing resolution.In an appearance on CNN today, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said it’s “conceivable” a deal could include something like a repeal of the medical device tax, which is part of Obamacare and has been part of the current discussions.
But Durbin said Democrats would never defund or delay any aspect of the law, as Republicans have so far demanded.
Here’s the transcript:
BOLDUAN: Nothing regarding the present health care law will see any vote in the Senate in terms of as it’s related to the funding bill?
DURBIN: It’s conceivable some aspect of it would be, but the notion of delaying it or defunding it is not going to happen.
BOLDUAN: What aspect, Senator, I’ll take anything at this point?
DURBIN: Let me give you an example. We can work out something I believe on the medical device tax. That was one of the proposals from the Republicans as long as we replace the revenue so we don’t put a hole in the deficit and respond to this in a responsible fashion. That’s one thing the Republicans want to talk about. Let’s sit down and put that on the table.
Rand Paul wants one-week deal to buy time
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an early supporter of the Defund Obamacare effort, is now calling for Congress to pass a very short-term continuing resolution to stop the current shutdown.“I think what we could do, is we could pass a very short term — maybe not six weeks but, what, about one week — so we can negotiate over a week,” Paul said on CNN on Tuesday morning. “I think a continuing bill to keep the government open while we negotiate is a good idea. I do agree that negotiating with the government closed probably to them appears like strong-arm tactics. So if we keep the government open, but I think it needs to be short-term enough that we are having an active negotiation, that we don’t just say, oh, we’re going to fund it for three months or two months and come back. I think if we did it for a week or two, I think we could still continue to negotiate, have a conference committee and really I think the American people do want us to work this out.”
Republicans floated Paul’s idea on Monday but it never got anywhere.
Paul said that it’s his understanding that Senate Democrats are against the idea.
Metro is not stepping up mid-day service
D.C. Metro said it will not run stepped-up rush hour level service of more trains or buses at mid-day as federal employees leave their places of work.Although the government is in shut-down mode, furloughed employees must show up for at least a few hours to close down their work stations and put things in order before heading home on indefinite leave. Most are likely to leave their offices at around the noon hour.
Nine painful effects of a shutdown
The biggest disruptions are less visible — the workers going without pay, the patients turned away from research clinics, and so on.Read more
Senate rejects House call for conference committee
The Senate voted this morning to reject the House of Representative’s middle-of-the-night request for a special conference committee to hash out differences over the budget.The Republican-controlled House wanted the conference committee to focus on what changes to make to President Obama’s signature health-care law, as part of agreeing to fund government operations.
But the Senate, controlled by Democrats, refuses to link the budget to proposed changes in the health-care law.
The Senate’s party-line vote, coming shortly before 10 a.m., means lawmakers remain at an impasse, with no resolution in sight as the shutdown gets underway.
Video: Government partially shuts down
A partial shutdown of the government was ordered early Tuesday morning, as a midnight deadline passed without a budget deal to fund it. (Associated Press)White House Web site cites 'Congress's failure'
The Obama administration is not mincing words about the shutdown and who is to blame for it.Visitors to the White House Web site are greeted with a popup announcement: “Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this site may not be up to date. Some submissions may not be processed, and we may not be able to respond to your inquires.”
The popup includes a “learn more” button, which leads to a full page on the budget fights, including a blog entry whose title is: “President Obama: Congress needs to keep our government open.”
Is the 1995 shutdown overblown?
That’s the conclusion drawn by Gallup, which has put together this handy summation of how the shutdown really didn’t have much of a long-term effect of the major parties involved — at least as far as polling is concerned.
That shutdown, of course, lasted for three weeks. If a shutdown lasts for just a few days, it has often been quickly forgotten and had relatively little impact on polls or the economy.
DCCC launches shutdown robocalls
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is tasked in 2014 with regaining the House, is now running robocalls against 63 House Republicans blaming them for the shutdown.The phone calls offer to connect people directly to their member of Congress’s office to express their dismay.
Here’s what the call sounds like in Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) district:
“While you were sleeping, Congressman Tim Walberg shut down the government. You heard that right. But even worse – Congressman Walberg is still getting paid – and he’s just not listening to our frustration. All because of his demand to take away your benefits and protect insurance company profits.The DCCC would not say how much it is spending on the calls.
“Press 1 to be connected with Congressman Walberg and tell him to end the shutdown, stop the nonsense and focus on commonsense solutions that protect our health care and grow our economy.”
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