Politics
Who will blink first? Obama, Democrats, and Republicans in Gov’t shutdown stare down
In the event lawmakers blow the Monday deadline, about 800,000 workers would be forced off the job without pay. Some critical services such as patrolling the borders, inspecting meat and controlling air traffic would continue. Social Security benefits would be sent, and the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and poor would continue to pay doctors and hospitals.
The Senate was not scheduled to meet until midafternoon Monday, 10 hours before a shutdown would begin, and even some Republicans said privately they feared that Reid held the advantage in the fast-approaching end game. Republicans argued that they had already made compromises; for instance, their latest measure would leave intact most parts of the health care law that have taken effect, including requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions and to let families’ plans cover children up to age 26. They also would allow insurers to deny contraception coverage based on religious or moral objections.
Tea party lawmakers in the House, egged on by Cruz, forced GOP leaders to abandon an earlier plan to deliver a “clean” stopgap spending bill to the Senate and move the fight to another must-do measure looming in mid-October: a bill to increase the government’s borrowing cap to avert a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. obligations.
McCarthy appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” while Cruz and Labrador were on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Van Hollen appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
