Washington Post: #GOPShutdown Threatens U.S. Economy
The U.S. economy is entering an uncertain and perilous autumn, facing risks…from policymakers in Washington…
The rising threat of a government shutdown -- and an even bigger battle over the nation's borrowing limit -- looms large.
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Lawmakers have fewer than 10 working days -- including one that's devoted to a visit from Pope Francis -- to come up with a plan to fund the federal government before the current budget expires at the end of the month. Senate aides have said they are considering legislation that would keep the government operating through the beginning of December, but no decision has been reached as to how or when they will release a bill.
Meanwhile, 30 conservative Republicans in the House have pledged to reject any spending bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood…
"They've drawn a red line that I think they can only cross in the midst of a shutdown," said Tony Fratto, founder of Hamilton Place Strategies and a former top aide to President George W. Bush. "That's the only road they've left for themselves."
The irony is that 2015 is expected to mark the first time in four years year that the federal government is actually boosting economic growth, rather than detracting from it, according to an analysis by Macroeconomic Advisers. But if a budget deal is not struck and the spending cuts outlined in a compromise report laid out this summer are enacted, the country could be headed back into recession, the report found.
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"A government shutdown would be one of the most ludicrous and self-inflicted wounds that I can imagine," Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez said in an interview, adding that lawmakers are "forming another circular firing squad."
The American people can't afford another completely unnecessary Republican Government Shutdown that deals a body blow to our economy. It's long past time Speaker Boehner & House Republicans joined Democrats at the negotiating table to craft a budget agreement that invests in America.