Obama calls first meeting with Congressional leaders

WASHINGTON. – Two days in, Congress is no closer to resolving the first government shutdown in 17 years. President Obama was calling the top four congressional leaders down to the White House for a meeting yesterday afternoon. A White House official said the president will urge the House to pass a stop-gap funding bill to reopen the government, and ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling ahead of an October 17 deadline.

“We’re pleased the president finally recognises that his refusal to negotiate is indefensible. It’s unclear why we’d be having this meeting if it’s not meant to be a start to serious negotiations.

House Republicans were moving forward again yesterday with a legislative strategy to advance piecemeal funding bills to reopen popular parts of the federal government including parks and national memorials and the Department of Veterans Affairs until a broader budget agreement is reached. Republicans continue to seek concessions on the Affordable Care Act in exchange for passage of the funding bill’s talks between the two parties,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

“What I don’t understand is why the president and the Senate Democrats will not agree to come talk to those of us that have deep concerns about the fairness of what is Obamacare. And that to me is just not understandable to people in my district and across the country,” Rep Jason Chaffetz of Utah, a conservative Republican, told CBS’s This Morning.

Senate Democrats and Obama oppose the piecemeal approach and continue to call on Republicans to approve the Senate-passed stop-gap funding bill through November 15 that has no provisions affecting the health care law. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) challenged Boehner to allow a vote on the bill, which appears to have the support to pass on the votes of Democrats and moderate Republicans.

“What is (Boehner) so afraid of?” Durbin said on the Senate floor.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said she can deliver most of the Democrats’ 200 House votes, and at least a dozen House Republicans have publicly said they would support a “clean” stop-gap bill without provisions affecting the ACA.

Republicans are looking for ways to pass the stop-gap bill and negotiate with Senate Democrats on a vote to raise the debt ceiling, the nation’s borrowing limit.

“There is a strong possibility, if (Democrats) were willing to at least sit down and listen to us, that we could put a package together to solve all of these problems at once so we can get the government funded, stop this shutdown and also deal with the debt ceiling so that we don’t have another crisis a week or two away from now,” Grimm said.

Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have been equally insistent that they will not negotiate on the debt ceiling because of the economic risks posed by a default. However, the two budget deadlines overlap further with each day the government remains shut down.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew advised Congress late Tuesday that he was exhausting the last measures before the debt ceiling is hit on October 17.

Senate GOP leaders said they’d like to resolve the two issues separately, but that it may not be possible. “Well, they are getting close to each other, aren’t they? And I’d still like to resolve the current issue before we move on to the debt ceiling, but it’s not exactly clear yet when that will be resolved,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, the leader of the United States intelligence community told members of Congress on Tuesday that the government shutdown that started one day earlier is impacting the national security of the United States.

During a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act oversight hearing in Washington early yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the panel’s witnesses, “Does America remain safe even with a shutdown?”

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, responded: “I don’t feel that I can make such a guarantee to the American people.
“It would be much more difficult to make such a guarantee as each day of this shutdown goes by,” added DNI Clapper.

Moments later, Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked Clapper, “You clearly see it as a risk to security?”
“Absolutely,” responded the director. – USA Today/RT.