US Government Shutdown: 82% of Democrats Say End Shutdown; 71% of GOP Say Keep It Going

Just over half of US voters think the partial government shutdown will have a negative impact on them personally and want Congress to end the shutdown by authorizing spending for the health care law at existing levels. But most Republicans still would rather continue the shutdown until spending for the law is cut.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 13% of Likely U.S. Voters say the shutdown has had a major impact on their personal lives so far. Another 38% say they have felt a minor impact from the shutdown. Forty-seven percent (47%) say it has had no impact at all on them. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Looking ahead, 52% predict that the shutdown will have at least a somewhat negative impact on their lives, including 14% who say it will have a Very Negative one. Only 11% think the shutdown will have a positive impact on them, with three percent (3%) who say Very Positive. One-in-three voters (33%) expects the shutdown to have no personal impact.

Read more: 82% of Democrats Say End Shutdown; 71% of GOP Say Keep It Going - Rasmussen Reports™

USA: Government Shutdown - Obama Press Conference On Debt Ceiling, Government Shutdown - by Brett LoGiurato

President Barack Obama seemed to open the door Tuesday to a short-term fix to the couple of budget battles running their way through Congress.

During a press conference with reporters, Obama signaled that he would be open to a deal that would reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling while allowing for negotiations between the two parties.

"If they want to do that, reopen the government, extend the debt ceiling," Obama said. "If they can't do it for a long time, do it for the period of time in which these negotiations are taking place. 

"Why is it that we've got hundreds and thousands of people who aren't working right now in order for what you just described to occur? It doesn't make any sense."

But while he said that he was prepared to sit down and negotiate with Republicans on anything — as long as they agree to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling first, he insisted, "We can't make extortion routine as part of our democracy.

"Democracy doesn't function this way. And this is not just for me; it's also for my successors in office. Whatever party they're from, they shouldn't have to pay a ransom either for Congress doing its basic job. We've got to put a stop to it."

Obama breathlessly tried to explain why there were no tricks, no workarounds, and no getting around Congress raising the debt ceiling. He said that there are no "silver bullets." There's no "magic wand." And options frequently discussed as alternatives — such as the 14th Amendment and minting a high-value platinum coin — also wouldn't work.

"I say, imagine, in your private life, if you decided that I'm not going to pay my mortgage for a month or two. First of all, you're not saving money by not paying your mortgage. You're just a deadbeat. And you can anticipate that will hurt your credit, which means that in addition to the debt collectors calling, you're going to have trouble borrowing in the future," Obama said.

"And if you are able to borrow in the future, you're going to have to borrow at a higher rate. Well, what's true for individuals is also true for nations."

Read more: Obama Press Conference On Debt Ceiling, Government Shutdown - Business Insider

US Government Shutdown Hits Free Trade Pact Talks With EU - by Sreeja VN

Negotiations for a major free-trade agreement between the European Union and the U.S. have been postponed after Washington expressed its inability to continue them because of the partial government shutdown. Officials from EU member-states and the U.S. were scheduled to meet in Brussels next week to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which upon its successful conclusion would be the world’s largest free-trade pact.

However, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman informed EU officials Friday that the federal government shutdown has made it impossible to send a negotiating team to Brussels as scheduled, BBC News reported. Froman said deal talks can continue after the shutdown ends, albeit with an alternate schedule.

The partial government shutdown that began Tuesday has led to a severe staff crunch, as more than 800,000 government employees are temporarily out of work and out of pay. The government was forced to call a halt to all so-called nonessential operations after Congress failed to OK federal spending on either short-term or long-term bases.

Reacting to the U.S. announcement about the negotiations, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement that the delay was unfortunate, but the talks would continue once the deadlock ended. “But let me underline that it in no way distracts us from our overall aim of achieving an ambitious trade and investment deal,” he said.

Read more: US Government Shutdown Hits Free Trade Pact Talks With EU

USA Shutdown: GOP Establishment Grapples With A Tea Party That Won't Budge - by Don Gonyea

The old line in Washington is that the "establishment" controls everything. But the fights that have resulted in the government shutdown have turned that cliche upside down.

This time, it's the Tea Party and its allies in Congress calling the shots. The "establishment" — on Capitol Hill and in the business community — has so far been on the outs.

You can hear the frustration in the voice of 11-term Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., as he runs a gantlet of reporters at the Capitol. "I'm just more concerned about there not being a clean CR," he says amid the hubbub.

The "clean CR" he's referring to would be a continuing resolution to fund the government that isn't attached to defunding or delaying the Affordable Care Act.

That's a basic establishment kind of approach — and it might actually win a majority of both parties in the House if it were to actually come up for a vote.

Read more:P GOP Establishment Grapples With A Tea Party That Won't Budge : It's All Politics : NPR

France: Tourists angered by shutdown of U.S. D-Day cemetery in France - by Lucien Libert and Nicholas Vinocur

American tourists visiting a D-Day cemetery in Normandy, northern France, expressed anger upon discovering that the white-cross memorial they had travelled thousands of miles to see was closed due to a U.S. government shutdown.

Thousands of Americans flock to Normandy each year to see the beaches and sharp cliff-faces where Allied soldiers made their first entry into Nazi-occupied France during a massive invasion on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day.

A year from the invasion's 70th anniversary, many came especially to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, known for its pristine rows of white crosses, only to discover that its gates were chained shut.
"Due to the U.S. Government shut-down this site is closed to the public," read a sign on the gate. Dozens of roses had been strewn underneath by visitors.

A political standoff in Washington between Republicans and Democrats over the U.S. budget has shut down non-essential government services, including the American Battle Monuments Commission (AMBC) that manages dozens of cemeteries for U.S. servicemen in foreign countries.

The AMBC's website said its cemeteries and memorials commemorating some 125,000 American war dead abroad were closed temporarily due to a funding gap linked to the shutdown.

Read more: Tourists angered by shutdown of U.S. D-Day cemetery in France  - NBC News.com

U.S. government shutdown: Security services stretched thin says James Clapper - by Evan Vucci

U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that the government shutdown is seriously damaging the intelligence community's ability to guard against threats. They said they're keeping counterterrorism staff at work as well as those providing intelligence to troops in Afghanistan, but that the danger would increase daily with fewer spies to track targets.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told Congress Wednesday that roughly 70 per cent of the civilian workforce — including staff from the CIA, National Security Agency and Defence Intelligence Agency — have been furloughed.

The shutdown showed no sign of ending Wednesday evening as Republicans and Democrats remained deadlocked after meeting at the White House.

On Wednesday, Obama hosted 14 chief executives from the nation's biggest financial firms for more than an hour of meetings. Moreover, the Chamber of Commerce, a business advocacy group, has sent a letter to Congress signed by about 250 business groups urging no shutdown and warning that a debt ceiling crisis could lead to an economic disaster.

They say that the policy disputes over health care and spending that are separating Democrats and Republicans should be debated later.

Read more: U.S. government shutdown: Security services stretched thin - World - CBC News