Prospect of another government shutdown grows in US

The prospect of a government shutdown looms large in the United States as brinksmanship threatens lawmakers’ ability to pass a budget.

Congressional conservatives have for weeks indicated that they are willing to shut down the government over any funding measure that includes money for Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization that provides women’s health services.

Congress must pass at least a temporary budget by September 30 to keep the government operating in the new fiscal year which starts on October 1.

Lawmakers, however, are increasingly unlikely to meet that deadline, forcing the government to shut down for at least a few days.

A funding measure that blocks money for Planned Parenthood would almost certainly lack the votes to pass the Senate, and would be vetoed by President Barack Obama, according to The Hill, a congressional newspaper.

Republicans in the House of Representatives, on the other hand, do not have enough votes to approve a measure that includes money for Planned Parenthood.

Conservatives blame the White House for the impasse.

“Will the president shut down and defund the troops in order to fund Planned Parenthood?” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a Republican from Kansas. “I don't think he's that politically stupid, but we shall see.”

Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican from North Carolina, expressed the same opinion. “I’ve seen too many times up here that a threat of a shutdown is why you compromise your principles, and I am sick and tired of compromising my principles,” he said.

The White House has called on Republicans in Congress to negotiate with Democrats to pass a budget and avoid a shutdown.

“If Republican leaders maintain their insistence on trying to pass a budget along party lines, then we are going to be headed for a shutdown because it’s clear to anyone who’s been paying attention for the last several months that they don’t have the votes to pass a budget,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Thursday.

“The way to avoid that is for Democrats and Republicans to do what they did two years ago, which is finally sit down and try to work in bipartisan fashion to negotiate the kind of budget agreement that neither side would think is perfect but that both sides would acknowledge are in the best interest of the United States and our economy,” he added.

Brinksmanship over Obama’s signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare, forced a government shutdown in 2013 that lasted for more than two weeks.

About 850,000 federal employees were furloughed immediately after funding ran out, according to a White House report.

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