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Storm clouds hang over Capitol Hill J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Press Association Images

Government closure possible in US as politicians deadlocked over budget

Many agencies have been mandated to begin shutting their doors unless a deal can be reached by midnight on Monday.

FOLLOWING A WEEK of divisive debate, the US Senate has passed a temporary budget — sending the legislation to the House amid a congressional show-down, just days from a possible government closure.

House Speaker John Boehner has indicated that Republicans will likely alter the legislation and send it back to the Senate — a move that could leave insufficient time for an amended bill to pass both chambers of Congress before a fiscal year-end deadline of midnight Monday.

The Senate voted along strict party lines – 54 Democrats to 44 Republicans – to approve the measure, which funds government operations until 15 November 15 at the annual rate of $986 billion.

However, the legislation in its current form also strips out language that would have defunded President Barack Obama’s health care law.

That provision on so-called “Obamacare” had been the key sticking point — and the Senate’s Democratic leader Harry Reid did away with it after Obama insisted he would not sign a budget bill that defunded his signature domestic legislative achievement.

Several Republicans had supported moving forward to debate and vote on the bill given the precarious timing, but they united in opposition to it once Reid removed the provision defunding Obamacare.

The Democratic majority prevailed, with Senator Barbara Mikulski saying the bill “will lay the groundwork for us to get to a solution on the long-term fiscal needs of our country”.

But it was the short-term that was to be the all-consuming question today and through the weekend — as the House goes into session on Saturday and possibly Sunday to debate and vote on a way out of the looming fiscal crisis.

Shutdown

House Speaker John Boehner has indicated his caucus is unlikely to support passage of the Senate’s stripped down version, suggesting yesterday that Republicans will seek to insert some conservative sweeteners in the legislation and send it back to the Senate.

Such a move would push the US government perilously close to the end of the current fiscal year, 30 September.

If no funding bill is in place by Tuesday, 1 October, many government agencies are mandated to start shutting their doors.

- © AFP, 2013

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    Mute Paul Culligan
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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:38 PM

    Must send some of me with the wife. She hasn’t moved a muscle in years.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:35 PM

    Sick feckers!

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    Mute John Hayes
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    Aug 17th 2015, 10:07 PM

    Lad working with me was a supervisor in his last job. Russian lad working for him says the mother died needed to go home all above board so far. He returned two weeks later got chatting to your man. Would you like to see my mother he says ? Ah go on so show me the pictures. There they were all pictures with the dead mother in the casket giving thumbs up the works. He said he was disturbed for weeks after it. Some weird folk them Russians.

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    Mute Colin Moran
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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:43 PM

    The sooner this planet is taken over by a superior alien race who wipe out most of the population leaving only a rag-tag bunch of intelligent survivors, the better.

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    Mute Ian O'Donovan
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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:58 PM

    Is it just me or are there an increasing number of sociopaths in our society?

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    Mute Brian O'Donnell
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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:33 PM

    In Russia selfie takes you.

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    Mute Dreana O'Gorman
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    Aug 17th 2015, 10:24 PM

    The strange thing is, when photography first developed, there was a disturbing fad of people posing with dead loved ones. Still hasn’t stopped being creepy.

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    Mute Brian Kearns
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    Aug 18th 2015, 2:08 PM

    That “Fad” was family members posing one last time with the deceased. These stupid B******s pose with any dead person, Just for kicks.
    A female paramedic was sacked last year,After being found posing with the dead in the back of her Ambulance .

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    Mute Jacques_DaCosta
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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:56 PM

    How long before someone commits murder to win the ‘Selfie with Corpse’ competition?

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    Mute stephen
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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:03 PM

    I had to read that headline twice, looks like I’ll have to increase my medication or stop reading thejournal.

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    Mute Joanna
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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:16 PM

    Well that’s just creepy.

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    Mute Vinny Murphy
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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:06 PM

    From Russia with Love…

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    Mute Ronan McDermott
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    Aug 18th 2015, 7:06 AM

    That’s Russia for you. Jeez what will they have next . Weird, distasteful and bizarre whatever way you look at it

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