Barack Obama slams Republicans for threat to 'blow up entire economy'
President Barack Obama on Friday issued a stark warning over the consequences of the continued stalemate in Congress over funding the federal government, saying US troops face disruption to their pay in the event of a shutdown and castigating his opponents for threatening to "blow up the entire economy".
The president took to the podium for the second time in as many days, to issue his most withering attack yet on House Republicans who will spend this weekend deciding whether to attach new demands to stalled federal spending authorisation.
Obama said he was willing to negotiate over government spending, but would not give in to a laundry list of other demands from Republicans who want to repeal his signature healthcare law and advance other "pet projects" they have otherwise failed to pass. "We're not going to do this under the threat of blowing up the entire economy," Obama said.
The president warned of drastic economic consequences if the shutdown was forced through. "It would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction," the president said, claiming that even the threat of a shutdown was already "probably having a dampening effect on our economy".
In fact, economists believe that a shutdown will have less impact on the economy than the looming fight over the debt ceiling. The row over raising the government's $16.7tn borrowing limit is much more serious than tussles over the federal government's spending authority.
The treasury secretary, Jack Lew, warned Congress this week that unless it approves an increase in the borrowing limit imminently, the US government will be unable to meet its bills by 17 October.
(continued, riots in major population centres and then martial law?
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