Shutdown orders issued as Congress misses deadline; 800,000 face furloughs

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown early Tuesday morning after congressional Republicans stubbornly demanded changes in the nation's health care law as the price for essential federal funding and President Barack Obama and Democrats adamantly refused.

• FAQ: How the shutdown may affect Minnesota
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• Minnesota's congressional delegation reacts

As Congress gridlocked, Obama said a "shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away," with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed and veterans' centers, national parks, most of the space agency and other government operations shuttered.

He laid the blame at the feet of House Republicans, whom he accused of seeking to tie government funding to ideological demands, "all to save face after making some impossible promises to the extreme right wing of their party."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, responded a short while later on the House floor. "The American people don't want a shutdown and neither do I," he said. Yet, he added, the new health care law "is having a devastating impact. ... Something has to be done."

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MINNESOTA DELEGATION REACTS

As the drama of the gridlock unfolded last night, reaction among members of Minnesota's congressional delegation split along party lines.

"This is no way to legislate," said DFL Sen. Al Franken. "To run this place by crisis is ridiculous."

"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there's a law there that you don't like."

In the House, DFL Rep. Keith Ellison said Republicans keep moving the goal posts.

"Our Republican colleagues say, 'Well, we'll pay for the government if you accede to these three or four demands.' It seems like every day they come up with some new demands. They don't ever arrive at funding the government," Ellison said.

"These amendments are intended for the sole purpose of shutting down the government, they're not going anywhere. Everybody knows it," said DFL Rep. Rick Nolan.

On the Republican side, Rep. Michele Bachmann predicted the health care law would harm the economy.

"If we do not delay or defund Obamacare for the next year, then the signal is going to go out to the job providers across the United States that this is here to stay and we're going to see massive job loss," she said.

"[Obama] himself has delayed major parts of this law," said GOP Rep. John Kline. "It is clear that the individual mandate is also not ready to go, they don't have the means to enforce it, and so it makes sense to take that threat off the table, it doesn't defund Obamacare."

The stock market dropped on Monday on fears that political deadlock between the White House and a tea party-heavy Republican Party would prevail, though analysts suggested significant damage to the national economy was unlikely unless a shutdown lasted more than a few days.

800,000 FEDERAL WORKERS FACE FURLOUGHS

A few minutes before midnight, Budget Director Sylvia Burwell issued a directive to federal agencies to "execute plans for an orderly shutdown." While an estimated 800,000 federal workers faced furloughs, some critical parts of the government -- from the military to air traffic controllers -- would remain open.

Among the immediate casualties was tourism at the Capitol. The visitor center announced it would be closed "due to a lapse in government funding," and all tours of Congress suspended.

The interruption in federal funding sent divided government into territory unexplored in nearly two decades. Then, Republicans suffered significant political damage and President Bill Clinton benefitted from twin shutdowns. Now, some Republicans said they feared a similar outcome.

If nothing else, some Republicans also conceded it was impossible to use funding legislation to squeeze concessions from the White House on health care. "We can't win," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

"We're on the brink," Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said shortly after midday as the two houses maneuvered for political advantage and the Obama administration's budget office prepared for a partial shutdown, the first since the winter of 1995-96.

On a long day and night in the Capitol, the Senate torpedoed one GOP attempt to tie government financing to changes in "Obamacare." House Republicans countered with a second despite unmistakable signs their unity was fraying -- and Senate Democrats promptly rejected it, as well.

With Republicans defiant, the House voted 228-199 to re-pass their earlier measure and simultaneously request negotiations with the Senate on a compromise. Boehner later sidestepped when asked if he would permit a vote on a standalone spending bill that would allow the government to reopen.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate would reject the House move in the morning. "That closes government. They want to close government," he said of House Republicans.

As lawmakers squabbled, Obama spoke bluntly about House Republicans. "You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there's a law there that you don't like," he said. Speaking of the health care law that undergoes a major expansion Tuesday, he said emphatically: "That funding is already in place. You can't shut it down."

Some Republicans balked, moderates and conservatives alike.

"This is a matter of funding the government and providing fairness to the American people."

Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia said it felt as if Republicans were retreating, given their diminishing demands, and Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia said there was not unanimity when the rank and file met to discuss a next move.

Yet for the first time since the showdown began more than a week ago, there was also public dissent from the Republican strategy that has been carried out at the insistence of lawmakers working in tandem with GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Rep. Charles Dent, R-Pa., said he was willing to vote for stand-alone legislation that would keep the government running and contained no health care-related provisions. "I would be supportive of it, and I believe the votes are there in the House to pass it at that point," the fifth-term congressman said.

Other Republicans sought to blame Democrats for any shutdown, but Dent conceded that Republicans would bear the blame, whether or not they deserved it.

Hours before the possible shutdown, the Senate voted 54-46 to reject the House-passed measure that would have kept the government open but would have delayed implementation of the health care law for a year and permanently repealed a medical device tax that helps finance it.

In response, House Republicans sought different concessions in exchange for allowing the government to remain open. They called for a one-year delay in a requirement in the health care law for individuals to purchase coverage. The same measure also would require members of Congress and their aides as well as the president, the vice president and the administration's political appointees to bear the full cost of their own coverage by barring the government from making the customary employer contribution.

"This is a matter of funding the government and providing fairness to the American people," said Boehner. "Why wouldn't members of Congress vote for it?"

The vote was 228-201, with a dozen Republicans opposed and nine Democrats in favor.

Unimpressed, Senate Democrats swatted it on a 54-46 party line vote about an hour later.

Obama followed up his public remarks with phone calls to Boehner and the three other top leaders of Congress, telling Republicans he would continue to oppose attempts to delay or cut federal financing of the health care law.

The impact of a shutdown would be felt unevenly.

Many low- to moderate-income borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays, and Obama said veterans' centers would be closed.

About 800,000 federal workers, many already reeling from the effect of automatic budget cuts, would be ordered to report to work Tuesday for about four hours -- but only to carry out shutdown-related chores such as changing office voicemail messages and completing time cards.

Some critical services such as patrolling the borders and inspecting meat would continue. Social Security benefits would be sent, and the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and poor would continue to pay doctors and hospitals.

U.S. troops were shielded from any damage to their wallets when Obama signed legislation assuring the military would be paid in the in the event of a shutdown.

That had no impact on those who labor at other agencies.

"I know some other employees, if you don't have money saved, it's going to be difficult," said Thelma Manley, who has spent seven years as a staff assistant with the Internal Revenue Service during a 30-year career in government.

As for herself, she said, "I'm a Christian, I trust in God wholeheartedly and my needs will be met." She added, "I do have savings, so I can go to the reserve, so to speak."

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Laurie Kellman, Pauline Jelinek; Henry Jackson, Donna Cassata and Stacy A. Anderson in Washington and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

MPR reporter Brett Neely in Washington contributed to this report.

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