The shutdown of the U.S. government appeared likely to drag on for another week and possibly longer as lawmakers consumed day three of the shutdown with a stalling game and there was no end in sight until the next crisis hits Washington around October 17.
Bowing to the reality that the impasse requires him to remain in Washington, President Barack
Obama cancelled plans to attend summits in Indonesia and Brunei next week. Earlier this week, he cancelled visits to Malaysia and the Philippines because of the shutdown.
October 17 is the date Congress must raise the nation's borrowing authority or risk default, and members of Congress now expect it to be the flashpoint for a larger clash over the U.S. budget as well as President Barack Obama's healthcare law.
The situation gives "every appearance of getting dangerously close to the conversation on the debt ceiling," said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader of the House of Representatives.
In fact, she said, "We're in the conversation on the debt ceiling."
At the same time, hopes that the debt ceiling fight could be resolved without a catastrophe were raised by reports in The New York Times and Washington Post that House Speaker John Boehner told other lawmakers he would work to avoid default, even if it meant relying on the votes of Democrats, as he did in August 2011.
Source: Reuters
