Updated Mon., Sept 30, 5:30 p.m. EDT: President Obama once again took the stage Monday afternoon, calling on Congress, particularly House Republicans, to come to a resolution before time runs out on the federal budget.
"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," Obama said at a White House press conference, slamming House Republicans. "We've worked too hard for too long to recover from previous crises, just to have folks here in Washington manufacture yet another one that they have to dig themselves out of."
The president reiterated some of his Friday speech, calling out Congress on its two responsibilities: to pass the budget and pay America's bills on time. However, this time he spent much of his speech clearly outlining the effects of a government shutdown and the people who will be affected by it, while making it obvious that he thinks the House is the cause of the current deadlock.
"All of this is entirely preventable if the House chooses to do what the Senate has already done, and that's the simple act of funding our government without making extraneous and controversial demands in the process," he said. "A shutdown will have a very real economical impact on real people right away.
"Congress needs to keep our government open, needs to pay our bills on time and never, ever threaten the full faith and credit of the United States of America," the president continued. "Time's running out. My hope and expectation is that in the 11th hour once again that Congress will choose to do the right thing and that the House of Representatives in particular will choose to do the right thing."
Updated Mon., Sept. 30, 2:30 p.m. EDT: The Senate predictably rejected, 54-46, the House bill presented over the weekend, indicating a clear ideological divide. This puts the House back in the spotlight as it is left with the choice either to reject the Senate bill and reinstate measures to delay or defund Obamacare or to actually pass the Senate's bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with other Republicans of the chamber, has been considering quickly passing a one-week continuing resolution just to keep the government funded while the back-and-forth amendments continue.
"Despite the Democrats' refusal to work with the House to solve the problem, Republicans are working to protect the troops, prevent a shutdown and find solutions to the difficulties caused by Senate Democrats' delays," said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, according to the Washington Post.
Despite the federal budget deadline drawing closer and closer, President Barack Obama remains optimistic, saying that he is not "at all resigned" to a shutdown, while backing the Senate's short-term bill that leaves the Affordable Care Act intact. He also said he was "eager" to talk about a more long-term spending plan once the current battle was (temporarily) resolved. "The only way we can do that is for everybody to sit down in good faith and without threatening to harm the public," Obama said, according to the Post. "There can be no meaningful negotiations under a cloud of default."
Earlier:
(The Root) — The House and the Senate are no closer to compromise over the federal budget, with just a few hours left until the current funding runs out.
The ball is now in the Senate's court, with the upper chamber expected to convene Monday afternoon to vote on the House bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already said he will reject. Even if the House bill somehow makes it through, Obama has made it clear he will veto it.
The House bill, which passed just after midnight on Sunday, requires a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare as a condition for funding the budget. House Republicans also demanded the repeal of the 2.3 percent tax on medical-device makers, and a guarantee that active-duty military service members get paid on time, even if there is a shutdown.
The Senate will most likely make quick work of the House's amendments. Reid is expected to table the bill, which requires only a majority vote, meaning that the Democrat-led Senate would not need any Republican help to reject the measures it does not like.
The Senate-amended bill will then be handed back to the House, which by then will be backed into a corner with the shutdown clock ticking ever closer.
If the Senate and the House are unable to come to a resolution, the government will partially shut down starting midnight, Oct. 1. The aftermath will cause 368 National Park Service sites to be closed; military servicemen and servicewomen will not be paid on time; the Bureau of of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be affected; and in Washington, D.C., trash will not be collected, just to name a few services affected.
Postal services, however, will remain intact — as will Social Security payments, most likely.
Breanna Edwards is a newswriter at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.