At a time when foreign investors are already losing confidence in America’s political willingness to address its public debt problem, the last thing that the US economy needs is a protracted government shutdown. Such a shutdown would underline Washington’s political polarization and it would heighten economic uncertainty. Yet, such a protracted shutdown could very well occur. Indeed, Republicans and Democrats currently remain far apart on what should be done to get a stopgap funding bill approved that would allow the government to reopen anytime soon.
“Congress could not agree on a new budget or on a bill to keep the government open when the old budget expired at the end of September”
Beginning at midnight on October 1, the US government was shut down for want of funding. The reason for the shutdown was that Congress could not agree on a new budget or on a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open when the…
