WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama accused the Republicans for triggering the first government shutdown in 17 years, and warned that it could have disastrous consequences for the sluggish economic recovery.
In an address from the White House Rose Garden, Obama said conservatives in the House of Representatives were waging an ideological crusade by making government funding conditional on gutting his landmark health care law.
Obama said the Republicans also shutdown the government in 1996, which hurt the national economy, adding that unlike 1996, the US economy is still recovering from the worst recession in generations.
The US government partial shutdown erupted Monday midnight after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to come to an agreement with the Democrat-led Senate with regards to passing the federal budget.
At the core of the issue was the Republicans’ reluctance to accept Obama’s Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which finally went into effect on Tuesday morning.
