On air 1700GMT: Countdown to a US government shutdown?
| 16:00 UK time, Friday, 8 April 2011
Unless something dramatic happens in the coming hours, the US government is expected to shut down at midnight tonight due to vastly different opinions on what should and what should not be in the federal budget.
The New York Times says it's not about spending it's about Rich Lowry from National Review Online , he says it's about healthcare.
Whatever you believe is stalling decisions on the budget, your opinions on the supposed reasons and of coursehave got you talking. If you want to follow latest developments the twitter hashtag is #govtshutdown
Here's just a smattering of what you are saying:
Kathryn_McGee‎ tweets possible #GovtShutdown is ridiculous!!!! My husband is in the military and serves this country, and we may not get paid! #unacceptable
richdom‎ tweets Is there any reason we can't just stop paying congressmen and defund their health insurance till the govt is working again?
tai_fung‎ tweets Who knew that the Republicans would be obtuse and intractable over abortion, to the detriment of the country? Oh, everyone.
dsantosjr tweets ‎ Chance of #govtshutdown: 0%. Look for a $39B spending cut package with no abortion language.
Conservativeind‎ tweets Democrats always say federal funds DON'T pay for abortion so what's the problem?
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Mark Mardell wrote this after speaking to people at a
Their view on a potential shutdown this weekend might be summed up as "bring it on!" They were chanting: "Shut it down!" Several made the point that if non-essential parts of the government shut down, they'd be quite happy. If it's not essential, the view is, then the government shouldn't be doing it anyway.
What does President Obama have to say about it? Well you can watch him here, maybe the headline says it all: Barack Obama 'unable to express wild optimism'.
We hope you'll express yourself, below.
