SHUT UP THE FRAUDULENT SHUT DOWN & TAKE ALL THE CLOWNS & CIRCUSES BACK TO ROME & LET 'EM BURN

The Republican-led US House of Representatives unanimously voted to approve a bill which will see 800,000 workers furloughed during the ongoing partial government shutdown paid once the crisis ends.

The 407-0 vote in the House was a rare moment of bipartisanship within the deeply divided lower house of Congress.

The measure will now be sent to the Senate, which is controlled by the Democrats. The White House announced that President Barack Obama will sign the measure into law once it passes Congress. 

"This is not their fault and they should not suffer as a result," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said of federal workers. "This bill is the least we should do. Our hard-working public servants should not become collateral damage in the political games and ideological wars that Republicans are waging."

Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, said federal workers should not have to worry about paying their bills while the Congress and the White House battle over funding the government.

"They have child care expenses, house payments to make, kids that are in college, and while the president refuses to negotiate, while he's playing politics, they shouldn't worry about whether or not they can make ends meet," Turner said.

In the 1995-96 government shutdowns, furloughed workers were retroactively paid their salaries in full.

Republicans plan to introduce piecemeal budget votes over the weekend which would see symbolic funding granted to additional public services. If approved, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and child nutrition and development programs could be reopened.

Democrats are likely to vote down the stopgap measures, however, which they view as part and parcel of the Republican strategy to shift blame for the shutdown away from the GOP, which has been accused of holding the White House ransom over healthcare reforms.

The shutdown ensued after House Republicans failed to come to an agreement with Democrats with regards to passing the federal budget. The shutdown was sparked by the GOP’s reluctance to accept President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” which finally went into effect Tuesday morning amid the shutdown.

On Saturday, President Obama called on the House to "stop this farce" and end the US government shutdown by unconditionally approving a federal budget.

"Take that vote. Stop this farce. End this shutdown now," Obama said in his weekly radio and video address.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the partial government shutdown could weaken the United States’ global standing.

"If it were prolonged, or repeated, people would begin to question the willingness of the United States to stay the course and its ability to, but that’s not the case and I don’t think it will be the case,” Kerry told journalists at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Indonesia's Bali.

He continued that Congress should think “long and hard” about the message the US was sending to the world when “we can’t get our own act together.”
 
Kerry called on lawmakers to "end it now, end it today."
 
President Barack Obama had planned to attend the summit of Asian leaders, but canceled his travel plans to remain Washington and deal with the shutdown, which entered its fifth day on Saturday. Kerry is now heading the US delegation in the talks.

☣ Tнє Tяцтн ☠ 05.10.2013 15:41

Nice...shut down the gov cause you can't pay the workers...but still pay them?! Am I missing something?

Noah Way 05.10.2013 15:40

We all pay taxes to fund salaries, health care and retirement for civil servants whether we have those things ourselves or not.

Mike Littlefield 05.10.2013 15:37

Paid to do nothing - just like congress and the white house.

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[DIGITS, MONEY IS DIGITAL AND WE GET THE BABOON CONGRESSES TO FUND THEIR OWN DIGITS AND THE REST OF USA?  LOOK AT THE WALL STREET HOUSING FORECLOSURE FRAUD FOR OUR CUE OF WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE HEIST OF 'PARTNERS' CHINA, RUSSIA, AND OF COURSE THE IS-RA HELL-S AGENDAS SINCE 1897, WHEW AMERICANS MUST SUE IN THE ICC WHEN THE REALITY GROWS INTO TRUE 'LAW'.]