Government Shutdown, Government | featured news

The House is taking its first step Wednesday to avoid a government shutdown, as Washington looks to forgo forcing a fiscal crisis this month and instead turns its attention to a more deliberate debate over long-term deficit reduction.

Workers walk off the job with anger over country's financial crisis.

The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly defeated a bill that would fund the federal government past September 30 on Wednesday as dozens of Republicans broke with their party to push for deeper spending cuts.

A federal shutdown looming Friday would stop processing of paper income tax filings to the IRS – at the height of tax season – and throw into question how cargo will be processed at the nation’s ports of entry and whether new claims for Social Security benefits will be authorized.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said that he was “very concerned” about the status of negotiations on keeping the federal government funded past an April 8 deadline, saying that prospects for a government shutdown have increased since two weeks ago.

The House passed the second stopgap spending measure this month, funding the government for three more weeks while cutting $6 billion.

Social Security checks would still go out. Troops would remain at their posts. Furloughed federal workers probably would get paid, though not until later. And virtually every essential government agency, like the FBI ...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to let California government come to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep the state afloat if he and the Legislature do not close the yawning budget gap in coming weeks.