President Barack Obama warned Monday that a government shutdown could throw a "wrench" into the recovery of the U.S. economy, and said that it's up to Congress to prevent a shutdown from starting at midnight.
"It does not have to happen," he said in a late afternoon statement in the White House briefing room. "All of this is entirely preventable if the House chooses to do what the Senate has already done, and that's the simple act of funding our government without making extraneous and controversial demands in the process."
Obama called out members of the tea party among House Republicans.
"One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of the election," he said.
"You don't get to exact a ransom just for doing your job," he added.
politico.com
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