A press release from Senator Claire McCaskill (D):

McCaskill Blasts U.S. House for Shutting Down Government

Jobs and businesses now being impacted after U.S. House leadership refuses to allow up-or-down vote on ‘clean’ funding bill

October 1, 2013

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill tonight released the following statement as the federal government heads into a shutdown, after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to allow an up-or-down vote on a clean government funding bill, and instead voted to dismantle the Affordable Care Act of 2010:

“It is completely unacceptable that U.S. House Republicans are willing to shut down the government. This will upset our economic recovery and cause thousands of Missourians real pain. They know that the President will not back up on his work to provide affordable and accessible health care. They know that the Senate will not overturn these reforms. A decision was made at the ballot box last November, and supporters of the Affordable Care Act were returned to office by the American people. We can negotiate federal spending and the budget. We should not negotiate on keeping our government functioning and paying our bills. It is time for Speaker Boehner to allow the House to vote on a clean government funding bill without the unrealistic and irresponsible political posturing.”

A federal government shutdown will effect jobs and businesses across the country. Consequences will include: delayed benefits for our veterans; furloughs for 39,000 federal employees in Missouri; delays in vital loans for small businesses, and in Social Security checks for seniors enrolling in the program for the first time.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 is already working to slow the rise in cost of health care, and protect Missourians from the worst abuses of the insurance industry-banning discrimination based on a patient’s pre-existing condition, barring insurance companies from dropping coverage for a person who becomes sick, allowing young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance plan until their 26th birthday, providing small businesses with tax credits to insure their employees, and requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of their revenue on medical care rather than marketing, administration, and profits. Health insurance marketplaces-known as exchanges-will open this week (regardless of a federal government shutdown) and begin providing previously uninsured Americans access to affordable health plans.

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[emphasis in original]

Next, on the Faux News Channel, Democratic Party intransigence on the budget showdown forces Santa to cancel Christmas.