Shutdown Begins: The first government shutdown in nearly two decades began at midnight after last-minute moves in Congress failed to break a bitter budget standoff over President Obama’s health care law. Sen. Bernie Sanders called the House attempt to undo Obamacare by closing the government “a precedent for blackmail that we cannot allow,” Vermont Public Radio reported. During an eleventh-hour interview on MSNBC, Sanders said Americans are “profoundly disgusted” because “a handful of right-wing extremists are trying to annul, do away with, the election results of a year ago. They haven’t quite caught on that Obama won.”
Devastating Impact: Sen. Sanders said the government closure could be “devastating” to Vermont and America. He said passport offices like one in St. Albans could close. People applying for federally-backed mortgages will face delays. Programs to help small businesses and Head Start might eventually shut down, WVNY-TV and WFFF-TV reported. “People who are to be applying for Social Security … Medicare …veterans’ benefits are going to have that process significantly slowed down,” Sanders added on WPTZ-TV.
Sanders: Shield Veterans: Sen. Sanders, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, introduced legislation Monday evening that would continue Department of Veterans Affairs funding for benefits and pensions even in the event of a protracted shutdown, The Washington Post and Military Times reported. Veterans also could experience significant delays when applying for new disability, education, pay and pension benefits, Sanders said in the Valley News.
Health Insurance Markets Open: Millions of Americans on Tuesday will begin shopping on the insurance marketplaces at the heart of President Obama's health care reforms. Sen. Sanders supported the Affordable Care Act but said the long-term solution to America's health care crisis is a single-payer national health care program. “The good news is that, in fact, a large scale single-payer system already exists in the United States and its enrollees love it. It is called Medicare … [and it] should be expanded to cover all Americans,” Sanders wrote in a column on The Huffington Post.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/100113
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