US Shutdown Talks End With No Progress

President Barack Obama has held talks with congressional leaders over the partial US government shutdown, but there was no breakthrough and both sides blamed each other.

The hour-long meeting at the White House came on the second day of a shutdown that has halted federal services and left many government workers at home without pay.

Mr Obama stood firm on his demand that Republicans agree to reopen the government and raise the debt limit.

"The president remains hopeful that common sense will prevail," a White House statement said.

Funding for much of the government was cut off on Tuesday after a Republican effort to halt the healthcare law dubbed Obamacare stalled the spending bill.

The shutdown has closed parks and attractions such as Alcatraz Island

House Speaker John Boehner described the White House talks as polite, but he said no progress had been made.

"All we're asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare," he said.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the president and Democrats in Congress will not accept changes in the health care law in order to pass spending legislation needed to reopen the government.

"We're locked in tight on Obamacare," he said.

Public anger has mounted as the shutdown closed some of America's most popular tourist attractions and forced 800,000 employees - nearly a third of the federal workforce - to stay at home.

Some 800,000 federal employees are unable to do their jobs

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress the shutdown was damaging the ability to guard against threats.

With no solution in sight, it was not clear how long the shutdown might last.

And an even a bigger showdown looms over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

A historic default on the national debt would occur if Congress does not agree to raise the $16.7trn debt ceiling by an October 17 deadline.

In an interview with CNBC before the meeting, an "exasperated" Mr Obama said he would not negotiate with Republicans until the government is reopened and Congress votes to raise the debt limit.

The shutdown could go on for another two weeks

He said: "If we get in the habit where a few folks, an extremist wing of one party, whether it's Democrat or Republican, are allowed to extort concessions based on a threat (to) undermine the full faith and credit of the United States, then any president who comes after me, not just me, will find themselves unable to govern effectively."

Mr Obama, who met with bank chiefs on Wednesday, said Wall Street should be worried about the debt ceiling.

"I think this time's different. I think they should be concerned," he said.

"When you have a situation in which a faction is willing potentially to default on US government obligations, then we are in trouble."

A short-term shutdown would slow US economic growth by about 0.2%, Goldman Sachs has estimated.

A weeks-long disruption could weigh more heavily - 0.4% - as furloughed workers scale back personal spending.

Mr Obama has scrapped stops in Malaysia and the Philippines as part of a planned trip to Asia as the shutdown heads into a third day.

Since the last shutdown in 1996, Congress had passed more than 100 temporary funding bills, almost all of them without controversy.

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