Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Please don't shut down the government, President Obama warned Congress on Friday, saying that letting budget negotiations lapse would be “the height of irresponsibility.” The comments, which came at a sensitive point in the two parties’ contentious negotiations over the federal budget, set the president up to blame Republicans if the lights go out. "We know that a compromise is within reach,” Obama said at a factory in Maryland. “And we also know that if these budget negotiations break down, it could shut down the government and jeopardize our economic recovery.” Neither party is eager to let the shutdown happen, and they are rumored to have privately agreed on $33 billion in cuts. That’s a win for Republicans—President Obama’s original budget would have raised spending by $41 billion—but Tea Party hardliners in the GOP are pushing for even deeper cuts.