US Faces Threat Of Government Shutdown

The US is just three days from a federal government shutdown unless Republicans and Democrats can agree a budget deal.

Nearly a million government employees will be forced off work without pay, and museums and national parks will close unless a deal can be struck.

The spending bill has been approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate, but Republican leaders - who hold a majority in the House of Representatives - have said they will not accept it.

If the two sides fail to reach an agreement by midnight on October 1 the federal government will shut down.

Senator Ted Cruz's children watch him during his filibuster

The Republicans have convened the House of Representatives this weekend in an attempt to try to find a way through the stand-off.

Republicans are attempting to use the budget bill to derail Barack Obama's Affordable Health Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Headed by the conservative Republican Tea Party members, they say that unless the Democrats remove the provision to fund Obamacare they will not sign off.

Some White House staff may be told to take leave without pay

Texas Senator and Tea Party favourite Ted Cruz, who staged an unsuccessful filibuster this week, said: "I am confident the House of Representatives will continue to stand its ground, continue to listen to the American people and ... stop this train wreck, this nightmare that is Obamacare."

The row between the Democrats and Republicans over government funding has been rumbling on since 2010.

Since then there have been negotiations between the parties that have led to short-term stop-gap funding bills rather than longer term budgets.

The last time the federal government shut down was under the Clinton administration in 1995, when services ground to a halt for 28 days.

It nearly happened again in April 2011.

Obamacare has been a divisive measure among Americans

If the shutdown does go ahead then a third of the government's 2.1 million employees will be kept off work - possibly without back pay.

National parks and the capital's Smithsonian museums will be closed, pension and benefits cheques will be stopped and passport applications will not be processed.

While 1.4 million troops would stay at work, they would not get paid.

The Pentagon's top financial officer Robert Hale has said that high-priority missions such as Afghanistan would not be affected.

However, he said that roughly half the Defense Department's civilian work force would be place on unpaid leave.

Obama has told Republicans not to 'burn the house down'

Training and a range of maintenance work would be cancelled.

Government agencies have compiled a list of essential workers, and critical services such as air traffic control would continue.

On Friday, the House of Representatives refused to pass a Senate stopgap bill unless Democrats in the Senate agreed to strip it of Obamacare funding.

The Affordable Healthcare Act was passed into law in 2010 and has since been upheld by the Supreme Court.

It is a measure that has caused particular ire among Republicans and they have continually attempted to reverse it.

Mr Obama said Republicans should not threaten to "burn the house down because you haven't gotten 100% of your way".

He said "No one gets to hurt our economy ... just because there are a couple of laws [they] don't like."

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