Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki issued a dire warning Wednesday about the impact of a prolonged budget impasse, saying millions would see their benefit checks halted if the stalemate is not resolved in the coming weeks.
Shinseki said more than 5.18 million checks worth $6.25 billion could soon be held up.
“I will not be able to pay all these beneficiaries (without a budget),” Shinseki testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
He said that if something is not done by Nov. 1, “I will not be sending checks out.”
Source: FOX News – FOX News: VA chief issues dire warning, says millions of veterans might not get payments
With a partial government shutdown now in its eighth day, President Obama took questions from reporters at the White House this afternoon.
The president’s appearance comes with no end in sight to the shutdown and the deadline looming for Congress to raise the debt ceiling or risk the first-ever U.S. government default.
Earlier Tuesday, Obama spoke briefly with House Speaker John Boehner, but no apparent progress was made in their talk. Obama underscored that he’s won’t negotiate with Republicans until after the threat of government shutdown and default have been removed, according to the White House.
Source: USA Today – USA Today: Obama says he’s open to short-term budget to end impasse
Wondering why Uranus spins backwards? Or how many moons Saturn has? Don’t ask NASA. Continue reading →
Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is. A U.S. government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling as it now threatens to do, will be an economic calamity like none the world has ever seen.
Failure by the world’s largest borrower to pay its debt — unprecedented in modern history — will devastate stock markets from Brazil to Zurich, halt a $5 trillion lending mechanism for investors who rely on Treasuries, blow up borrowing costs for billions of people and companies, ravage the dollar and throw the U.S. and world economies into a recession that probably would become a depression. Among the dozens of money managers, economists, bankers, traders and former government officials interviewed for this story, few view a U.S. default as anything but a financial apocalypse.
The $12 trillion of outstanding government debt is 23 times the $517 billion Lehman owed when it filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. As politicians butt heads over raising the debt ceiling, executives from Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Warren Buffett to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Lloyd C. Blankfein have warned that going over the edge would be catastrophic.
Source: MSN Money – MSN Money: US default seen as disaster dwarfing Lehman’s fall
The suspect in the high-speed chase between the White House and the Capitol Building was identified Friday by a law enforcement source as a dental hygienist from Connecticut with a history of mental issues.
The source identified the woman as Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn. Carey tried to plow her car into a barricade at the White House, then led cops on a high-speed chase before being shot dead near the Capitol, according to reports.
Other reports suggest that she had a history of mental health issues.
Carey’s apartment in Stamford was swarmed by the FBI and various law-enforcement agencies Thursday evening, with helicopters circling and a bomb squad ready, as they awaited a warrant to search the premises.
Source: FOX News – FOX News: Connecticut woman killed after Capitol Hill chase reportedly had mental health issues
A woman suspected of being involved in a car chase across central Washington was shot and killed by police outside the U.S. Capitol building on Thursday, a U.S. official said.
The incident, which sparked a lockdown of Congress, began when the woman tried to ram through security barricades outside the White House.
The official said a Capitol policeman was injured when the car driven by the suspect crashed outside the Capitol.
Source: Reuters – Reuters: Female suspect in U.S. Capitol shooting killed by police -U.S. Official
A law enforcement source says a young child was found in the car of a woman who tried to ram a security barrier near the White House before she was shot on Thursday afternoon, CBS affiliate WUSA reports.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine told reporters the woman was in “very, very bad shape.”
“We have no information that this was related to terrorism or that this was anything other than an isolated incident,” said Dine.
Dine said one police officer was “struck in his squad car” and “appears to be conscious and breathing.”
Source: CBS News – CBS News: U.S. Capitol Shooting: Child found in car of woman who tried to ram barrier near White House, report says
The lockdown has been lifted at U.S. Capitol following reports of shots fired outside the building.
The lockdown was put in place around 2:20 p.m. and was lifted just before 3 p.m. Thursday.
CBS News’ Bob Orr reported the incident began at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue after a car apparently tried to ram gate at the White House. The driver then fled toward Capitol, Orr reported.
The female driver of the vehicle was shot and wounded, Orr reported.
Source: CBS New York – CBS New York: Lockdown Lifted At U.S. Capitol Following Report Of Shots Fired
An attempt to ram the White House gates ended with shots fired, U.S. senators put under lockdown in the Capitol, and a female suspect dead, sources told ABC News.
A police officer was also reported shot, sources said.
Secret Service pursued a suspect from the White House to the Capitol. One agent in a marked Secret Service vehichle was injured when the car in which he was chasing the suspect was upended by an electronic barricade by the Capitol as it rose out of the ground.
Lawmakers reported hearing three pops that sounded like gunfire.
“We heard pops that sounded like shots,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
Source: ABC News – ABC News: Attempt to Ram White House Gate Ends With Female Suspect Dead
The U.S. Capitol building is on lockdown following reports of shots fired nearby.
WNEW’s Kevin Rincon reports that Capitol police rushed the building and a bomb squad is present. Fire trucks are blocking Constitution Avenue and 1st Street and the area is swamped with police cruisers.
There are unconfirmed reports that one police officer has been injured, according to the Associated Press.
People standing outside the Supreme Court across the street from Congress were hurried into the court building by authorities.
Source: CBS DC – CBS DC: Capitol On Lockdown After Shots Fired