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
The United States Capitol was placed on lockdown Thursday afternoon following reports of shots fired in the vicinity of the chamber. At least one Capitol Police officer was injured.
The FBI was responding to the unconfirmed reports of shots, and a helicopter landed in front of the Capitol. A message from the Capitol Police ordered anyone in a House office to “shelter in place.”
“Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows,” the message said.
The House recessed, and the Senate went into a quorum call — dispensing momentarily with its official business — shortly thereafter.
Source: NBC News – NBC News: U.S. Capitol placed on lockdown
The last time there was a partial shutdown of the federal government, there was a Democrat in the White House and Republicans controlled the House of Representatives. That’s where the similarities end.
As the government shutdown enters its third day, Democrats and Republicans seem no closer to bridging their differences than they were when the shutdown began early Tuesday morning. It’s difficult to say when the standoff will end. The two shutdowns that occurred in 1995 and 1996 lasted a total of 27 days. And back then, the conditions for getting to a deal were much better.
Republicans won the House and Senate in the 1994 midterm elections – the first time the party had a House majority in 40 years. That set up a showdown between House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had run on a conservative platform, and then-President Bill Clinton. That dispute came in 1995, when Gingrich wanted to balance the budget in a short time frame and Clinton wanted money spent on Democratic priorities. After two separate shutdowns and several weeks, the pressure was too high on Republicans and they cut a deal with Clinton: he would get his priorities, but would have to balance the budget for 10 years.
Source: CBS News – CBS News: Why is it so difficult to end the government shutdown?
President Obama and leaders of both houses of Congress left a 90-minute meeting at the White House this evening no more closer to ending a government shutdown.
Neither side gave any indication that the talks, however cordial, moved them toward a compromise.
“They will not negotiate,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters after leaving the West Wing. “We had a nice conversation, a light conversation, but at some point we’ve got to allow the process the Congress gave us to work out.”
Boehner insists that Democrats in the Senate send negotiators to a conference with House Republicans to work out the differences between the two sides on the budget.
Source: ABC News – ABC News: No Shutdown Deal in Sight After White House Meeting
The U.S. government shutdown had an impact on world markets causing concerns the country’s fragile economic condition could be severely impacted by a prolonged closure.
Stock markets in Britain, Germany and France all fell in Wednesday’s trading. U.S. markets fell as well with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.6% and the S&P 500 falling 0.8%.
Investors are paying lip service to the U.S. shutdown but have expressed more serious concerns the shutdown will result in a delay of raising the U.S. debt ceiling that would have impact on the world markets.
The dollar also continued to fall across the world. The dollar took a hit from 98.62 yen to the dollar before the shutdown to a current level of 97.74. The dollar also fell further against all other Asian currencies.
After a meeting at the White House that failed to produce a resolution on the government shutdown, the House of Representatives passed a series of bills that would provide funding to parts of the government.
The debate proved heated as Rep. George Miller, D-California, repeatedly said that Republicans were waging “jihad” on Americans by not passing a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government.
The House then passed bills funding the National Park Service, 252-173 and a second bill to fund the National Institutes of Health, 254-171. House members will consider a bill Thursday to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Guard.
Democrats in the Senate have vowed to vote down any bill sent from the House that would partially fund parts of the government.
World War II veterans brought to Washington, D.C. to see the WWII memorial surged past barricades to lay flowers in memory of their fallen brothers-in-arms while the National Park Service revealed who ordered the monument to be barricaded.
Carol Johnson with the National Park Service stood outside the site of the WWII Memorial and told reporters that the closure of the site was ordered by the White House’s Office of Management & Budget. She made it clear the National Park Service itself did not do the decision.
Tuesday a Congressman from Mississippi’s 4th District brought colleagues to the memorial site to move the barricades for a group of 91 Mississippi WWII vets who had been flown to D.C.
The act of civil disobedience by the Congressman came after he was denied by the National Park Service, then the Department of Interior and then the White House to open the memorial for the veterans.
“They did not lift one finger to help these veterans,” Congressman Steven Palazzo told Fox News’ Todd Starnes. “It is sad that they would not even make an exception for our World War II veterans.”
Palazzo said that while Park police were on hand none of them made any moves to stop the veterans from honoring their fallen comrades.
“They did the honorable thing and stood down,” Palazzo said. “We don’t fault them or the staff there one bit.”
Palazzo added that because it is an open-air memorial, there is more cost to forcing the public to stay away.
“It actually requires more effort and expense to shut out these veterans from their Memorial than it would to simply let them through,” Palazzo said.
Every week, hundreds of patients, including children with cancer, are admitted to new clinical trials through the National Institutes of Health.
But because of the government shutdown, newly registered patients are being put on hold until the government resumes operation.
“Due to the lapse in government funding… transactions submitted via the web site may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted,” a message on the top of the NIH website states.
Source: CNN – CNN: Government shutdown forces clinical trial patients to wait