The Obama administration has begun preparations for a possible government shutdown next month as conservative Republicans who are on the warpath over abortion threaten to block public funding.
With business leaders warning of the damaging consequences of budget brinkmanship, a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet said the need for contingency planning was “very, very frustrating”.
Sally Jewell, secretary of the interior, said on Tuesday: “I can’t tell you how ridiculous it is [running] an organisation with 70,000 people who are committed to their missions . . . to have to work with them on shutdown planning right now because Congress has not acted on the budget.”