Government Shutdown | featured news

Financial institutions across the country have begun preparing for a worst-case scenario if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, assembling plans to offer customers emergency loans or waive fees if their federal pay or benefits checks do not arrive on time. Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest in the country, said this week it would advance pay to direct-deposit members who are active-duty military or civilian employees of the Defense Department. It also said it would expedite approvals for lines of credit, overdraft programs and higher credit card limits.

If the government can't pay all its bills come Wednesday, odds are it will pay bondholders. Social Security and Medicare recipients will be high on the must-pay list, too. Likely losers: federal workers in jobs deemed non-essential, private contractors and state and local governments....

Rival Democratic and Republican plans to raise the government's borrowing ability have thrust Congress into a standoff just one week away from a potentially devastating debt crisis.

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner broke off talks with President Barack Obama on Friday and said he will begin negotiations with Senate leaders aimed at meeting an August 2 deadline to avert an unprecedented U.S. debt default.

The government will lose about $200 million a week in airline ticket taxes if the Federal Aviation Administration is forced to shut down.

After legislators worked all night, Gov. Mark Dayton signed new spending plans, ending the longest shutdown in state history.

Top Republican lawmakers and the Obama administration’s budget director both predicted Sunday that an agreement would be reached before the federal government defaults on its debt in early August, but both sides continued to squabble over the details of competing proposals, offering little evidence that a deal was at hand.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and top Republicans agreed Thursday to end a budget impasse that prompted the longest state government shutdown in recent history, after the Democratic governor surrendered on raising taxes....

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton is offering to accept a Republican proposal to end Minnesota's two-week government shutdown.

Congress approved a $38-billion spending cut package Thursday, sealing a deal to prevent a government shutdown before plunging into an even more far-reaching debate over spending on federal programs and benefits for the years to come.