美国国会参议院多数派领袖里德星期四说，联邦政府似乎在走向关闭。奥巴马总统和国会领袖在预算争议中仍陷于僵局。
民主党人里德表示，他现在对能否解决僵局不像星期三晚上那样乐观。在那之前，他会晤了众议院议长、共和党人贝纳和奥巴马总统。贝纳星期四表示，会谈取得进展，在开支计划问题上更接近妥协。谈判的开支计划涵盖联邦政府到今年9月的财政年度。但是贝纳说，还没有就预算削减的幅度和政策声明达成协议。共和党人希望就堕胎权利和环保问题发表政策声明。里德和贝纳星期四下午将再次在白宫会晤，试图解决在本财政年度预算上的分歧。本财年从去年10月1日开始。如果到星期五午夜双方仍不能达成协议，美国政府的许多部门将被迫停止运作。奥巴马总统在推特上说，美国经济仍在努力走出一场特别深重的衰退。如果不能达成预算协议，这是不可原谅的。
星期四，众议院将就共和党提出的一个建议进行表决。该建议把联邦政府临时开支延长一个星期，以保持政府在星期五以后的运作。但是，参议院多数党领袖里德反对这个提案，他说这个提案不会使预算谈判“有成功的希望”。白宫表示，如果这个提案送交总统签字，会被奥巴马否决。
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the government appears headed toward a shutdown, as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders remain deadlocked in a budget dispute.
Reid, a Democrat, said he is not nearly as optimistic about solving the impasse as he was Wednesday night after meeting with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama. Boehner on Thursday said talks are “progressing” to reach a compromise on a spending plan through the end of the government’s fiscal year in September. But he said no deal has been reached yet on the size of the budget cuts or on policy statements Republicans favor about abortion rights and environmental issues. Reid and Boehner were meeting at the White House again Thursday afternoon to try to work through differences on a budget for the fiscal year that began last October. Without an agreement before the end of Friday, many functions of the U.S. government will have to cease operations. In a message on Twitter, Mr. Obama said that with the U.S. economy still emerging from an “extraordinarily deep recession,” it would be “inexcusable” not to reach a compromise.
The House of Representatives is voting Thursday on a Republican proposal for a one-week spending extension to keep the government running beyond Friday. Senate Majority Leader Reid said he opposes that bill, calling it a “non-starter.” The White House says Mr. Obama will veto it, if it makes it to his desk.