THE US budget crisis degenerated into name calling yesterday as President Clinton painted a picture of the federal government disintegrating because of an unnatural disaster born of a cynical political strategy".
Mr Clinton's apocalyptic warning, delivered to journalists in the White House, came after House Republicans in Congress refused to follow the lead of Senate Republicans and reopen the government without agreement on a budget.
The partial federal shutdown, now in its 20th day, has caused the lay off of 280.000 federal employees and has embarrassed the US abroad: in Moscow, the American embassy is reported to have had to borrow money locally to pay its Russian employees.
The crisis arose from ban explicit strategy by Republicans to shut the government down to get their way on budget and tax issues". Mr Clinton said, referring to their demand that he agree to their cost cutting programme to balance the budget in seven years.
"It has never been done before. It is not a natural disaster. It is a unnatural disaster born of a cynical political strategy," he exclaimed.
House of Representatives Republicans earlier voted by 206-167 to set aside a Bill to reopen government approved by the Senate on Tuesday on the urging of Republican leader, Mr Bob Dole, who said the shutdown had dragged on too long.
The crisis has created a split between Mr Dole and Republican House leader, Mr Newt Gingrich, who told reporters there was no support for the proposal in the House.
"The Republican members who have come back [from holiday] have said to me again and again, hang tough, get to a balanced budget . . . don't give in to Washington," Mr Gingrich said.
House Minority leader Mr Richard Gephardt called the Republican refusal to allow a vote on a funding bill an abuse of power and "of the responsibility the American people have placed in this Congress". They were elected to serve, he said, "not just to throw ideological tantrums".
With polls showing Mr Clinton winning the propaganda battle the White House spokesman. Mr Mike McCurry, yesterday joined in the name calling, describing top House Republicans as a gruesome group" for refusing to end the government shutdown.
Mr Clinton appeared in the White House press room, just before further talks with Republican leaders, to list how the US was suffering from the end of the meals on wheels service to the near collapse of US operations in embassies and missions throughout the world.
The shutdown was adversely affecting the national security of the country, Mr Clinton warned. "We're running the risk of not being able to maintain our diplomacy abroad and this shutdown frankly, is injuring the reputation of the United States around the world. People wonder what is going on," he said. "This is not how a great country behaves."
He went on: "We are not able to enforce our trade laws to protect our workers. We are not able to weatherise homes in this winter to protect the elderly from the cold. Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down toxic waste clean ups at 32 sites across America. Every day, 240 calls to the drinking water contamination hot line now go unanswered."
Medicare contractors who served the elderly were not being paid, he said. Many of them now are dipping into their own pockets to keep health care coming but they won't be able to do it for long.
"Ten states have run out of the funding they use to run unemployment insurance programmes and 15 more will soon do so. Ninety five per cent of all workplace safety activities have been shut down. All sweatshop enforcement has been stopped.
"Investigations into 3,500 potential cases of pension fraud have ground to a halt.
"Two weeks ago, when a mill burned down in Massachusetts, workers received immediate assistance for child care, transportation and job training. Last week, when 2,000 workers lost their jobs from a Rhode Island factory, the Labour Department could not respond at all.
"Medicaid funding that goes to pay for nursing home care for pregnant women and disabled and poor children will be exhausted by the end of this month - funds to pay for drugs, food and supplies at veterans' hospitals run out today."