奧巴馬怒斥共和黨：“把整個國家挾持爲人質”

President Barack Obama furiously responded Friday to congressional budget battles that could threaten a partial government shutdown, accusing Republicans voting against his health care law of focusing on politics and "holding the whole country hostage."

Locked in a stalemate with lawmakers over spending and borrowing with less than two weeks until the start of the new budget year, the president returned to a fiery campaign mode to take his critics to task. He said Republicans must stop focusing on defunding his health care law, pass a budget and raise the nation's borrowing limit to head off a first-ever default on the nation's debt.

"We're not some banana republic. This isn't some deadbeat nation," Obama said before workers on a sprawling auto plant floor in Missouri. "We don't run out on our tab. We're the world's bedrock investment. The entire world looks to us to make sure the world economy is stable. We can't just not pay our bills. And even threating something like that is the height of irresponsibility."

Congress faces two financial deadlines in the coming weeks. Funding for the government is set to run out at the end of September, and the government will reach the limits of its borrowing authority a few weeks later.

The Republican-led House passed a bill Friday to keep the government running while gutting funding for Obama's health care law.

The health care provision is sure to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and Obama said he would veto it if it didn't, setting up a showdown that could lead to a partial government shutdown.

"Our message to the United State Senate is real simple," House Speaker John Boehner declared after the vote. "The American people don't want the government shut down, and they don't want Obamacare."

Obama returned the combative tone soon after, accusing Republicans of threatening to "blow the whole thing up" because they couldn't get their way on health care. He ridiculed them for the more than 40 votes they've taken to repeal his health care proposal as a waste of time and energy.

"Now they've gone beyond just holding Congress hostage. They're holding the whole country hostage," with the key deadlines looming, Obama said.

Obama was speaking at a Ford Motor Co. stamping plant near Kansas City, and he told the workers that the shutdown will hurt Americans like them. He laid out a menacing list of consequences if Congress fails to act: Delayed paychecks for military workers, hundreds of thousands of Americans prevented from going to work, small businesses whose loans won't go through.

"Somebody wanting to buy an F-150 will have to pay much higher interest rates eventually, which means you will sell less cars," he said. "That's just one example of how profoundly destructive this could be. This is not some abstract thing."

He continued with the automotive metaphor to explain the impact of the failure to raise the debt limit, comparing it to a driver who gets a new F-150 on a payment plan.

"I can't just say, you know, I'm not going to make my car payment this month. That's what Congress is threatening to do, just saying, 'I'm not going to pay the bills.' There are consequences to that," Obama said.據美國媒體報道，眼看着僵持不下的國會預算之爭可能導致政府“關門”，美國總統奧巴馬掩飾不住內心的怒火，他9月20日公開指責共和黨國會議員拒絕爲其醫改法案撥款是在進行政治博弈、“把整個國家挾持爲人質”。

由於美國民主、共和兩黨尚未解決2014財年（10月1日開始）的政府預算案，美國會衆議院20日投票通過了聯邦政府臨時撥款議案，以使聯邦政府可運營至12月中旬，但是該議案中包括禁止給實施奧巴馬醫改撥款的內容。根據立法程序，議案還需得到參議院批准後方可送交奧巴馬總統簽署生效。由於參議院由民主黨控制，該議案几乎很難被通過，僵局意味着美國政府依然面臨“關門”的風險。

當天，奧巴馬在密蘇里州堪薩斯市近郊的福特汽車廠發表演講，要求共和黨國會議員必須停止緊咬拒絕爲醫改法案撥款一事不放，通過預算案、調高舉債上限，避免出現美國史上首次拖欠債務。“這裏是美利堅共和國。我們不是什麼香蕉共和國、不是個賴債的國家，我們不會不付帳。我們是世界經濟的基石，全世界都在盯着我們的一舉一動，以確保世界經濟穩定。我們不能賴賬，就連以此作爲威脅都是不負責任之尤。”

隨後，奧巴馬譴責稱，共和黨國會議員無法在醫保事宜上得償所願，所以他們威脅“要把整件事鬧大”。奧巴馬還出言譏諷稱衆議院以230票贊成、189票反對的表決結果通過臨時撥款議案，“這多出來的40多張贊成票真是浪費時間、浪費精力”。

在演講現場，奧巴馬告訴福特汽車廠的工人們，政府“關門”將會傷害包括他們在內的美國老百姓的利益。他列舉了倘若國會沒有采取行動將帶來的一系列災難性後果：軍方人員的薪水被拖欠，數十萬美國人沒法上班、小企業所需的貸款無人審批。

“有人想買一款F-150汽車，他最終需要支付更高的銀行利息，這意味着你們售出的汽車數量將會減少。”奧巴馬解釋稱，“這只是一個簡單的例子來說明（預算案不通過）將帶來多麼嚴重的破壞性後果，這並不只是一個抽象的概念。”