Obama Tells Federal Employees He'll "Keep Working With Congress" to Reach a Deal

Katie Pavlich In a letter sent to U.S. Government workers affected by the shutdown on October 1, President Obama told federal employees he will continue to work with Congress in order to get them back to work, thanked them for their service and blamed House Republicans for the government shutdown.

"To the dedicated and hard-working employees of the United States Government: The Federal Government is America's largest employer, with more than 2 million civilian workers and 1.4 million active duty military who serve in all 50 States and around the world. But Congress has failed to meet its responsibility to pass a budget before the fiscal year that begins today. And that means much of our Government must shut down effective today. I want you to know that I will keep working to get Congress to reopen the Government. Despite telling federal employees he will work with Congress, President Obama has repeatedly told Speaker of the House John Boehner he will not negotiate. READ REST OF STORY