Shutdown pressure: Obama cancels trip to Southeast Asia

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is canceling a trip to Asia to stay in Washington and push for an elusive funding bill to get the federal government back up and running after days of a shutdown, with no end in sight. The White House, in a statement late Thursday, blamed Republicans, saying the “completely avoidable” government shutdown was hurting the president's efforts to promote trade and US influence in emerging world markets. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Bali, Indonesia, on Friday and will head the US delegation to the summits.
Obama's decision to skip the summits in Indonesia and Brunei was an indication of how entrenched the stand-off appeared to be as it entered its fourth day. Funding for much of the government has been cut off since Tuesday, when a Republican effort to thwart President Barack Obama's new health care law stalled a normally routine spending bill that would have kept the government going.
Obama had been set to leave Saturday night for the Pacific island getaway of Bali for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. It originally was scheduled as one of four Asian stops, and the White House announced earlier in the week that the final legs of Malaysia and the Philippines were being cut because of staffing problems due to the shutdown. Obama had held out hope that a budget deal would allow the visit to Bali and Brunei, where more economic summits were planned, but decided the cancel the entire trip Thursday.
“The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. “This completely avoidable shutdown is setting back our ability to create jobs through promotion of US exports and advance US leadership and interests in the largest emerging region in the world.”
On Friday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives planned a vote to fund a popular program providing food aid to pregnant women and their children, as well as ongoing disaster relief. The White House and Democratic allies in Congress reject the strategy of passing piecemeal efforts to finance essential and popular programs and want a vote on a straightforward measure to fund the entire government through mid-November or mid-December. While observers bemoaned US President Barack Obama's decision to cancel his visit to Asia, hardliners protesting against him in the Indonesian capital expressed happiness at the cancelation of Obama's visit, on Friday.
The president's change of plans “is a victory for the community and it was surely with the help of God that Obama canceled his trip,” said Khoirul Amri, one of more than 500 protesters demonstrating outside the US Embassy in Jakarta.
Obama had been due to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali next week, but cancelled his trip late Thursday due to the US government shutdown.
A White House statement also announced that he would miss the East Asia summit in Brunei afterward, a decision that came after he had also canceled plans to visit Malaysia and the Philippines due to the budget impasse.
Analysts have warned the decision could dent the US “pivot” to Asia, Obama's effort to redirect US military and diplomatic muscle towards the fast-rising region. But the members from group Hizbut Tahrir welcomed the move at their anti-Obama protest, which was planned before the president changed his schedule.
They learned of Obama's decision beforehand, but decided to press ahead with their protest to show opposition to the president and his policies, and APEC itself.