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Republicans rip White House in shutdown reprisal

Republicans launched a furious counter-attack on the White House as the US governmentshutdown drags into a fifth day with no end in sight. With lawmakers heading into the weekend, Congress appeared no closer to resolving the impasse, even as a far more challenging fiscal hurdle -- the need to raise the US debt ceiling or suffer a catastrophic credit default -- was barely 12 days away. The WhiteHouse on Friday tried to contain the damage from the Journal quote, which dominated the media messaging war raging between Obama and his Republican foes on Capitol Hill. Speaking to journalists at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Indonesia's Bali, Secretary of State John Kerry warned Saturday that a prolonged political crisis could weaken the US globally.

Obama is refusing to negotiate with Republicans over budget issues until they pass a temporary bill to open the government and agree to raise the $16.7 trillion US statutory borrowing limit -- without which Washington could default on its debts for the first time ever later this month. But Republicans are demanding the president enter into talks on their goal to defund or delay his health reform law -- a step Obama refuses to take. The shutdown has forced hundreds ofthousands of federal workers to stay home without pay, while monuments such as the Statue of Liberty have been barricaded and national parks closed.