Obama attacks Republicans over reckless shutdown

US President Barack Obama on Thursday directly attacked Republican Speaker John Boehner, saying he could end a "reckless" US government shutdown in just five minutes.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday directly attacked Republican Speaker John Boehner, saying he could end the "reckless" US government shutdown in just five minutes.


"Take a vote, stop this farce and end this shutdown right now," Obama said during a fiery speech in the Washington DC suburbs.

Obama said that Boehner could reopen the government and send hundreds of thousands of people back to work "in just five minutes" by passing a temporary operating budget with no partisan strings attached.

"Speaker John Boehner won't even let the bill get a yes or no vote, because he doesn't want to anger the extremists in his party," Obama said.

"That is what his whole thing is about."

"There's a simple way to prove it. Send the bill to the floor, let everybody vote."

"It will pass. Send me the bill, I will sign it. The shutdown will be over and we can get back to the business of governing and helping the American people. It could happen in the next half hour."