Obama To Miss Summit Due To Shutdown

US President Barack Obama has cancelled his trip to Asia because of the US government shutdown.
Obama will miss two summits, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting in Indonesia, reports the BBC.
The decision was made due to the “difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown”, the White House said.
The US government closed non-essential operations after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.
Obama called Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday morning and expressed his regret for the cancellation, Indonesian Presidential Spokesman for Foreign Affairs Teuku Faizasyah told the BBC.
The visit has not been rescheduled, the spokesman added.
Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the Apec gathering and the East Asia summit in Brunei in Obama’s place, the White House said.
“The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government,” the White House 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,” the statement added.
Obama had been due to begin a four-nation Asian trip on Saturday, heading to Bali and Brunei for regional summits before travelling on to Malaysia and the Philippines.
On Wednesday, the White House had said Obama would postpone his trips to Malaysia and the Philippines because of the US government shutdown, but maintained that he would travel to Indonesia and Brunei.
The US government began a partial shutdown earlier this week after Republicans refused to approve a budget, saying they would only do so if funding for President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms was delayed.