Obama calls for new spirit of cooperation in Washington US federal employees glad to be working Partial government shutdown and threat of default "inflicted unnecessary damage" to the economy says US President Barack Obama. PT1M21S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2vqdy 620 349 October 18, 2013 - 6:57AM Washington: President Obama on Thursday urged his Republican adversaries to view the end of the government shutdown and debt ceiling battles of recent weeks as new opportunities for bipartisan compromise in the weeks ahead. Speaking from the State Dining Room at the White House, Mr. Obama declared that the "full faith and credit of the United States remains unquestioned." All of us need to stop focusing on the lobbyists, and the bloggers, and the talking heads on radio and the professional activists who profit from conflict But he pleaded for a new spirit of cooperation in Washington that did not undermine government as an institution. He proposed working this year on developing a long-term budget, agreeing on an immigration overhaul and passing a new farm bill. President Barack Obama speaks at the White House on Thursday, outlining his vision for how Democrats and Republicans should work together to avoid another 'manufactured crises'. "You don't like a particular policy, or a particular president, then argue for your position," Mr. Obama said in the 15-minute statement. Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don't break it. He thanked federal workers for their dedication during the 16-day shutdown, when hundreds of thousands had to stay at home without pay. "What you do is important, and don't let anybody else tell you any different," he said. On the budget, Mr. Obama chided Republicans for adopting a "strategy of brinksmanship" during the course of 2013 that prevented efforts by both parties in Congress to develop a compromise budget. He said the legislation he signed to end the shutdown now required both sides to begin those discussions. The president did not offer any hints about where he might be willing to compromise in those talks, but he suggested that any serious effort would confront the long-term challenges posed by entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. "We want to make sure those are there for future generations," Mr. Obama said. The debt problems we have now are long term. The president signalled again that he planned to renew his push for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws over the course of the next several months. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill this year, but it has so far languished in the House. He said he welcomed ideas from House lawmakers that might be different from the Senate proposal. But he urged Republicans in the House not to let problems in the immigration system "keep festering." "Let's start the negotiations," he said. He made a similar plea on the farm bill, a version of which has also passed the Senate with bipartisan support. "If House Republicans have ideas that they think would improve the farm bill, let's see them," the president said. Let's negotiate. What are we waiting for? Mr. Obama spoke to a small audience that included "essential" White House employees who worked through the shutdown to keep the executive office of the presidency running without most of its support staff. In his remarks, Mr. Obama did not call out any Republicans by name. But he did criticise a process that led to the first government shutdown in 17 years and to the brink of a possible government default. "Let's be clear, there are no winners here," Mr. Obama said. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy. We don't know yet the full scope of the damage, but every analyst out there believes it's slowed our growth. We know that families have gone without paychecks or services they depend on. We know that potential homebuyers have gotten fewer mortgages and small-business loans have been put on hold. He urged politicians in Washington to try to filter out the "noise" in the nation's capital. "Now that the government has reopened and this threat to our economy is removed," he said, "all of us need to stop focusing on the lobbyists, and the bloggers, and the talking heads on radio and the professional activists who profit from conflict." His comments are likely to be seen by many Republicans and Tea Party conservatives as an effort to cast blame on them as the two parties head into an election year in 2014. The president offered little to suggest that his administration bore any responsibility for the fiscal crises. Instead, he called the Republican efforts to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act "manufactured crises" and said that "nothing has done more to undermine our economy these past three years" than efforts like that. Abroad, he said that the spectacle of the debates in Washington has "encouraged our enemies, it's emboldened our competitors, and it's depressed our friends, who look to us for steady leadership."