Q&A: 2013 US budget brawl 24 September 2013 Last updated at 20:41 By Kim Gittleson BBC News, New York In what is becoming close to an annual ritual, a budget fight in Washington is again threatening to derail the world's largest economy. If the US Congress cannot agree on legislation to fund the federal government and pay the nation's bills, the fragile US economic recovery could collapse. This time, there's less room on both sides - Democrat and Republican - to negotiate a compromise. Here's a primer on what's going on. The date circled in red on the calendar is 1 October. Technically, the US Congress should pass a budget to fund the government for the next year on 30 September. However, in recent times, the government has been funded by shorter-term budgets known as "continuing resolutions." The House of Representatives passed a three-month funding bill last week, but it's unlikely to pass the Senate. If there is no budget bill that can be passed by both chambers in the next week, the US federal government would come to a screeching halt. All "non-essential staff" - by some estimates, about 800,000 of the total 2.1 million-strong federal workforce - would be told to stay home. Air-traffic controllers, active military personnel, and border security guards would be told to report for work, but federal parks would be closed and new passports could not be issued. Even some of the White House staff might have to stay home. The last time the government shut down was under US President Bill Clinton, for 28 days from mid-December 1995. However, the US came close to a shutdown in April 2011. Not so fast. For many, the 1 October deadline is less worrisome than what lies ahead, come mid-October. That's when, once again, the US government could default on its debts. Already, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has had to engage in what's known as "creative accounting" to keep paying the nation's bills after federal borrowing surpassed the $16.7 trillion limit in May. This is what's known in Washington jargon as the "debt ceiling." In the US, unlike many other developed nations, it is the legislative branch, not the executive branch (the president), that sets how much the government can borrow. In the past, the debt ceiling has been raised without much drama. Since 1960, it has been raised 78 times. However, over the past three years, it has been used as a negotiation point for House Republicans who have sought to extract budget concessions from Mr Obama. The biggest drama came in August 2011, when last-minute posturing by both sides led ratings agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade the credit worthiness of US debt, a historic first. Because both parties have never really come to a resolution on a US budget that extends further than a few months. They've just negotiated around the margins and come up with short-term fixes. This latest debt showdown is essentially just another phase in the same budget fight between Mr Obama and congressional Republicans that has plagued Capitol Hill since 2010. That's when Mr Obama's Democratic Party ceded control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans, many of whom were affiliated with the Tea Party movement, which advocated reducing the size and scope of the federal government. Republicans took their victory in that election as a sign that Americans were revolting against Mr Obama's Democratic agenda, and specifically, that Americans were unhappy with one thing: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as Republicans label it. The Affordable Care Act is Mr Obama's effort to completely overhaul the way healthcare is provided in the United States, and it was passed with no Republican support. Although past budget fights have included larger questions about the size and scope of the US government, this one is very specifically about Mr Obama's healthcare law, substantial parts of which are set to take effect on 1 October. Republicans are doing everything in their power to force Mr Obama to delay implementation of a bill they strongly believe was rejected by the American public. House Republicans have already voted 42 times since the legislation was passed to either repeal it or strip its funding. Most observers believe that the US will avoid a government shutdown, and that the House and Senate will pass a three-month federal funding bill. However, what happens when the nation hits its debt limit is anyone's guess. The US has never defaulted on its debt before, and to do so would almost surely result in extreme global market volatility. Former US President Ronald Reagan said in 1983 that "the full consequences of a default - or even the serious prospect of default - by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate." Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has already said that the central bank will continue its efforts to boost the US economy in anticipation of "fiscal headwinds." That's banker-speak for Washington dysfunction, which could threaten the fragile economic recovery in the US. While in the past, last-minute deals have been struck, this time around, there seems to be less room for compromise. The Supreme Court has already upheld the legality of the Affordable Care Act, and Mr Obama has indicated that he has lost patience with Republican leadership, especially in the wake of his decisive re-election last year. Already, he has warned that the US is at risk of becoming a "deadbeat" if Congress cannot pass a bill to allow the US to continue borrowing. He has said he will not compromise. Republicans in the House have also said they will not budge. Both sides, it seems, have taken the words of Shakespeare to heart. Once more, unto the breach, the US government goes.