Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam unhappy with D.C.

photo Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam
Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

NASHVILLE -- Republican Gov. Bill Haslam said he wasn't happy about the brinkmanship in Washington that could lead to what he calls an "arbitrary" and partial shutdown of federal government spending.

"I don't think it's an appropriate action for the federal government to have gotten to this point," Haslam told reporters on Monday. "I'm one of those who believes the federal government has to quit spending way more than it's bringing in. But this is not the way to do that.

"Just to have an arbitrary shutdown of government that's going to impact services in a nondiscriminate way is not the right way to do it."

Haslam's comments came as the Republican-run U.S. House and Democratic President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led U.S. Senate continue to play chicken with the federal budget over House GOP efforts to delay the federal Affordable Care Act.

The governor said his administration was in the middle of discussions over the impact to federal spending in Tennessee if no agreement was struck before midnight.

"Some of our immediate concerns are like the things that are funded out of human services, like the SNAP [food stamp] program and others," he said.

The governor's comments came following the official opening of Nashville's new Omni Hotel in downtown Nashville.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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