US Stock Market "Will Crash," Warns Gingrich

US House Speaker Newt Gingrich has asked the American Medical Association's leaders to pressure the White House and Congress to reach a compromise on Medicare, medicaid and the rest of the budget before Congress's holiday recess commences on December 22, or else see interest rates soar and the US stock market crash.

However, the feeling is that a budget deal may not be possible before the recess; one senior administration official now expects the issue to be "smoldering" when Congress reconvenes in january.

On December 6, President Bill Clinton used the pen with which President Johnson signed legislation creating Medicare 30 years ago to veto the Republican budget legislation pushed through Congress last month, claiming that the cuts for Medicare and Medicaid went too deep. He then presented his own budget proposals to Republicans the next day, when budget talks resumed, but his plan was described by House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich as "a tremendous disappointment."