Obama: 'Shutdown is concretely affecting real people'

US president Barack Obama has said that the Democrats are prepared to negotiate with Republicans over the US governmental shutdown, but are not prepared to engage in brinksmanship, in an interview with the Associated Press.

The US government was forced to shutdown non-essential operations on Tuesday when Congress failed to agree a new budget.

Obama conceded that the shutdown was "concretely affecting real people" and believed there was "no reason why government should be shut down".