Obama Cancels Multi-Country Asia Trip

Originally shortened it

President Barack Obama called off plans to visit Asia and attend two summits because of the U.S. government shutdown, raising questions about the strategic "pivot" to the region that he announced just two years ago.

Obama had planned to depart on Saturday for a four-nation, week-long trip. He canceled visits to Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this week because of his budget struggle in the U.S. Congress and said late on Thursday he would not attend the regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei.