The U.S. Senate, in a bipartisan proposal, presented a plan to avoid the shutdown of federal services in the early hours of Saturday through Sunday. But the House of Representatives, where the far right wing of the Republican Party emphasizes the need for cuts, has already warned that they will not happen. The fourth to block in the space of ten years seems inevitable, with two million federal government employees being the first to suffer the consequences of not receiving wages, in addition to the seven million who rely on food assistance programs.
The Senate proposal, which has the support of Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, would a temporary solution that allowed services to continue functioning normally until November 17, giving you more time to think about a budget for the new financial year. Among other things, it would maintain current funding levels, with an increase of $6 billion for aid to Ukraine and the same amount for natural disaster response in the US.
The problem is that the proposal must be approved by the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a minimal majority (221 to 212). And the right-most wing of the Republican Party, egged on by former President Donald Trump, is gaining a lot of weight despite its small size because every vote counts. This group demands budget cuts (of 8% in some agencies), does not want to hear about more aid to Ukraine and wants to add an anti-immigration package to every proposal.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is defending resolving the situation now, but doing so would require passing 12 different bills to fund the federal government — which doesn’t seem feasible in such a short time. McCarthy, who has not ruled out also introducing a temporary proposal tomorrow, faces constant pressure from the party’s far right wing, which had already challenged the deal he signed with President Joe Biden in June – which allowed the debt ceiling to be lifted be reduced. lifted and avoid the standard . At the beginning of the month, he relented by agreeing to file a lawsuit impeachment against the president, over his son Hunter’s business dealings. The committee’s first hearing will take place today.
The White House has made it clear that a possible shutdown will be Republicans’ fault, and the administration has already begun alerting various federal agencies to prepare for this scenario. If employees of museums, parks and other federal services are asked to stay home, military personnel and other workers deemed essential must continue to work, but without pay.
There have been three in the past ten years closures. The 2013 one, with Barack Obama in the White House, lasted 17 days, during which Republicans wanted to cut back on Obamacare (the health plan supported by the president). Now that Donald Trump is in power, there was a first to block two-day event in January 2018, related to immigration issues. A second, the longest to date (lasting 35 days – between December 2018 and January 2019), occurred because the then-president wanted to include funding for the construction of the wall between the US and Mexico border in the budget. Trump would eventually relent.
Source: DN
