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US government partially shuts down for 3rd time in 2018

by admin | May 25, 2021 | World

The US Capitol Building

Washington : A partial shutdown of the US federal administration began on Saturday after lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement over President Donald Trumps border wall funding demands.

Negotiations between the House of Representatives and Senate reached a deadlock over Trump’s demand to include a $5 billion allocation in the budget for his long-promised wall along the Mexican border.

Lawmakers adjourned last-minute talks on Friday evening. This was the third partial shutdown of the Trump administration in 2018 after a three-day deadlock in January and another which lasted a few hours in February.

In the absence of the agreement, funding for about a quarter of all US federal agencies lapsed at midnight, including appropriations for the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and other parts of the government.

In this situation, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will have to work unpaid or be put on temporary leave. This time the President has said that he was ready to face a long shutdown in order to achieve his demands.

In a video address published on Trump’s Twitter account shortly before the shutdown began, the President insisted the onus was on the Democrats to resolve the closure.

Senior Democrats accused Trump of provoking the situation with a “temper tantrum”.

“We’re going to have a shutdown. There’s nothing we can do about that because we need the Democrats to give us their votes,” the President said.

Lawmakers were set to meet again on Saturday.

Trump may see this negotiation as his last opportunity to get funding for the wall — one of his major campaign promises — as the Democrats are set to gain control of the House of Representatives in January.

On Wednesday, a stopgap spending bill was passed in order to keep federal agencies open until February 8, but the agreement did not include funding for Trump’s wall.

The President then insisted funds for the wall must be included for him to sign it off.

The House on Thursday passed legislation that included Trump’s request for $5 billion for the border wall, but it was clear on Friday that that demand did not have the votes needed to pass in the Senate, and was therefore not brought up for a vote — creating more uncertainty on a path forward.

The Democrats remained resolute that US taxpayers should not pay for his plan.

In his Twitter post on Friday, Trump also said that “we don’t want people coming in that aren’t supposed to be there,” and the video appeared to show migrants pushing on a wall while he continued to say “it’s very dangerous out there,” citing drugs, human trafficking and gangs.

He had been criticized in the past for fear mongering.

“We don’t want ‘em in the US. We don’t want ‘em in our country. The only thing that’s going to stop that is great border security. With a wall! Or a slat fence, or whatever you wanna call it,” he said.

The longest administrative shutdown in US history lasted 21 days between December 1995 and January 1996 during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Former President Barack Obama faced a 16-day shutdown in 2013.

—IANS

US government shuts down

by admin | May 25, 2021 | World

Washington : The US government began shutting down on Saturday, putting thousands of workers on unpaid leave, after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap budget.

The shutdown marked the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, media reports said.

It is the first shutdown in US history to happen while the same party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House, the BBC reported.

Despite last minute bipartisan meetings, the bill to fund the government until February 16, did not receive the required 60 votes.

The budget proposal presented by the Republicans on Friday night got more votes in favour (50) than against (48), but they were insufficient to approve funds. Four Republicans voted against the bill while five Democrats broke rank to support it.

Earlier on Thursday night, the House of Representatives voted 230-197 to extend funding until February.

Minutes before the midnight deadline expired, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed Senate Democrats on Twitter for the “Schumer Shutdown”, the New York Times report said. (Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, is seen as the prime opponent to the stopgap budget).

“Tonight, they put politics over our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans,” Sanders said.

“We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands.

“This is the behaviour of obstructionist losers, not legislators,” she added.

Sanders said “the President and his administration will fight for and protect” the American people during the “politically manufactured” shutdown.

The rejection of the funding bill by the Senate meant many government services would close down until the budget was agreed upon.

The last US shutdown was in 2013 during the Barrack Obama administration. It lasted for 16 days when many federal employees were forced to take leave of absence.

On Saturday, Trump wrote on Twitter: “Not looking good for our great Military or Safety and Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.”

According to a report in The Guardian, federal law requires agencies to shut down if Congress has not appropriated money to fund them.

In previous shutdowns, services deemed “essential”, such as the work of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, have continued.

—IANS