The US government entered the new fiscal year today without securing funding. This means that a number of federal agencies and authorities will have to temporarily restrict their operations, according to agencies. Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a proposal that would avert this scenario, known as a shutdown.
New fiscal year without money
In the United States, the fiscal year begins on October 1. This happened at midnight Washington time, i.e. 6:00 a.m. CET today.
With the start of the new fiscal year, the federal government does not have guaranteed funding. This means that a number of federal offices and agencies will have to limit their operations until the situation is resolved. Some federal employees will then be sent on forced leave. According to the AP agency, this will affect approximately 750,000 people.
Political stalemate and responsibility
The US Senate voted overnight on two proposals from Republicans and Democrats that could have secured funding for the government. However, neither received enough votes. The Senate rejected the Republican proposal for the second time, after it had been approved by the House of Representatives. The text would have allowed the government to be funded until November 21. Republicans want to resubmit their proposal for a vote later this week.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to start negotiating a compromise. Instead, Republican Senate leader John Thune made it clear that he would try to get a “handful of Democratic senators” on his side, which would be enough to pass the Republican proposal.
In a vote held in the Senate last night, 55 senators supported the Republican proposal—52 from the Republican Party and three from the Democratic camp. Thune therefore only needs to convince five Democratic lawmakers to achieve his goal. Republicans and Democrats are shifting political responsibility for the situation onto each other. However, US President Donald Trump sees the shutdown as an opportunity to cut measures and programs favored by Democrats. The last time a similar situation occurred, when the government did not have secured funding, was between 2018 and 2019, during Donald Trump’s first presidential term.
Source: ÄŒTK
