2023-09-24 22:59:23
The US government is heading towards a shutdown amid a sharp Republican division over spending
The US government is headed for a shutdown starting this weekend, as lawmakers appear unlikely to strike a budget deal in the face of hard-line opposition from the right wing of the Republican Party.
Lawmakers have just less than a week to come up with a spending plan that can pass both chambers of Congress, no easy feat with Republicans controlling the House by a slim majority and Democrats holding the Senate by a similarly slim margin.
If lawmakers are unable to reach an agreement by midnight next Saturday, the 30th, millions of federal workers’ furloughs will begin on October 1, bringing all but “essential” government operations to a halt. Millions of federal employees, including members of the military, will not receive their salaries.
A prolonged shutdown might have ripple effects throughout the US economy, weakening business and consumer confidence when there are already fears of a recession.
The latest budget standoff stems from a sharp division within the Republican Party over taxation and spending, including whether to sign a large additional aid package for Ukraine.
Republican internal division also threatens the leadership of Kevin McCarthy, the California lawmaker who became House speaker in a record vote in January.
McCarthy defied critics when he brokered a deal last May that averted an unprecedented default on US government debt. But he now faces a tougher challenge as he struggles to please the right wing of his party, which has torpedoed several of his attempts in recent days to keep funding the government.
Former President Donald Trump has encouraged the right wing of the House Republican Conference, writing on his own platform, Truth Social: “Congressional Republicans can and must defund all aspects of Joe Biden’s crooked government… They failed on the debt limit, but they must not.” They fail now. Use the power of money and defend the country.”
Trump oversaw the closure of two governments during his time in the White House. The second, stemming from a dispute over his plans to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, lasted 35 days, making it the longest shutdown in US history.
Even if McCarthy is able to meet the demands of most of his right-wing members, any deal passed by the House must also be signed by the Democratic-controlled Senate — and Republican hardliners have shown no willingness to support a bipartisan compromise.
Several of them, including Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, suggested that if McCarthy were to push a bipartisan agreement, they would not only oppose the measure, but launch a motion for a vote of no confidence in an attempt to remove him from office.
The White House insisted that funding the government was Congress’s responsibility, and blamed House Republicans for the dysfunction. But the Biden administration has also begun preparing for a potential shutdown, with the Office of Management and Budget developing contingency plans with federal agencies.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that Congress needs to do its job.
“The best plan is for House Republicans to stop playing partisan politics and not do this to hurt Americans across the country,” she added.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden attacked what he described as “extremist Republicans,” saying that party lawmakers must take immediate steps to prevent government disruption before the September 30 deadline.
Biden said the agreement reached between Republican leadership in Congress and his administration in May would have funded core homeland and national security priorities and reduced the budget deficit by $1 trillion over the next 10 years. He added: “Now there is a small group of extremist Republicans who do not want to abide by the agreement.”
But what does lockdown mean?
A shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass the type of funding legislation that the president signs into law.
Lawmakers are supposed to pass 12 different spending bills to fund agencies throughout the government, but the process is taking a long time, according to an Associated Press report. They often resort to passing a temporary extension, called a continuing resolution, to allow the government to continue working.
When no funding legislation is enacted, federal agencies must cease all non-essential business and will not send payroll checks as long as the shutdown continues.
Government funding ends on October 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year. The shutdown will actually begin at 12:01 a.m. if Congress is unable to pass the funding plan signed by the President into law.
It is impossible to predict how long the closure will last.
With Congress divided between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-led House of Representatives, and hard-right conservatives led by McCarthy seeking to use the shutdown as a means to cut spending, many are preparing for a pause that might last for weeks.
Millions of federal workers face delayed pay when the government shuts down, including many of the nearly 2 million military personnel and more than 2 million civilian workers across the country.
Nearly 60 percent of federal workers are stationed in the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.
The closure may have far-reaching effects on government services.
The travel industry might lose $140 million a day in the event of a closure, according to the Travel Industry Association of America.
Lawmakers also warn that the closure might destabilize financial markets. Goldman Sachs estimated that the closure would reduce economic growth by 0.2 percent each week it continued, but growth would rebound following the government reopened.
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