The US government has officially shut down after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure.
The stalemate between Republicans and Democrats has led to the first government shutdown since 2018.
The Republicans were pushing to pass a bill to extend government funding without other initiatives attached – known as a clean CR – or continuing resolution but they only have 53 seats in the Senate and need 60 votes to pass such a bill.
This meant they needed the Democrats support to pass the bill. The Democrats sought to capitalise on that leverage to try and advance their policy goals in health care
Republicans insist that Democrats need to simply agree to extend current funding for another seven weeks but Democrats refuse to do so without major concessions for lending their votes to pass any funding measure in the Senate.
The federal government shutdown means that hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed, while others who are considered essential will have to keep reporting for work – though many won’t get paid until the impasse ends.
Still others, however, will continue collecting paychecks since their jobs are not funded through annual appropriations from Congress.
About 750,000 federal staffers – who earn a total of roughly $400 million each day – could be furloughed, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It noted that the figure could change if the shutdown is prolonged.
Americans will also feel the shutdown in a variety of ways. While some essential activities will continue, other services will shut down.
After the failed vote, Senators left the Capitol in a state of deep uncertainty about how long the shutdown could last. The Senate is on track to vote again late Wednesday morning on the same Republican funding plan — which Republican leaders have vowed to put on the floor day after day until enough Democrats yield and agree to reopen the government.
Meanwhile, some cracks began to show among the Democrats as two more members; Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Senator Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, flipped their positions to back the Republican bill in the final vote before a shutdown. Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania also backed the bill and has criticized his party’s strategy during the shutdown fight.
The Republican stopgap bill failed by a vote of 55 to 45. Republican Senator Rand Paul voted against the bill, while Democratic Senators John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto and independent Senator Angus King voted for it.
Pressure Mounts On Schumer
Pressure is now on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to keep more of his members from yielding to the Republican pressure campaign to support their seven-week funding bill and agree to negotiate later on the Obamacare subsidies.
That task will become tougher with every day of a shutdown, particularly as US President, Donald Trump has threatened to cancel programs favored by Democrats.
As the US federal government shutdown began, members of both parties laid the blame on one another. On the Democrats’ side, Congressman Bill Foster issued a statement saying Republicans bear responsibility for the shutdown, given they control the House, the Senate and the White House.
He noted that families across the country will “continue to pay the price” unless the Republicans come to the table.
Representative Joe Morelle stated that he’s “deeply frustrated” and the shutdown was a direct result of “a brutal and incompetent administration”
On the Republicans’ side, the Republican Conference in the US House of Representatives shared on X a video of lights in the Capitol Building turning out, saying the Democrats are “putting illegal aliens first and hurting hardworking Americans in the process.”
Representative Dusty Johnson said that “shutdowns are stupid,” adding that Democrats are “putting American workers’ paychecks at risk.”
Representative Chuck Fleischmann also stated that Democrats have “officially shut down our government,” and “hardworking taxpayers will have to pay the bill.”
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