The US is hours away from partial government shutdowns as Democrats decide whether to play ball with Republicans in the first major legislative hurdles of Trump’s second administration.
The House last week approved a stopgap funding measure called a continuing resolution, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer urged Senate Democrats to pass the upper chamber action.
Lawmakers face midnight deadline on Friday, or the government will be partially closed
This is an event that has the potential to cause disruption to various public services, delayed pay, and if it becomes long, it could cause major damage to the national economy.
Schumer faces intense backlash from House Democrats and others in his party, many of whom see compliance with Trump’s agenda as giving up on the small leverage Democrats have.
What happens when the US government closes?
It is not immediately clear which government services will be affected by the closure, as the Trump administration has not warned the public about what will happen.
But past closures have filled thousands of federal employees. This means that their pay was retroactively paid at the end, but they did not report for work and were told to be unpaid for the closure period.
Other government workers who performed what was reviewed, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officers, continued their work, but were not paid until Congress acted to end the closure.
Depending on how long it lasts, national parks can be closed or open completely without certain important services such as public toilets and attendants. Passport processing may be suspended, similar to research at the National Institute of Health.
What causes the shutdown?
Simply put, the terms of the law known as the Anti-Defect Act, first passed in 1884, prohibits federal agencies from spending or requiring funds without conducting expenditures.
If Congress fails to enact the 12 annual budget bills needed to fund the activities of the US government and related bureaucracy, all non-essential work must halt until it is done. If Congress has enacted a portion of the bill but not another, agencies affected by the bill that has not been enacted will be forced to stop functioning normally. This is known as a partial government closure.
How rare is the US government closure?
During the first 200 years of the US existence, they never happened. In recent decades, they have become an increasingly regular part of the political landscape as Washington politics has become a more polarised and brink-on-the-brink political tool. Since 1976, there have been 20 federal funding gaps since the US first shifted its fiscal year on October 1st.
Three shutdowns in particular have entered us into political lore:
A 21-day partial closure of spending cuts between President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker Newt Ginrich.
In 2013, when the government was partially shut down after another Republican-led Congress attempted to use budget negotiations to reimburse Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
The 34-day shutdown, which lasted from December 2018 to January 2019, continued until January 2019, when it refused to sign a budget bill that would not include $5.7 billion in funding for the wall along the US border with Mexico. The closure destroyed Trump’s poll ratings.
What is triggering the latest imminent shutdown?
Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, but need 60 votes to prepare to pass the bill. In other words, democratic support is required. Democrats in the nearby home unilaterally oppose the measure, with only one member in exile. These budget votes are one way Democrats could wield billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called “Doctors of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) in power in the runaway Trump administration, where billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called “Doctor of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) significantly cuts the federal workforce.
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Schumer plans to vote to move forward with the measure, saying it’s even worse if Americans don’t approve the “deeply partisan” Republican suspension law. “If the government shuts down, Doge has plans to destroy the plan to take advantage of the crisis to the fullest. The shutdown allows Doge to move to overdrive. It gives Donald Trump and Doge the key cities, states and countries. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are free to destroy key government services at their own pace, at a much faster rate than they are now, and in the much broader disruption field they render.”
Other Democrats strongly oppose it. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the bill would be “a devastating attack on the well-being of working-class families.” Senators should follow their spending leaders, Rosa Delauro and Patty Murray, who proposed a four-week funding extension to keep the government running while the parties are working on a bipartisan agreement, she said.
“The US has previously experienced Trump closures, and this damaging law only exacerbates the problem,” Pelosi said.
The party’s young wings are especially furious by Schumer’s exile. “We have members of Congress who have walked the planks to protect the American people and won Trump-owned districts in some of the hardest territories in the United States that took countless risks,” said President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Just seeing Senate Democrats consider signing up for Elon Musk, I think it’s a big slap in the face.”
How will closures affect the wider economy?
There is no current estimate of what the costs to the economy will be if the government closes this time.
However, the 2018-19 closure has cost the US economy $11 billion in short-term costs, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
How did Donald Trump respond?
Just like during the 2018-19 shutdown, Trump will likely face blowback if the government closes.
He has so far praised Schumer for “doing the right thing.”
“I’ve taken courage and courage!” The president wrote about the true society. “We’re coming with a massive tax cut, an L.A. fire amendment, a debt cap bill, and so on. We all need to cooperate in that very dangerous situation. The non-pass is a rural destroyer, and approval takes us to new heights. Again, a really good, smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for America, a whole new direction and beginning!”
