First government shutdown in more than 6 years could see thousands of federal workers furloughed or fired.
Plunged into a government shutdown, the U.S. is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programs and services running by Wednesday’s midnight deadline.
Senate Democrats voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government late on Tuesday, putting the U.S. on a pathway to a shutdown for the first time in nearly seven years. The Senate rejected the legislation as Democrats made good on their threat to close the government if U.S. President Donald Trump and Republicans didn’t accede to their health-care demands. The 55-45 vote on a bill to extend federal funding for seven weeks fell short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster and pass the legislation.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans are trying to “bully” Democrats by refusing to negotiate on an extension of expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of the year.
“We hope they sit down with us and talk,” Schumer said after the vote.
“Otherwise, it’s the Republicans will be driving us straight toward a shutdown tonight at midnight. The American people will blame them for bringing the federal government to a halt.”The failure of Congress to keep the government open means that hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be furloughed or laid off.
After the vote, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget issued a memo saying “affected agencies should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.”
Source: aljazeera.com/news
