The US government yesterday began shutting down after lawmakers failed to break a budget impasse during talks that hinged on calls for healthcare funding.
Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the deadlock that would affect government workers and those who use the services they provide.
The shutdown, which would stop work at federal departments and agencies, comes as deep partisan divisions in Washington have raised fears over what will be the length and consequences of the halt.
Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump threatened to force mass cuts to public-sector jobs during the stoppage.
“So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
He said a “lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” and suggested he would use the pause to “get rid of a lot of things we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.”
Government operations began grinding to a halt at 12:01am after a failed bid in the Senate to rubber-stamp a short-term funding resolution already approved by the US House of Representatives.
US Senator Chuck Schumer posted a video on social media that showed a clock ticking down to midnight over an image of the US Capitol building.
“The Republican shutdown has just begun because Republicans wouldn’t protect America’s healthcare,” Schumer said. “We are going to keep fighting for the American people.”
The shutdown would not affect vital functions like the Postal Service, the military and welfare programs like Social Security and food stamps, but up to 750,000 workers could be sent home each day and would not be paid until the shutdown is over, according to the US Congressional Budget Office.
The gridlocked Congress regularly runs into deadlines to agree on spending plans and the negotiations are invariably fraught, but it usually avoids them ending in shutdowns.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X after the shutdown began: “How long will Chuck Schumer let this pain go on — for his own selfish reasons?”
Republicans had proposed to extend current funding until late next month, pending negotiations on a longer-term spending plan, but Democrats wanted to see hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare spending restored, particularly in a health insurance program for low-income households, which the Trump administration is likely to eliminate.
Almost all Senate Democrats voted against a House-passed, seven-week stop-gap funding measure hours ahead of the midnight deadline.
It was unclear how long the shutdown would last.
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