In two days, the money will run out. The United States is a hair's breadth from paralysis
The US federal authorities warned administration workers on Thursday about a possible so-called shutdown, i.e., closure of offices due to the failure to pass the budget for the new fiscal year. The US Congress has two days left to avoid disruption of state work, but there does not seem to be a great chance of breaking the deadlock.
Sep 29, 2023 | updated: 9:12 AM EDT, October 5, 2023
As reported by "The Washington Post", federal agency employees have been notified that they may soon be sent on leave if they are not on the list of essential workers. This is related to the ongoing stalemate in Congress over the adoption of a provisional budget or a budget to allocate funds for the further operation of state bodies.
Time is running out
If the appropriate legislation is not adopted by the end of September, when the current fiscal year ends, the so-called shutdown will block the work of most offices and agencies beyond their most important and basic functions. This could mean, for example, the closure of federal parks or disruptions in the support of social programs.
However, soldiers, border guards, and airport employees would be forced to work for free. According to the "Washington Post," no final decisions have been made yet about which employees will be sent on potential leave. The Pentagon has decided, however, that the disruptions will not affect aid supplies to Ukraine.
The right wing is blocking the budget
The cause of the paralysis in Congress is primarily the demands of the right wing of the Republican Party, which - having a decisive influence on the vote - does not want to agree to the enactment of a stopgap without deep cuts, funds for border reinforcement, and above all, without removing from the project funds to help Ukraine. This, in turn, is something that the Democrats controlling the Senate and a majority of Republican senators do not agree to.
Republicans in the House of Representatives also rejected the Senate's "clean" stopgap bill, leaving spending levels at their current level.
According to Politico and the "Washington Post", this makes a shutdown a likely scenario. Such a situation has occurred many times in the US, however, the paralysis usually lasted a few days. The longest took place during Donald Trump's presidency in 2018 - it lasted 34 days.
