WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — The U.S. federal government entered a shutdown at the start of Wednesday as partisan divisions prevented Congress from passing a funding bill, which marks the first government shutdown in nearly seven years.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be forced to take unpaid leave, with some public services potentially suspended or delayed, and the release of economic data possibly impacted as well.
The shutdown commenced hours after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill that would have temporarily kept the government running.
The continuing resolution proposed by Senate Republicans was blocked by Democrats, falling short of the 60 votes required for passage.
In the latest negotiations, healthcare benefits have been one of the core sticking points between the two parties.
Democrats are demanding stronger healthcare-related benefits, including an extension of the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act set to expire at the end of the year, as well as restoring the act’s coverage eligibility for certain immigrants who are legally present, including refugees and asylum seekers.
Republicans, on the other hand, opposed these measures and have been pushing to temporarily maintain current government funding levels to allow more time for negotiations.
Republicans and Democrats continued to trade blame recently, accusing each other of forcing the government into a “shutdown.” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon that Democrats want to shut down the government, claiming that their insistence on providing free healthcare to undocumented immigrants has caused the negotiations to stall.
“The Democrats want to shut it down. So when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. And they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump said.
While top Democrats in the House and the Senate blamed Trump and Republicans for the shutdown early Wednesday morning, they also voiced Democrats’ readiness to make a deal to reopen the federal government.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement on Wednesday that Democrats “remain ready to find a bipartisan path forward to reopen the government in a way that lowers costs and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.” (Xinhua)
