72 critical hours to avoid a shutdown: What is a “government shutdown” in the US and who will it affect

(Washington, USA) A freshman’s ghostshutdown“One Federal government shutdown in the United States Flying back over Washington. With three days left for the current budget deadline, Democrats and Republicans still disagree.

for now There are huge differences between Republicans in the House of Representatives, They cannot put together a plan to discuss with the Democrats. If not agreed before Saturday, next day The shutdown will include suspension of many non-essential government services and activities.

For more time, the option to extend the current budget by 45 days and continue negotiations was thrown out last week by the most radical Republicans, who have already confronted their party leader more than once in the past year. In the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the White House is publicly pushing to frame some of its opponents as criminals. “Extremist House Republicans are playing partisan games with people’s lives.” and is leading our country toward a government shutdown that will have harmful effects across the country,” Joe Biden’s administration said in a statement released Thursday morning.

A government shutdown occurs when central government agencies are not cleared in time for the funding they need to operate normally before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. When this happens, usually in October and early in the year, it depends on whether or not temporary extensions are granted to continue negotiations.

These chapters They usually occur when the party in the White House does not have its own majority in either house of Congress. There are no deals where the opposition tries to promote initiatives or stop the administration’s spending. While meeting previously approved budget deadlines, the central government has no authorized funds to fund its operations.

This is Terminates a large number of services and functions deemed unnecessary. Thus the government is without authority to issue money and cover all its activities.

This situation has been repeated periodically in the United States since the mid-1970s, when Congress consolidated its budgeting authority.

Since 1976, there have been 21 government shutdowns due to disagreements in Congress. The longest in 2019 was during the Trump administration and lasted 34 days. In 1995, during the Bill Clinton administration, the strike lasted 21 days. In 1978, Jimmy Carter’s administration had 17 consecutive shutdown days, but a year earlier he had one of 12, two over 8, and a year later he would have 11. In all, Carter has five shutouts in his single tenure. , a total of 56 days of shooting. In 2013, the Obama administration shut down for 16 days while Obamacare was being debated.

This year, in May, Congress and the White House led the federal government to reduce some of its activities, but not because of a “shutdown” but because the debt ceiling had been reached. The United States, unlike most countries, requires Congress to approve a budget and has a statutory ceiling on the amount of debt it can assume. If that debt ceiling has already been reached, only Congress can raise it.

That was the case in May when Republicans, who dominate the House of Representatives, refused for weeks to raise the debt ceiling that the United States can contract to pay its bills.

At the time, federal agencies had a budget allocated by Congress, but they couldn’t access it because the Treasury couldn’t take out more debt to send the money. They finally came to an agreement And the US did not accept default, which would have been dramatic for the global economy.

With divided control of Congress (Democrats control the Senate and Republicans the House of Representatives) and negotiating bridges increasingly complex, the central conflict is in the lower house. The ball was in the opposition party’s court where they started announcing plans to make budget cuts.

On the other hand, in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats reached a bipartisan deal on the budget. But clashes continue in the House of Representatives, which has little appetite for negotiation because of the move by a radical group of Republican lawmakers who want to impose cuts.

If the Senate bill comes up for a vote in the House of Representatives, it is likely to pass because it has the support of several Republican members of Congress and all Democrats.

But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, has tried to avoid a shutdown, knowing it could backfire politically and unwilling to move forward without agreeing with disgruntled lawmakers.. The extreme division of his party did not make his still short mandate as easy as it had been on other important occasions. When its declaration was debated, earlier in the year, LThe same radical delegates blocked his nomination during 14 votes, It imposes heavy demands on him to accept it.

McCarthy can move forward after excluding 20 members of Congress who the White House describes as “extremists” and who refused to certify the 2020 election results that gave Biden victory.

Even this week, McCarthy launched a highly critical line toward his party partners amid the difficulties of negotiations. “It’s a whole new concept of individuals wanting to burn the whole place down. “It won’t work,” he said.

Even so, he doesn’t want to move forward without appeasing them, because radicals will already threaten to force a debate to remove him from the chamber’s presidency if the plan is voted down without their support.

There have been attempts at talks in recent weeks, but the differences still appear to be wide.

“We should not be in a situation where our troops go out and risk their lives without pay. “If we get to that point it will be a failure on our part.” Republican Rep. Garrett Graves agreed From Louisiana, McCarthy’s partner.

So far, however, Republicans have been unable to articulate a plan to close the party’s internal fiefdoms, while transitioning the Democratic-majority Senate is possible. There, cuts like those attempted by more radical representatives will not be approved.

From the White House they start blaming Republicans more and more harshly. As the election campaign approaches next year. President Joe Biden said Saturday that it was the fault of “a small group of radical Republicans.”

At the same time, White House spokespeople and social media, as well as some Democratic representatives, began to create fears about what would happen if the shutdown happened and who would be affected. “Republicans are really ready to shut down the government Take food out of hungry children’s mouths to make a political point,” said Massachusetts Democratic Representative Jim McGovern.

If the no-deal is finalized before Saturday, September 30, the government shutdown will affect many agencies and millions of citizens in different ways.

Many federal employees will be left in limbo because they won’t be called to work until Congress approves new funding for the agencies they work for.

Others, in essential services, must continue to work but are not sure they will receive their payments. The same is true of armed and security forces and air traffic controllers.

The White House has begun advising federal agencies to prepare for a government shutdown. “A government shutdown would affect everything from food security to cancer research to Head Start programs for children,” Biden said.

Many public services will be suspended, such as national parks, scientific research and issuing new loans to small businesses or approving government contracts.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the shutdown could affect airline flights, causing “disruption” because air traffic controllers, though part of an essential service, would not be guaranteed their pay. In previous closings, many employees got sick or decided to leave.

The White House is pressing to show how some programs that serve vulnerable populations will be affected by a prolonged government shutdown. They said for example Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which helps meet the nutritional and dietary needs of low-income pregnant or lactating women, infants and children up to 5 years of age.

The food stamp program, which gives millions of poor people access to food, has funding until mid-October. If the closure is not resolved earlier, there will be no protection for the beneficiaries.

The economic impact of many government shutdowns could also be high. According to official calculations, 2019’s record shutdown will cost the country about $11 billion.

With the clock running out, the panic of the stroke is once again haunting Washington.