US government nears first shutdown in nearly 7 years amid partisan standoff • FRANCE 24 English

Well, it’s official. The White House’s budget director has directed federal agencies to start implementing their shutdown plans after Republicans and Democrats couldn’t agree on the stop stop gap spending bill. The main sticking point really is healthcare. Democrats say that they can’t support a funding bill that will impact health care benefits for millions of people. And Republicans say that funding and health care need to be handled separately. And Dem’s refusal to side with them is going to impact the country. Well, the blame game is already well and truly underway. We’ve been here before, of course, especially under a Trump presidency. This is going to be the fourth shutdown during his tenure. And he holds the record for the longest government shutdown at 35 days during his first term. But before, shutdowns were seen more as a kind of political liability really with each side eager to pass the blame on to the other. And in that respect, like I said, this time is no different. But the difference this time is that Trump’s White House doesn’t really seem to mind closing the government for extended periods. Instead, threatening to use the time to lay off non-essential workers. This shutdown is really providing the administration cover to fulfill more of its government slashing agenda. Around 300,000 people have been laid off across the government. This week, in particular, is going to see the largest mass resignation in US history as around half of those layoffs take effect. And Trump isn’t done yet. He says there’s more fat to trim. Today in the Oval Office, for example, Trump said we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. A lot of good can come from shutdowns. We can get rid of a a lot of things that we didn’t want and they’d be Democrat things. Now, in recent past shutdowns, hundreds of thousands of employees were furoughed, but the shutdowns did not result in mass permanent layoffs or significant reorganizations. And under federal law, uh, federal workers also receive back pay for their time on furow. Uh, but it is a sense that this is not going to be the case this time around, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Democrats and Republicans traded blame Tuesday as a government shutdown loomed, with neither side willing to compromise on health care and spending. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers risked furloughs as lawmakers failed to reach a deal. 
#USA #Trump #Shutdown

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6 comments

  1. Republicans, who control all 3 branches of US government, fail again and again at helping the vast majority of Americans. They are a band of terrorists, and criminals.

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