Wednesday morning as the clock struck midnight, the United States government shut down after failing to pass a continued resolution [CR] before the September 30th deadline.
Disputes between the Democrat and Republican members of Congress saw an impasse over proposals for the spending bill.
It is the first federal shutdown in six years; in 2019 a shutdown saw parts of the government closed for 35 days.
The previous shutdown had been a result of a dispute between congressional Democrats and President Trump’s demands to fund a wall at the southern border.
This time, the Democrats refused to vote for the spending bill if Republicans did not accept their proposal to extend Affordable Care Act [ACA] subsidies that would be expiring at the end of the year. The Democrats’ budget proposal also included rescinding the cuts to Medicaid signed into law over the summer.
While it was previously unpredictable whether the two parties would come to a deal, it was all but clear by Tuesday night after Senate Democrats voted just two hours before the midnight deadline to block the Republicans’ CR.
A 55-45 vote on the Republicans’ CR, which would extend funding for the federal government through November 21st, fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass.
Speaking to press, senate majority leader John Thune said:
“The Democrats’ far-left base and far-left senators have demanded a showdown with the president,”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said:
“If the president were smart, he’d move heaven and earth to fix this healthcare crisis right away,” and “if there was ever a time for Republicans to get serious about healthcare, it is now.”
In response to the shutdown, president Trump announced he would move to enact measures that are “bad” for Democrats; “like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”
In the event of a government shutdown, the government runs out of funding. This means that some federal workers are furloughed, and some federal agencies and welfare programs are disrupted. Some functions of the government continue, such as law enforcement, the Postal Service and Social Security.
While the severity of disruptions remain unknown, it is expected a vast amount of agencies and programs will take severe hits during the shutdown. Programs like Head Start and WIC are likely to run out of funds very quickly, while employees of federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] and Department of Commerce will likely be furloughed. In total, the shutdown is predicted to place 40% of federal workers on unpaid leave.
How severely services would be affected is dependent on how long the shutdown lasts. For instance, although the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] is not expected to be immediately disrupted, payments could be affected later in the year. Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Administration [FEMA] could exhaust funding for its Disaster Relief Fund.
The Trump administration has also threatened mass firings in “revenge” for the “Democrat” shutdown. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought issued a memo threatening sweeping layoffs within agencies which were regarded as “not consistent with the president’s priorities,” in the days leading up to the shutdown.
The firings, Vought reportedly told Republican lawmakers, could come in “a day or two.”
Speaking to the Daily Caller, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated this point, claiming that federal layoffs as a result of the government shutdown are “imminent.”
