WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump faced first government shutdown after a bill regarding a short-term extension of government funding was rejected by the Senate Friday night.
It is also the first shutdown in five years as it happened under Barack Obaman’s administration in 2013, sparking public anger. The major failure happened at a time when Trump is about to celebrate the first anniversary of his government.
Republicans were required 60 votes to sail through the bill in order to keep the government open until Feb 16, but it could receive 50 votes in favour. Four senators of Trump’s party also voted against the bill, while five Democrats supported it.
The failure erupted after Trump administration failed to address the concerns of Democrats about not giving shelter to young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers”.
In September, Trump announced his plan to shut the immigration programme, besides asking Congress to present a replacement until March.
However, bipartisan efforts are being made to resolve the issue before the midnight deadline in order to aver the shutdown.
If the government failed to woo the senators, national parks and monuments could face closure, while essential services, including, national security, air traffic control, disaster assistance, prisons, inpatient medical services, emergency outpatient medicine, and electricity production, BBC reported.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the funding bill, voted 230-197, allowing funding for one month. And, Trump was pessimistic about the approval from Senate as it showed from his tweet.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/954541219970977793
He had invited Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer to the White House to woo him but they failed to reach a deal.
Consequences of Shutdown
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said that over 50 percent of his department would be unable to work and some intelligence and training operation will have to stop.
“We do a lot of intelligence operations around the world and they cost money, these obviously would stop,” Mr Mattis said when asked about the impending shutdown, “it’s got a huge morale impact.”
