Following Senate approval, the US House of Representatives will vote this Wednesday (12/11) on a deal that could potentially end the country’s shutdown. This could end the longest shutdown of federal government services in U.S. history.
crisis in usa
- The US government has been shut down since October 1st. This is because the North American Congress could not reach an agreement on the annual budget.
- In practice, this meant that the federal government was paralyzed, directly affecting the functioning of several public services in the country.
- As a result, thousands of federal employees will lose paychecks or be laid off.
- The strike lasted 43 days, making it the longest strike in U.S. history.
- The longest previous shutdown occurred from December 2018 to January 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term, lasting 35 days.
On Monday (Oct. 11), Republican and Democratic lawmakers reached an agreement on the deal, which was approved by the Senate on a 60-40 vote.
The proposal provides for an interim budget that would provide federal funding through January 2026, in addition to broad-based funding for Congress, the Department of Agriculture, and programs for U.S. veterans.
The document passed the Senate after five weeks of negotiations between Republican representatives and centrist Democrats.
To support the bill, Democratic-linked politicians have called for a vote next month on reversing federal employee layoffs, retroactive payments of paychecks suspended during the government shutdown, and expanding subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which had been blocked by Republicans.
If approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, the project would go to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sanction the measure and rebuild the U.S. civil service.