Closure risk increases in US, where budget agreement cannot be reached
As time runs out for the new budget that will fund the US federal government to be enacted, the failure to reach an agreement in the US Congress increases the risk of a government shutdown.
While there is very little time left until the country’s new fiscal year, which will begin on October 1, Congress has not yet reached an agreement on the budget bill that will fund the federal government.
In the country where the government has “shut down” 21 times in the last 47 years due to lack of budget, Congress has until midnight on September 30, US local time, to agree on a new budget bill that will fund the federal government and prevent a new shutdown.
REPUBLICANS ARE USING HIM LIKE TRUMP
The fact that the US Congress is divided between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and the fact that far-right Republican conservatives want to use the government shutdown as leverage to cut spending on the budget makes things difficult.
While Republicans disagree over spending plans, far-right conservatives within the party want spending cuts as well as halting additional funding for the war in Ukraine.
This group, which rejects compromise efforts led by US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, threatens to unseat McCarthy if moderate Republicans reach a deal with Democrats to pass the interim budget.
For any budget to become law, after being approved by the House, it must be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate and then signed by US President Joe Biden.
MOST OPERATIONS CAN STOP
Under US law, if Congress cannot pass the permanent budget for the fiscal year that begins October 1 and ends September 30, the gap must be closed with temporary budgets. During periods when the interim budget cannot be approved, federal institutions that lose their spending authority temporarily cease their activities. This means that most federal government operations would cease unless legislation is passed to fund the government before the fiscal year begins.
Although the situation in question does not constitute a full-blown economic crisis, it carries the risk of disrupting many areas of American life that interact with the federal government.
During this process, non-essential public employees were placed on mandatory leave, while the US military, intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) ), doctors and nurses working in public hospitals, security guards at airports and prisons, etc. Public employees continue with their duties.
These employees, who are in the “essential” personnel category, often do not receive their salaries during shutdowns until Congress passes a new budget.
THE LAST CLOSURE WAS EXPERIENCED DURING THE TRUMP ERA.
Each federal agency is following its own shutdown plan, following guidelines coordinated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued in previous shutdowns. The plans specify which government activities cannot continue until funding is restored.
While the occasional “shutdown” of the federal government due to budget crises seems strange to those living in other countries because there are no other examples in the world, the American people have experienced this situation, which causes billions of dollars in damage to the economy of the country. at regular intervals 21 times since 1976, when the current legal regulation on the budget was implemented.
The first of the closures, which occurred due to the lack of agreement between Republicans and Democrats, took place during the term of the 38th US president, Gerald Ford, and lasted 11 days. The federal government was shut down five times during the term of the 39th US president, Jimmy Carter, to whom Ford handed power in 1977.
The fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, was the president who experienced a federal government shutdown eight times during his eight years in office. The country’s former presidents, George Bush and Barack Obama, experienced a government shutdown once, and Bill Clinton experienced a government shutdown twice.
During the reign of former US President Donald Trump, the government shut down three times, and the last shutdown, which began in December 2018 and ended in January 2019, lasted 35 days, making it the longest shutdown in US history. USA.
THREAT THE ECONOMY
If a deal is not reached in the US Congress this week, the government is expected to shut down for the first time since 2019.
It is claimed that in the event of a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will have to take unpaid leave and a wide range of services, from economic data releases to social assistance, could be affected.
Public employees cutting their expenses because they cannot receive their salaries, the blow to the tourism sector if public parks, beaches and museums are closed, and the fall in US stock markets and investments due to loss of confidence are some of the effects negatives that can be caused. due to the government shutdown.
The federal government shutdown is estimated to cost the US travel economy $140 million per day, according to the US Travel Association.
The international credit rating agency Moody’s, in its statement earlier this week, warned that the possible shutdown of the federal government in the US would have negative effects on credit evaluation.
It is stated that the cost of the possible closure of the federal government to the country’s economy will be greater the longer the process lasts. (AA)