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Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Republicans, Money, Jobs
Callum Jones
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Republicans, Money, Jobs
The United States federal government has shut down after Donald Trump failed in negotiations with the Democrats, which is set to impact thousands of Americans.
In recent hours, the federal government has shuttered for the first time since 2018 amid deadlock in Congress, with the Republicans and Democrats blaming each other.
President Trump even shared a behind-the-scenes photo from his negotiations with the Democrats to avoid a shut down, but he was ultimately unsuccessful in doing so.
While the Senate is hoping to find solutions later on Wednesday (October 1) to vote on the twice-failed funding bill, many Republicans are not expected to be present in the capital for the vote.
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As a result, a timeline on when a resolution could be made remains unknown at this time.
To put it simply, a shutdown means that the non-essential functions of government are frozen, meaning the likes of national park access and travel are impacted.
Such agencies are dependent on funding being approved in Congress, but with that not possible at the moment, those agencies are forced to close their doors.
They will be hoping an agreement can be made soon so the president can budget legislation for the fiscal year ahead.
So, it's federal employees which are expected to be hit the worse, as they will not receive a single pay cheque until the shut down is brought to an end.
Those employees who are not deemed essential will be forced to stay at home, while the BBC reports agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will most likely furlough their workers.
It's also expected the shutdown will impact travel, with experts warning long security queues could soon be at the airport as unpaid air traffic controllers decide to stay at home.
While Air traffic control and Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers are deemed 'essential', the BBC states they will not be paid until the shutdown has concluded.
During the last shutdown, many of these workers decided to call in sick likely because they were't getting paid, which led to delays in the airport for passengers.
The current situation stems from the Republicans and Democrats being unable to agree to a bill funding governmental services from October and beyond.
While the Republicans control both chambers of Congress, they are short of 60 votes in the Senate to pass the spending bill.
The Democrats are refusing to back the Republican bill, saying the proposal will make it more difficult for Americans to afford healthcare, for example.
They are calling for cuts to Medicaid made by Trump to be reversed, as well as opposing cuts to the CDC and NIH.
With the federal government now shut down, Trump has warned there may now be some layoffs.
"The Democrats want to shut it down, well when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So we’d be laying off a lot of people who are going to be very affected. They’re going to be Democrats," the president said on Tuesday (September 30).
"We’re doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down, but a lot of good can come from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things."