1 of 1 U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters on September 29, 2023, during an attempt to approve an agreement to balance the state budget and avoid the closure of public institutions. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/ AP President of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters on September 29, 2023, during an attempt to approve a deal on the country’s budget and prevent the closure of public institutions. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The United States House of Representatives rejected this Friday (29) a final attempt to prevent the government from becoming insolvent and not paying public employees.
US legislators They failed to reach consensus on passing legislation to finance public serviceslargely due to the opposition of the most radical wing of the Republican Party to the Chamber President’s proposals (more on this below).
The deadline for this approval is this Friday. If the bills are not passed, the US will have to close public services and stop paying employees from Saturday (30).
A Senate bill that was seen as a last chance to pass the bills was rejected by the chamber. Both chambers have a Republican majority, but representatives from the more radical wing of the party did not agree with several points of the project presented by the senators.
A rejection a day before the deadline leaves few options to prevent a shutdownand will, among other things:
- Deny temporary government employees;
- Keep the military running without payment;
- Stop programs and services for millions of Americans;
- Close a number of Offices, museums and public parks;
- Caused Air traffic disruptions in the country.
If there is a strike, it will not be the first. The longest lasted 35 days, between December 2018 and January 2019.
Why do strikes happen?
The US government risks paralyzing its activities without consensus on the budget in Congress
Such strikes do happen if Congress is unable to pass legislation to fund public services.
In that case, lawmakers would have to pass 12 different spending bills to fund governmentwide agencies, but the process is timeconsuming. They often resort to temporary extensions to allow the government to continue operating.
Unless funding legislation is enacted, federal agencies will have to stop all nonessential work and will not send paychecks for the duration of the shutdown.