Transport Secretary Sean Duffy warned he could be forced to partially close airspace due to staff shortages
The closure of the government is on track, this Tuesday (4), to break a new record in duration given the lack of agreement on the national budget between the president’s Republicans and the Democratic opposition. On Wednesday, the so-called shutdown will enter its 36th day and surpass the 2019 mark, during the president’s first term. Over the past six weeks, the budget shutdown has left around 1.4 million public employees without receiving their salaries. Those performing “essential” roles, such as air traffic controllers or security forces, were forced to continue working without pay. Social assistance programs have also been severely affected. Trump said on Tuesday that the food aid millions of Americans depend on will be distributed only after the government reopens, although his administration indicated a day earlier that partial benefits would be provided.
At airports, the situation is becoming increasingly critical. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy warned he could be forced to partially close airspace due to staff shortages. “I’ll be honest with you: I don’t believe any of us expected this to go on this long,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference organized to mark the impasse.
The government has been partially paralyzed since Congress failed to pass a bill to maintain funding for federal departments and agencies after October 1, when the new fiscal year began. The Republicans, who have very narrow majorities in both chambers, wanted, on September 30, five Democratic senators to support their legislative resolution to maintain the funds until the end of November and, during that period, discuss the substantive budget issues.
But the Democratic Party, which has watched with concern as Trump uses all the power at his disposal to impose his agenda, remains united. His demand is that the entire issue of Republican health reform be stopped immediately and discussed again, from scratch — which would mean dismantling a large part of the gigantic law that Trump managed to pass less than six months ago.
Signs between backstage
While leaders on both sides have shown little interest in reaching a compromise, there have been signs of negotiation among moderates. A bipartisan group of four centrist members of the House of Representatives on Monday presented a compromise proposal to reduce health insurance costs.
Democrats believe the millions of Americans who see soaring costs when signing up for medical insurance programs next year will pressure Republicans to seek a compromise. But Trump remained steadfast in his refusal to negotiate, saying in an interview broadcast on CBS News on Sunday that he would not allow himself to be “extorted.”
This Tuesday, the president explicitly asked Republicans to use the legislative “nuclear weapon”: eliminating the minimum threshold of 60 votes in the Senate to circumvent Democratic opposition. “End the filibuster now, end this ridiculous shutdown, and most importantly, pass all the wonderful Republican policies we dreamed about for years but never managed to achieve,” Trump said in a social media post.
Ending obstructionism is a double-edged weapon: the 60-vote limit in the Senate was established precisely by Democrats in 2013 to prevent Republican obstructionism. If Congress were to eliminate it again, Democrats could be tempted in the future to use it, for example, to try to get Puerto Rico or Washington state status in the Union.
Trump’s idea was met with reservations by party leaders. “We don’t have the votes,” Republican John Thune, the Senate majority leader, told reporters on Monday.
*With information from AFP
Published by Fernando Dias
