In a state of partial fiscal paralysis (Shutdown) of the federal state, the USA entered from midnight Friday to today Saturday Washington time (07:00 Greek time) but there is hope that this will end soon with an expected vote on Monday in Congress.
Three months after the longest “shutdown” in US history, this partial budget paralysis is this time due to the opposition Democrats’ refusal to adopt a budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without placing restrictions on the way the immigration police (ICE) operate after the recent deaths of two people by the fire of federal agents in .
The US Senate had, however, adopted a budget plan a few hours earlier, which is expected to allow the fiscal paralysis to be short-lived, as the House of Representatives is now expected to approve this plan, with a vote expected to take place at the beginning of the week to end the “shutdown”.
Therefore, the consequences are expected to be few, as the partial fiscal paralysis of the federal state can only last for a weekend, without putting many civil servants into technical unemployment.
The memorandum
In a memorandum, the Office of the Budget (OMB) of the White House asked the various departments yesterday, Friday night, to prepare a plan for fiscal paralysis, stating, however, that it “hopes” that it will “be short”.
The text adopted yesterday with 71 votes in favor and 29 against is the result of an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Democratic Senators. They refuse to adopt the budget proposed for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without reforms to the immigration police (ICE), as they demand a stricter framework for its operation after the outrage caused by the recent events in Minneapolis.
In the end, as reported by APE, they agreed to adopt five of the six aspects of the budget plan, while the part concerning DHS will be the subject of new negotiations during the next two weeks.
