This year, Ukraine will electrify the island state’s budget dispute. Representatives of the right wing of the Republicans demand a reduction in aid to Ukraine.
The funding of the US federal budget requires support in Congress from both the Republican-majority House of Representatives and the Democratic-majority Senate.
The deadline is Sunday morning Finnish time, because the budget should be approved by the first day of October or the tasks of the federal administration will start to be reduced.
This year’s congressional funding discussions have discussed, among other things, the price tag of supporting Ukraine. In the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans are ready to pass a $24 billion aid package, but in the House of Representatives, a handful of hard-line Republicans want to cut aid to Ukraine.
In the House of Representatives, the Republican Speaker by Kevin McCarthy the additional funding proposal did not pass on Friday, so a budget agreement by the deadline is unlikely.
Here we put together the possible effects of the administrative shutdown.
Federal employees are not paid
If funding is cut off, hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be laid off. For example, army personnel are obliged to continue working without pay.
The AFGE organization, which represents employees of the administration, estimated that a full shutdown meant the continuation of unpaid work for approximately 1.8 million employees.
About 800,000 people would have to be furloughed. A cutoff in funding would mean, for example, the closing of national parks and museums.
Once a financing agreement has been found, salaries are paid retroactively.
Critical services are secured
Services that are essential for society will also be secured during the lockdown. For example, the work of border control, air traffic control and hospital staff will continue. Salaries have been paid to these sectors during previous shutdowns.
The lockdown has an impact on the economy
The longer the shutdown lasts, the greater the effects it will have on the economy. Economists at the Goldman Sachs bank have calculated that, if implemented, the closure will reduce the country’s economic growth by 0.2 percent per week.
Federal funding was last interrupted in 2018-2019, when the administration was closed for five weeks. According to congressional statistics, the US economy suffered losses of three billion euros from the lockout.
AFP, AP