The US administration has begun informing its workers of an imminent “shutdown” that would send millions of federal and military employees to their homes temporarily or make them work without pay unless Congress reaches a final agreement on the budget.
The vote on the budget in Congress often turns into a confrontation in which one of the two parties, the Republican or the Democrat, uses the specter of a closure to extract concessions from the opponent, but these maneuvers usually fail.
Without reaching an agreement, funding for a large portion of the federal government will end at midnight on Saturday, threatening to disrupt all sectors. If the closure continues, it will deal another blow to the unstable economy.
Four months after avoiding a catastrophic debt default, the world's largest economy is once again on the brink of crisis, with the effects of the lockdown expected to begin to appear at the end of this week.
Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, were unable to pass the usual set of bills that determine departmental budgets for the next fiscal year, which begins Sunday, after their efforts were hampered by extremists in the party demanding major spending cuts. Some federal employees have been told of preparations for a “shutdown.”
The Ministry of Health warned in an email sent to employees that previously notified individuals would be temporarily subject to technical unemployment, “which means they will not be allowed to work or use the ministry’s resources.” They will therefore have to wait until the end of the “lockdown” to receive their salaries retroactively, according to the French.
The longest period of budget paralysis in the United States lasted 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019.
However, services considered “essential” will continue. The only solution to avoid a shutdown is to reach a last-minute agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
The Ministry of Health will witness “a reduction in the number of employees in almost all departments throughout this period,” according to details of the email received by employees. "Many of our core programs and activities will continue, but with reduced staff," the ministry said.
For her part, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that if paralysis occurs for only a few days, “our soldiers will be forced to continue working, but they will do so without pay, and thousands of their civilian colleagues will be unemployed.”
She added, "The closure is the worst situation, so we continue to demand that Congress do its work and fund the government," according to the Frenchman.
The closure would jeopardize the financial resources allocated to workers in national parks, museums and other federally funded sites, and could have serious political repercussions for President Joe Biden as he seeks to win a second term in the 2024 elections.
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