The US government was reportedly headed toward a partial shutdown on Friday despite the US Senate approving a last-minute deal backed by President Donald Trump. If a Reuters report is to be believed, the shutdown is all but certain to begin at 12:01 am Eastern time Saturday (0501 GMT).
Here's why a brief US government shutdown is likely
The government funding bill includes changes demanded by Democrats who were concerned about immigration enforcement. However, the US Congress appeared unlikely to approve a deal that would keep a wide swath of operations funded past a midnight deadline.
After hours of delay, the US Senate passed the spending package by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29. But the House of Representatives is out of town and not expected to take up the measure until Monday, a Republican leadership aide told Reuters.
A shutdown is, therefore, set to begin Saturday because the House of Representatives is out of session until Monday, meaning it cannot ratify the upper chamber's agreement before the midnight deadline — making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable, AFP reported.
Senate leaders say the legislation will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days.
What's the funding bill about?
With a weekend shutdown looming, Trump made a rare deal with Senate Democrats on Thursday in the wake of the deaths of two protesters — Alex Pretti and Renee Good — at the hands of federal agents in separate incidents in the northern city of Minneapolis.
Under the agreement, the Homeland Security(DHS) money will continue at current levels for two weeks while lawmakers consider Democratic demands to unmask agents, require more warrants and allow local authorities to help investigate any incidents.
Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Funding for DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement, was split off and extended for just two weeks under a stopgap measure intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to the department's operations.
Trump publicly endorsed the deal and urged both parties to support it, signaling his desire to avoid a second shutdown of his second term, following a record 43-day stoppage last summer.
Second shutdown of Trump's second term
The US government went through the longest shutdown starting October last year. On November 12, Trump signed a funding bill, finally bringing an end to the longest federal government shutdown in the nation's history.
The move reopened the government after a 43-day standoff that disrupted food benefits for millions of Americans, halted paychecks for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and caused widespread delays across the country's air travel system.
What is a US government shutdown?
Shutdowns temporarily freeze funding for non-essential federal operations, forcing agencies to halt services, place workers on unpaid leave or require them to work without pay.
Departments ranging from defense, education and transportation to housing and financial regulation would be affected in a prolonged shutdown, while pressure would mount quickly to resolve disruptions rippling through the economy.
The impact
And a weekend-long stoppage, with a quick resolution in the House on Monday, would have a negligible impact on federal operations.
The broader funding fight has left both parties bracing for at least a brief shutdown. Congress has already passed six of the 12 annual budget bills, but those measures cover only a minority of discretionary spending.
The remaining bills fund large swaths of the government, meaning funding for roughly 78 percent of federal operations is set to lapse.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said the House intends to act quickly when it returns on Monday, although divisions among Republicans could complicate the process.
If enacted, lawmakers would then have just two weeks to negotiate a full-year DHS funding bill — talks that both parties acknowledge will be politically fraught, with Democrats demanding new guardrails on immigration enforcement and conservatives pushing their own policy priorities.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)
