Why is this important
Shutdown paralyzes the work of many departments, puts employees’ salaries on the line, and puts key public services at risk. The economy risks losing billions of dollars, and political tensions between Republicans and Democrats are escalating.
What happened
- The temporary expenditure law expired on September 30, and the parties did not agree on its extension.
- The main dispute is the Affordable Health Act (ACA) subsidies and Medicaid funding, key healthcare agencies.
- The authorities have started “control plans” — mass layoffs are possible, not just temporary unpaid leave for employees.
- According to the White House, the US could lose about $15 billion in GDP per week during the shatdown.
- The Scope agency warned that the shatdown would negatively impact the country’s credit rating.
- Washington froze $26 billion in federal funds for states controlled by Democrats — part of the infrastructure project budget (including New York) has already been blocked.
What they say
The White House accuses the Democrats of sabotaging budget negotiations and promotes it as a “democratic shatdown”. Democrats insist that government work cannot be resumed without healthcare protection and preservation of subsidies, otherwise millions of Americans will be left without insurance.
Context
Since 1976, such “financial gaps” have repeatedly caused shattauns. The current one is the 21st in modern history. Under Donald Trump, this is already the third shatdown. In 2018-2019, one of the shatdaws lasted a record 35 days, demonstrating that the cost of downtime could be extremely high.
