![]() ![]() On January 25, 2019, Trump agreed to endorse a stopgap bill to reopen the government for three weeks up until February 15 to allow for negotiations to take place to approve an appropriations bill that both parties could agree on. ![]() Democrats and some Republicans opposed the shutdown and passed multiple bills to reopen the government, arguing that the government shutdown amounted to " hostage-taking" civil servants and that negotiations could only begin once the government was reopened. For several weeks, Trump continued to maintain that he would veto any bill that did not fund an entire border wall, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the Senate from considering any appropriations legislation that Trump would not support, including the bill that had previously passed. The House immediately voted to approve the appropriations bill that had previously passed the Senate unanimously (which included no funding for the wall). In January 2019, representatives elected in the November 2018 election took office, giving the Democrats a majority in the House. As a result, the House passed a stopgap bill with funding for the wall, but it was blocked in the Senate by the threat of a Democratic filibuster. After Trump faced heavy criticism from some right-wing media outlets and pundits for appearing to back down on his campaign promise to " build the wall", he announced that he would not sign any appropriations bill that did not fund its construction. ![]() In December 2018, the Senate unanimously passed an appropriations bill without wall funding, and the bill appeared likely to be approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Trump. The shutdown stemmed from an impasse over Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the shutdown cost to the American economy to be at least $11 billion USD, excluding indirect costs that were difficult to quantify. As a result, nine executive departments with around 800,000 employees had to shut down partially or in full, affecting about one-fourth of government activities and causing employees to be furloughed or required to work without being paid. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal departments or agencies from conducting non-essential operations without appropriations legislation in place. It occurred when the 116th Congress and President Trump could not agree on an appropriations bill to fund the operations of the federal government for the 2019 fiscal year, or a temporary continuing resolution that would extend the deadline for passing a bill. (Trump repealed DACA in September, and it runs out March 5.) The House bill ignores the immigration issue.The United States federal government shut down from midnight EST on December 22, 2018, until Janu(35 days) was the longest government shutdown in history and the second and final federal government shutdown involving furloughs during the presidency of Donald Trump. Right now, a key sticking point between Republicans and Democrats is whether to pass another continuing resolution for a short-term fix or come to a more difficult but longer-lasting budget compromise, and whether to include a DACA fix in the spending bill to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. The Senate could vote on the bill the House passed, and if it passes again the shutdown would be averted. The House passed a short-term spending bill Thursday night, so now it’s up to the Senate. The last shutdown was in 2013 and lasted 16 days. There have been 12 shutdowns since 1981, Bloomberg reports, lasting from one day to 21 days. “Which is simply not fair.” When has the government shut down before? “All of these people will be working for nothing,” Mulvaney said. Government offices related to national security law enforcement, air traffic control, U.S. Folks will still be fighting the fires out West they will not get paid.” “The border will still be patrolled they will not get paid. “The military will still go to work they will not get paid,” Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney told reporters Friday morning. The military is considered essential so it would largely continue to function, though Congress would have to reapprove a bill from 2013 to have members of the military continue to receive paychecks during the shutdown. Trump, for example, tweeted that a shutdown will be “devastating to our military,” but that’s not true. But many of the government’s primary duties will continue to be performed, although the workers may not be paid for it. ![]()
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