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US federal Government begins partial shutdown
22 Dec, 2018
The U.S. federal government has begun a partial shutdown of its operations, US media reports said.
About a quarter of the government ran out of funds at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Washington time. More than 800,000 federal employees? jobs have been disrupted and more than half of those employees are required to work without pay.
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives adjourned late Friday without passing a federal spending bill that provides President Donald Trump with the $5 billion that he insists is needed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in addition to appropriations for government agencies.
Lawmakers had until midnight to enact a measure to keep the government fully funded.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi issued a joint statement Saturday saying, ?Democrats have offered Republicans multiple proposals to keep the government open, including one that already passed the Senate unanimously, and all of which include funding for strong, sensible, and effective border security ? not the president?s ineffective and expensive wall. If President Trump and Republicans choose to continue this Trump shutdown, the new House Democratic majority will swiftly pass legislation to re-open government in January.?
Trump tweeted a video late Friday, saying ?we?re going to have a shutdown. There?s nothing we can do about that.?
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