Government shutdown in the USA: Vote today on interim budget!

Government shutdown in the USA: Vote today on interim budget!

In the USA, an interim budget is being discussed in the House of Representatives today to end the current government shutdown. This session will take place at 18:00 CET and could last until Thursday, depending on how the debate goes. The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is already the longest in U.S. history, and the inability of Republicans and Democrats to agree on a budget has caused significant inconvenience. Government employees are not receiving salaries, thousands of flights have been canceled and many citizens are cut off from food aid. This is reported by np-coburg.

There was a breakthrough over the weekend in the Senate, where some Democrats voted with Republicans to allow the interim budget to be voted on. The Senate passed the bill on Monday, with 60 senators voting for and 40 against. Although this has brought a ray of hope, as the government's funding is secured until the end of January 2026, implementation still requires approval from the House of Representatives and the signature of President Donald Trump. The latter described the compromise as “very good” and hopes that the budget freeze will be lifted quickly, as [Tagesschau](https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/ Amerika/senat-zu-shutdown-100.html) reports.

The effects of the shutdown

The consequences of the shutdown are far-reaching. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are not receiving salaries, creating a dire financial situation for many. The shutdown has also led to a decline in government services, with up to 1.2 million travelers affected by canceled flights. The SNAP program, which provides food assistance to approximately 42 million citizens, is also suspended. By approving the interim budget, many citizens hope that this important program will be resumed and the layoffs of thousands of federal employees will be reversed.

The US political system, which is based on a federal structure, allows for such shutdowns when the legislature cannot reach agreement. The country, consisting of 50 states and Washington, D.C., has over 340 million inhabitants and is the third largest country in the world with a total area of ​​9,833,520 km². Politics is highly polarized and such crises are not new. The battle over budget resources often unfolds amid profound differences between political camps, creating a turbulent atmosphere of uncertainty, as Wikipedia reports.

A look into the future

The vote in the House of Representatives could take place as early as Wednesday and the future situation is already foreseeable. If there is no agreement on a long-term budget, there could be another shutdown. This could have a lasting impact on affected citizens and the entire economy, already reeling from political unrest and the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. A good hand in the coming vote would therefore be necessary to smooth things over and ease the situation. Another shutdown would be disastrous not only for the government, but also for the people of the United States, who have already endured much.