US government shutdown enters day 18: Donald Trump says ‘a Democrat…’

Washington: United States President Doland Trump on Friday termed federal shutdown as the ‘democrat shutdown.’  He claimed that the Democrats are preventing the arrival of undocumented immigrants to the country. Notably, the government shutdown in the US has entered in its 18th day on Saturday (local time). The shutdown continues as senators on Thursday failed for the 10th time to resolve the impasse in votes.

“The shutdown continues. The Republican Party is not going to pay a trillion and a half dollars to illegal immigrants coming into our country, coming in for a lot of reasons, coming in from prisons, from jails, from all over the place, from Venezuela, many countries. We’re not going to do that. So the shutdown continues. It’s a Democrat shutdown. It’s a Schumer shutdown because his career has failed, and it’s over,” he said.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Doland Trump called the ongoing federal shutdown a “Democrat shutdown.”

• Senate failed to resolve the deadlock; funding lapse to continue at least until Monday.

• Nuclear weapons agency to furlough 80% of its staff amid funding shortage.

• The US government shutdown has entered its 18th day, making it the third-longest in history.

The shutdown is now the third-longest funding lapse in modern history, eclipsed only by the shutdowns of 1995 and 2018-19. Shutdowns are a relatively recent phenomenon, having only begun in their current form in 1980.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent the upper chamber home for the weekend after Thursday’s votes, meaning the funding lapse will continue until at least Monday. The House has been out of session since September 19 with no plans to return until the shutdown is over, as per CBS News.

Thune’s office said on Thursday that he will bring up a bill next week that would pay federal employees and military service members who have continued to work during the shutdown. But passing the legislation would require help from Democrats, who blocked a long-term defense spending bill from advancing.

The agency managing the US nuclear weapons said it will furlough 80 percent of its staff due to a funding shortage. House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers warned, “These are not employees you want to send home.”

(with agency inputs)