The U.S government partially shut down at midnight Saturday after the White
House and Senate failed to pass a spending bill. President Trump had insisted he
would not sign any spending bill that did not include $5 billion for the border
wall along the border with Mexico, CNN reported.
The agencies affected include the departments of Homeland Security, State,
Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice and
Transportation, as well as Nasa, the Food and Drug Administration and the
Environmental Protection Agency.
About 800,000 federal workers at those agencies won’t be paid.
Democrat Ilhan Omar one of the first Muslim women in U.S congress took
to Twitter noting that "If Trump shuts down the government: 420,000 Americans
will be forced to work without pay over the holidays. 380,000 will be
furloughed. 30 million small businesses will lose access to loans”.
She added "All of this, over a wall that Americans don’t want. A waste of
billions of dollars”.
The longest government shutdown began in December of 1995, and lasted 21 days
through the holidays. It was part of a policy debate between then-President Bill
Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich over cutting government spending. But
Trump’s fight is fundamentally different, and it’s possible this one will
outlast the ’95 fight, Vox told.
Source: SHAFAQNA