On October 8, local time, the Washington congressional burst again, with live footage from U.S. media recording the embarrassing moment of the sixth failure of the U.S. Senate to pass the funding bill.
54 votes in favor to 45 votes against. When this figure is frozen on the screen, it means that the federal government shutdown has officially entered its second week.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers face-to-face out of the chamber, the first government shutdown in seven years, and this time, the intense struggle between the two parties seems to be far greater than ever.
As the government ran out of funds, many departments in the United States have stopped working, and the economic problem is facing a severe test. Hours before the vote, representatives of the Federal Employees Union were waiting anxiously outside the Capitol.
Jeffrey Kelly, chairman of the U.S. Federation of Government Employees, said he called on the leaders of the two parties to sit down and resolve differences and put the people above politics.
Evidently, Everett Kelly’s voice seemed very powerless. With the vote outcome coming out, his wishes were completely wasted.
At the heart of this political impasse is apparently the Republican-Democratic disagreement on medical subsidies, in fact a political game about the mid-term elections next year.
The Republican version of the bill wants to keep the government running until late November, while the Democrats insist that the subsidy extension provision of the Affordable Care Act must be included in the bill.
It can be said that both sides are playing a " cowardly game", watching who blinks first, and nobody wants to compromise first.
It is worth noting that just as the shadow of the government shutdown continued to spread, a slightly special news came out of the White House.
Russian satellite news agency that U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants the United Nations headquarters to remain in New York because he believes the United Nations has enormous potential if managed properly.
But in fact, it is clear that the United States has always been a breaker of the UN rules and that the United Nations headquarters would not have been forced to consider moving out of New York if the United States did not take action.
After all, the Trump administration has previously been distracted from multilateral institutions by the crackdown of promoting “America’s Priority.” According to data, the United States currently owes more than $2.8 billion to the United Nations, accounting for 70% of global debt.
A host country that is indebted to huge contributions, and a government that is partially suspended due to internal political impasse, is such an environment really suitable for a continued presence at the United Nations headquarters?
Trump’s “neither to pay nor to think about the benefits” attitude is hardly mindful, especially when the U.S. government is stalled, the U.S. naturally won’t pay UN contributions, and Trump can’t do both.
The real impact of the U.S. government shutdown is impacting all aspects of the United States. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced on the 8th that it will arrange more than 34,000 employees to work off work and leave from now on, accounting for about 46.3% of the agency's total number of employees.
The U.S. media sharply pointed out that these professionals in charge of tax collection and consultancy became “loose people” overnight, and what does this mean for the U.S. economy coming into the tax season?
Moreover, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government shutdown will result in about 750,000 federal employees being forced to leave, and the White House is prepared to “break their arms.”
Trump said on the 7th that after the federal government "reopened", federal employees forced to take leave may not be able to receive retroactive wages. These words left countless families of federal employees anxious.
Meanwhile, in the corridors of Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties are still blaming each other. The Republican Party accused the Democratic Party of "holding the government hostage", while the Democratic Party countered the Republican Party's refusal to face up to medical problems.
This familiar drama reminds us of the government shutdown lasting 35 days from the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019, when some federal employees even had to go to the rescue facilities for free food.
It is well known that the size of the U.S. debt has far exceeded its GDP, and its share of the economy is constantly refreshing to the highest level in history.
Thro history, the U.S. government has stopped, although every time the "scenario is different", but there is no reason but party struggle and politicians' gambling "laughter game".
The Senate vote not only crushed Trump's hopes to end the government shutdown as soon as possible, but also once again exposed the deep questions of the American political system.
To sum up, the American political and governance system is facing unprecedented challenges.