Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 18th. As the "shutdown" of the U.S. federal government enters the 18th day, a large number of staff from the National Nuclear Safety Administration, the federal court system and other departments are facing forced unpaid leave.

At the same time, the bipartisan struggle in Congress is in full swing. The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget revealed that Republican President Trump sought to further cut down infrastructure projects in Democratic states. According to media analysis, this move is aimed at putting pressure on Senate Democrats to "release" the temporary appropriation bill introduced by Republicans.

Large number of federal employees take unpaid leave

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced via social media on the 17th that due to the "shutdown", about 1,400 federal employees of the National Nuclear Safety Administration under the Department of Energy who "play a key role in upgrading the nuclear arsenal" will be forced to take unpaid leave before the 20th. According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy, nearly 400 employees of the National Nuclear Safety Administration will still be on duty.

The United States currently holds more than 5,000 nuclear warheads, of which more than a thousand are in deployment.The National Nuclear Safety Administration is responsible for the design, manufacture, use and protection of nuclear warheads, and supervises the maintenance and testing activities of nuclear weapons by contractors.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the American Arms Control Association, criticized the Trump administration for ignoring the importance of the National Nuclear Security Administration and urged it to reconsider its position on the issue of a federal government shutdown.

The U.S. federal court system has also been hit by a ¡°stop-down¡±, with civil proceedings involving federal agencies being widely delayed. Reuters cited an internal memorandum issued by the Federal Court Administration on 16 that that some of the 3,3 thousand employees in the federal court system will be forced to take unpaid leave from midnight on 20th.

According to the memo, some of the unnecessary functions of the federal court system will also be suspended, "and the shutdown will proceed in an orderly manner," according to Reuters, the courts will still be open and judges will still be paid, but employees in positions such as federal public defence lawyers will not be paid.

The number of unpaid holidays in the federal court system is still unclear. The federal court system is to have relied on the system¡¯s surplus funds since the federal government ¡°stopped¡± on 1st of this month, but it is difficult to follow on 17th. The federal court system was last affected by a massive ¡°stoppage¡± 30 years ago, from the end of 1995 to the beginning of 1996, when Democratic President Bill Clinton ruled.

Cut off Democratic projects

Regarding the federal government's ongoing "stagnation," Kevin Hasite, director of the White House National Economic Committee, said on 17th that if the "stagnation" continues after this weekend, Trump is expected to take a number of measures.

On the same day, Russell Walter, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, revealed through social media that Trump would freeze a large number of infrastructure projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Democratic states, totaling US$11 billion. These projects may eventually be cancelled.

According to information from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the projects involved include the construction of Riverside Park in San Francisco, the construction of water supply and drainage system in new york City, and the expansion of several bridges in Massachusetts. According to foreign media reports, the bridges involved in Massachusetts are aging for a long time and need to be renovated urgently, with an average annual passenger flow of millions. In addition, infrastructure projects in Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico and other places are also affected.

Reuters noted that in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, none of the aforementioned states voted for Trump.

According to US media reports, the Trump administration has frozen or canceled funds for hundreds of projects across the U.S. since the "stop-down", totaling at least $28 billion.The above projects are mainly distributed in the states, cities or congressional districts where the Democratic Party is governed, involving the development of clean energy, transportation infrastructure and so on.

Reuters quoted a spokesman for the governor of California on Monday as saying that ¡°the Trump administration is arming a ¡®stop¡¯ in order to ¡°attack groups he sees as political enemies.¡±