US govt agencies shut down as Trump-backed funding deal awaits House vote

By Steven T Dennis and Erik Wasson

 

The US government stumbled into a partial shutdown Saturday while waiting for the House to approve a funding deal President Donald Trump worked out with Democrats following a national uproar over Border Patrol agents’ killing of a US citizen in Minneapolis. 

The funding lapse is likely to be short, with the House returning from a week-long break on Monday and the Republican president fully supporting the spending package. Many Americans may not even notice since most federal employees working on weekends, such as military personnel and air traffic controllers, are deemed essential and aren’t furloughed in a shutdown.

 

 

This is the second time Congress has failed to fund the government since Trump returned to office last year. A 43-day shutdown during the autumn was the longest and most disruptive ever, with food aid halted to millions of households, thousands of flights cancelled, and federal workers going without pay for more than a month.

 

This shutdown is more limited since some parts of the government already are fully funded through the Sept 30 end of the federal fiscal year. 

 

Among them are the Department of Agriculture, so there will be no interruption in food stamps. National parks, veterans’ services and the Justice Department also already have had their funding approved for the year.

 

Still, the affected agencies — which include the Treasury, Defence, Homeland Security, Transportation, Health and Human Services and Labour Departments — will go through the formal process of shutting down, according to a White House Office of Management and Budget memo.

 

“It is our hope that this lapse will be short,” OMB Director Russ Vought wrote in the memo Friday, adding that the administration will be prepared to order the government to reopen as soon as Trump signs a funding bill into law.

 

If the House passes the funding legislation early Monday, operations may be able to reopen that same day, according to an administration official.

 

It’s unclear whether the Bureau of Labour Statistics will delay the release of the monthly jobs report, scheduled for Friday, if there’s a brief government shutdown.

 

The shutdown fight erupted after a US citizen, Alex Pretti, was killed in a confrontation with Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis last weekend. Democrats refused to renew funding for the Homeland Security Department unless new restraints were placed on immigration enforcement.

 

Democrats are seeking requirements that DHS agents use body cameras and obtain judicial warrants. They also want to forbid the masking of agents and stop broad immigration sweeps. 

 

Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer struck a deal Thursday to fund DHS for two weeks while they continue negotiations over the demands. The rest of the government would be funded through Sept. 30.

 

The Senate approved the funding deal on Friday.

 

Trump has indicated in recent days that he would make changes to his administration’s deportation campaign. The crackdown, according to polls, has grown increasingly unpopular with voters, posing a risk to the Republican Party in the coming midterm elections.