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Budget Stalemate Pushes US Closer to Partial Government Shutdown

by VOA News

   There is little public indication of progress in resolving the
   stalemate over U.S. government spending, which could bring a partial
   shutdown of federal agencies at midnight Friday.

   At the center of the dispute is President Donald Trump's insistence
   that Congress approves $5 billion in spending for his desired wall
   along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats and some Republicans oppose
   that plan, and Democratic leaders have offered $1.3 billion in other
   border security funding.

   Trump used Twitter to attack the Democrats on Monday as the two sides
   came no closer to an agreement.

   "Anytime you hear a Democrat saying that you can have good Border
   Security without a Wall, write them off as just another politician
   following the party line," the U.S. leader said on Twitter. "Time for
   us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far
   greater safety and control!"

   The top Democrat in the Senate Chuck Schumer said there is not enough
   support in Congress for Trump's wall, and that "no threat or temper
   tantrum" will change that.

   "If President Trump decides to shut down the government, there is no
   end game in which President Trump gets the wall," Schumer said. "There
   is no end game for Republicans in which they can avoid their share of
   responsibility -- overwhelming share -- for a shutdown. The time to
   solve this problem is now."

   In a meeting last week at the White House, Trump told Schumer and House
   Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi that he would be happy to take
   responsibility for a government shutdown rather than give up any ground
   on the border wall issue.

   But to avert a Friday shutdown Democrats and Republicans could reach
   agreement on some kind of stopgap spending plan to carry all government
   operations through the end of this year and into 2019.

   Spending for three-fourths of the government has already been approved
   through next September, but the remaining bills include 2019 funding
   for the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the
   Department of Justice, and the Interior Department.

   Generally, agencies or offices funded by service fees, such as U.S.
   Citizenship and Immigration Services, can continue their work, so the
   shutdown would not affect naturalization interviews or citizenship
   ceremonies.

   Impact abroad?

   Overseas, U.S. embassies have "essential" staff members who will
   continue to perform basic duties. Whether locally employed staff will
   be able to work is dependent on the labor laws in each individual
   country. In past shutdowns, individual embassies have posted on social
   media about any adjustments to their services and largely functioned as
   normal.

   The State Department told VOA that information on how embassies would
   be affected by this shutdown is not yet available.

   Experts say the Internal Revenue Service may not be able to process tax
   refunds. Health safety inspections could be stalled. Most employees at
   the U.S. space agency NASA would likely be furloughed and might not get
   paid for that time, although Congress usually grants pay retroactively
   after a shutdown is over.

   Voice of America continues to broadcast, and air traffic controllers
   are usually expected to keep working - along with FBI agents, members
   of the Transportation Security Administration, and the Secret Service
   agents that protect the president. Like the furloughed workers, they
   may not see any pay until after the shutdown concludes.

   In a new shutdown, about 380,000 federal workers could be furloughed,
   and 420,000 deemed "essential" are expected to remain on the job.