Huge news…
The US government has shut down after Democrats and Republicans, locked in a dispute over immigration and border security, failed to reach an agreement on a last-minute deal to fund its operations.
In a dramatic scene on Friday night, senators blocked a bill to extend government funding through 16 February.
Frantic negotiations had been taking place all day on Friday, but Republicans were unable to get the 60 votes necessary to pass the short term funding bill.
The bill was put before the senate at 10pm on Friday, and with Republicans holding 52 seats of the 100 seat senate, they needed Democrat support for the bill, which they were unable to secure.
The majority of Democrats opposed the bill because their efforts to include protections for hundreds of thousands of mostly young immigrants, known as Dreamers, were rejected by Trump and Republicans.
The shutdown formally began today, on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the US, and is a major blow to both Trump and the Republican Party.
Until a funding deal is worked out between the Democrats and Republicans, scores of federal agencies across the country will be unable to operate, and hundreds of thousands of “non-essential” federal workers will be put on temporary unpaid leave, according to Reuters.
In a statement from the White House, Trump blamed the Democrats.
“Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans,” the White House said in a statement.
“We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators.”
He also vented some of his frustration on Twitter.
Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018
However, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer fired back at Trump.
“It’s almost as if you were rooting for a shutdown and now we’ll have one and the blame should crash entirely on President Trump’s shoulders,” he said.
Negotiations are expected to continue on Saturday but both sides will be even more unwilling to make concessions due to not wanting to admit to a political defeat.
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