Shutdown likely to end in America
US Government Shutdown 2025 Update: There is a faint hope of opening the lockdown that has been imposed on government functioning in America for the last 40 days. An important voting took place in the US Senate on Sunday night, which has advanced a revised spending bill. This shutdown has become the longest deadlock in American history, which has affected the lives of millions of federal employees and ordinary citizens.
The main reason for this important milestone was that eight MPs from the Democratic Party deviated from their party line and voted with the Republican Party. This bill needed 60 votes to move forward and it got exactly 60 votes. However, this is just an initial step, the road is still long to bring the government completely back on track.
The world’s most powerful country has come to a standstill
To run the government of any country, it is necessary to get the budget passed by the Parliament. America In India it is called ‘Appropriations bills’ i.e. Appropriation Bill. Every year the new financial year starts from 1st October and by then these bills should be passed.
But this time, a consensus could not be reached between Republicans and Democrats. The Republican Party introduced a short-term spending bill to run the government until November 21. But the Democratic Party stopped it.
The Democrats demanded that health care related issues be addressed in this bill. They had two main demands, first, the cuts made by President Donald Trump in Medicaid (health program for the poor) should be rolled back. Second, the tax credits available under the ‘Affordable Care Act’ (ACA), which are expiring on January 1, should be increased. These tax credits make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans. Both parties remained adamant on these demands and from October 1, the government came to a ‘shutdown’ i.e. came to a standstill.
Understand the mathematics of 60 votes like this
There are a total of 100 members in the US Senate. 60 votes are needed to end debate on any bill and move it forward (this is called the vote to break the ‘filibuster’). Currently, there are 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats in the Senate (plus 2 independents who support the Democrats).
This clearly means that the Republican Party could not garner 60 votes on its own. He desperately needed the support of the Democrats. Voting had failed 14 times in the last 40 days because the Democrats were united.
But on Sunday, eight Democrats (and one independent) went against their party’s leadership and voted to advance the bill. These also include big names like Dick Durbin from Illinois and Tim Kane from Virginia. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer voted against the deal. It was this ‘rebellion’ that completed the magical figure of 60 votes required for the bill. At the same time, only one Republican (Rand Paul) voted against it.
The ‘deal’ on which the Democratic Party was divided
The eight Democratic lawmakers who supported the Republicans are facing heavy criticism from within their own party. This is because the ‘deal’ they have agreed to does not give any concrete guarantee on healthcare subsidies. Democrats have been demanding for weeks that they will not allow the government to reopen unless legislation is passed to increase subsidies. But what is there in this new agreement?
- shut down After it starts, there will be large-scale reinstatement of federal employees fired by the Trump administration and everyone will be given their back pay.
- In future, there will be a ban on retrenchment of employees till January.
- Some government parts, such as food assistance and veterans programs, will receive full funding.
- The remaining government funding will be extended until the end of January.
In return for health care subsidy, only a ‘promise’ has been received. The promise is that there will be a separate vote on extending these healthcare tax credits in mid-December. Critics say that these 8 MPs lost the party’s biggest ‘leverage’ (bargaining power) without achieving anything concrete.
Will the government lock open now?
In one word, no, not now. What happened on Sunday was just a ‘test vote’. This is not final approval. This process may still take several days. The way forward will be something like this.
- There will be more procedural voting on this bill in the Senate. If any MP wishes, he can slow down the process for several days.
- After getting final approval from the Senate, this bill will be sent back to the House of Representatives (lower house).
- The House will also have to pass it as is.
- After passing from there, the bill will go to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
Only after the complete process, this shutdown which has been going on for 40 days will be considered officially over.