The American Congress, September 28, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Mandel NGAN)
The United States is only a few hours away from a paralysis of the federal administration, for lack of a vote on its financing, a mess for which President Joe Biden and the Republicans mutually blame each other.
Unless there is a last-minute agreement in Congress, which is highly improbable, the world’s largest economy is expected to slow down on Sunday: 1.5 million civil servants will be deprived of pay and air traffic will be disrupted, while visitors to national parks will find their doors closed.
The reason? Neither chamber of Congress – neither the Democratic-controlled Senate nor the Republican-controlled House of Representatives – has yet managed to pass a budget bill to extend the federal state budget, which is expiring. to midnight on the night of Saturday to Sunday (04:00 GMT Sunday).
Nearly a year before the presidential election, the two camps are blaming each other for this situation, which is very unpopular with Americans.
This budgetary crisis will have direct repercussions on the war in Ukraine. The White House had initially demanded that the finance law passed by elected officials include $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for kyiv.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy during a press conference on September 29 in Washington (AFP/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)
Aware of the risk of fatigue on the part of the great American ally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to Congress last week to try to convince the United States to help him cross “the finish line” in the face of Russia.
But the release of such an amount seems increasingly uncertain, given the direction the negotiations are taking behind the scenes. A handful of Trumpist Republican elected officials refuse to release any new aid to kyiv, believing that these funds should be allocated to managing the migration crisis in the United States.
– Political-financial precipice –
These lieutenants of Donald Trump, who have disproportionate power due to the very thin Republican majority in the House, had already pushed the United States to the brink of the political-financial precipice four months ago on the issue of raising the debt ceiling.
And they received orders from the former president, who could face Joe Biden in 2024, to “paralyze” the federal state unless they win their case on “all” the budget issues under debate.
For Democratic President Joe Biden, the ball is in the court of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. On the contrary, the President of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, elected at the cost of numerous negotiations with the Trumpists, accuses the Democrats of wanting to “paralyze the government”.
It was under the presidency of Donald Trump that the United States experienced its longest “shutdown”, during the winter of 2018/2019. According to several estimates, the country’s GDP was then cut by more than 3 billion dollars.
The “shutdowns” of the American federal government (AFP/Corin FAIFE, Paz PIZARRO)
A few hours before the deadline, the country is preparing for a new total or partial closure of services. Officials began to be notified of the impending paralysis.
Most of America’s famous national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone will close. Air traffic is also expected to be very disrupted since air traffic controllers and officials from the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) are affected.
And some recipients of food aid could be temporarily denied it.
Each week of “shutdown” could also cost 0.2 points of growth to US GDP in the 4th quarter, according to a note from economists at Goldman Sachs.
© 2023 AFP
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