The United States have officially entered Government Shutdown, With the blocking of all non -essential government activities: it is a procedure that is automatically activated when the US congress (the equivalent of our parliament) does not find an agreement to approve the budget law by 1 October, the start of the new tax year. Precisely for this reason, all non -essential administrative activities stop, being no longer financed, until the definitive approval of the federal budget. This procedure is not new for the United States: from 1975 to today 20 have already been recorded shutdown. The last, which took place in 2019 always under the Trump administration, was the longest in history, which lasted 34 days.
In practice, it shutdown It implies the paralysis of most of the state machine, from the closure of public parks and museums to the postponement of civil trials, the reduction of NASA employees and to the closure of the nursery schools financed at the federal level.
The problem of shutdown It is the increase in the instability of the first world economy: this situation of vulnerability, with about 750,000 workers who will not perceive their salary, will also have repercussions on the financial markets, with economists who fear an increase in interest rates on government bonds.
What does it mean that the US entered Shutdown
As mentioned, the procedure of shutdown It implies the closure of non -essential government activities due to a political stall to the congress, due to the approval of the budget law. In the US, in fact, the tax year begins on 1 October and ends on September 30 of the following year: for this reason the US Congress (which is based in Washington DC and is composed of a chamber of representatives and senate) must necessarily approve the federal budget of the year to come by September 30: otherwise, the procedure is automatically triggered shutdownliterally “shutdown” of non -essential activities.
In this case, the stall is due to a failure to agreement between Republicans and democrats on the funds intended for health care: in the Senate the Republicans count only 53 seats, but they need at least 60 votes for the approval of the law.
In concrete terms, this means the freezing of 27% of state public expenditure: without approval of the funds that serve to finance government services, the latter stop working regularly. Specifically, all employees engaged in essential federal services (such as the Department of Defense, Health, Commerce and even NASA) will continue to worker without perceiving a salary. The same will also take place for workers in the transport and air traffic sector. All the others not considered essential will be temporarily fired, or rather, they will be “unpaid leave” (furloough).
The consequences of Shutdown in the USA: when the stall will end
According to the estimates reported by BBCabout 430,000 federal workers will be on forced (unpaid) leave, while another 480,000 will still have to work without perceiving their salary. This, of course, will have important repercussions on the American economy, especially if it is shutdown should extend for weeks.
According to what reported by Washington Postthe stall is likely to continue for some time: the Republicans (the party of Donald Trump), in fact, do not have the sufficient numbers in the congress to approve the budget law and the Democrats (the opposition party, that of Joe Biden and Barack Obama alone) have confirmed that they will not approve the bill until the Republicans do not negotiate to reduce the cuts to the health programs.
To resolve the situation and reduce federal public spending, President Trump has threatened mass layoffs, after those already made in recent months through the Department of Government’s efficiency (Doge).
On X, the official profile of the US embassies in the world confirmed that the “planned passports and transit services of visas in the United States and at the embassies and US consoles abroad will continue during the suspension of the allocations, where the situation allows it”.
The previous Shutdown of US history
The shutdownhowever, are not new for the United States: nevertheless, over the past few decades cases have increased exponentially, with 20 shutdown that occurred from 1975 to today. The last, the longest in history, took place in 2019 always under the Trump administration and paralyzed the country for 34 days due to the opposition of the Democrats to approval in the budget of the funds for the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico.
The previous one dates back to 2013, during the second Obama administration and was due to the opposition of the Republicans to the health reform of the Obamacare: also the presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush father, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford experienced one during their mandate shutdown.
