US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the partial government shutdown weakens Washington's position in international relations and threatens US security.
„Congress Democrats have decided to shut down the government. Their actions, dictated by partisan interests, undermine America's position on the world stage and threaten national security“, the US Secretary of State wrote in X.
The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 (07:00 Bulgarian time) due to lack of funding. This happened after representatives of the ruling Republican and opposition Democratic parties in the US Congress failed to agree on a number of spending issues, including health care. They accused each other of provoking the government shutdown and prolonging it for political purposes.
According to US law, departments and agencies responsible for national security and foreign policy activities must continue to operate if federal government funding is suspended. Similar requirements apply to civil servants whose work is aimed at “protecting life and property“. Civil servants forced to work under such conditions do not receive salaries, but are usually paid after the funding issue is resolved.
Since 1977, funding for the federal government has been interrupted more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest period was 35 days – from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 – during the first presidential term of current US leader Donald Trump.