US President Donald Trump believes that the Washington administration should take advantage of the partial shutdown of the federal government to deal with government problems.
“Republicans should use this opportunity created by the Democrat-imposed shutdown of the federal government to get rid of inefficient spending, waste and fraud. Billions of dollars can be saved“, the US leader wrote on October 1 in Truth Social.
US Vice President J.D. Vance confirmed earlier on October 1 that the White House intends to use the shutdown of the government to further reduce the size of the state apparatus.
The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 (7:00 a.m. Bulgarian time) due to a lack of funding. This happened after representatives of the ruling Republican and opposition Democratic parties in the US Congress could not agree on a number of spending items, including health care. They accused each other of provoking the shutdown of the government and extending it for political purposes.
According to US law, departments and agencies responsible for national security and foreign policy activities continue to operate if funding from the federal government is suspended. Similar requirements apply to those government employees whose duties are aimed at “protecting life and property“. These government employees forced to work in such conditions do not receive salaries, but their salaries are usually paid after the funding issue is resolved.
Since 1977, federal government funding has been cut off 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 Trump's first term.