The US Senate will vote again on bills to fund the federal government on Friday, October 3, and Monday, October 6, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
“Friday will be their fourth chance to vote to reopen the government. And if they don't, we'll give them the weekend to think about it, and then we'll come back and vote on Monday,“ he said, referring to lawmakers. Thune said it was unlikely that a vote would take place over the weekend.
Senate Republicans and Democrats have already introduced their own versions of bills to fund US agencies. None of the bills have yet received the necessary votes to pass the Senate.
The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding, which began the so-called government shutdown. This happened because representatives of the ruling Republican and opposition Democratic parties in Congress could not agree on a number of spending items, including health care. They accuse each other of provoking the shutdown 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“. 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 suspended 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).