US Senate Republicans fail to pass a proposal to end the government shutdown.

 

US government shutdown

US Senate Republicans fail to pass a proposal to end the government shutdown.

A Republican bill to fund the U.S. government and end the shutdown failed to secure the necessary votes to pass the Senate on Wednesday, as voting continued, Reuters reported.

More than 250,000 US federal employees have not received their paychecks this week as the government shutdown enters its second week, amid mounting pressure on Congress to end the crisis and pass a budget to reopen federal institutions, according to Bloomberg.

The number of affected employees is expected to exceed two million if the political deadlock continues for a third week, while the White House has threatened to withhold back pay for some workers after the shutdown ends, a move that would be unprecedented in four decades.

US President Donald Trump threatened to lay off federal employees en masse and refuse to pay back wages to those who remain.

"It depends on who you're talking to. Some will be compensated, some won't," Trump said, sparking widespread controversy in Washington and accusations from both Democrats and Republicans that employees were being used as "political pawns."

Trump: Shutdown an opportunity to save billions of dollars

The US President said the government shutdown gives his administration an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and misuse, asserting that Democrats are now leaderless and remind him of "Somalia."

"We have a lot of things we're going to permanently eliminate," he said in a press statement from his office in the White House. "Because of the shutdown, I think they—the Democrats—made a huge mistake. We could have eliminated billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse, and they handed us that opportunity on a silver platter."

Trump continued, "Russell Vought, the White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget, is a very serious person and is preparing to make significant cuts, and this is something, I think, that was presented to us by Chuck Schumer, a Democratic congressman and minority leader in the U.S. Senate. I don't know if Schumer has any influence anymore."

"I'm getting calls from Democrats wanting to meet, and I've never even heard their names before, and that's led me to believe the Democrats are leaderless. They remind me of Somalia," he said.

He stressed that if the closure lasts for four or five days, the consequences will be significant, and many of those jobs will never return, and the budget will be balanced.

Economists warn that the continuation of the crisis could reduce US growth by about 0.1% per week due to a decline in household spending and the impact on the transportation and aviation sectors, while absences of essential workers at agencies such as the TSA and FAA increase.

9,000 flights delayed due to the closure

More than 9,000 flights to and from US airports have been delayed due to staffing shortages at federal air traffic control facilities, as pressures on the US aviation system mount as the government shutdown enters its second week.

More than 9,000 flights were delayed on Monday and Tuesday alone, after authorities were forced to reduce the number of takeoffs and landings at some airports due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, according to FlightAware data.