President Obama is disappointed when the two houses of Congress failed to agree on a new budget (Photo: Reuters)
(VOVworld) - From 11 o’clock on Tuesday, local time, the US government began a partial shutdown at the end of the state budget for the 2013 fiscal year. It’s the first time in the past 17 years that the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.
More than 800,000 federal employees face unpaid leave without guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over. 1.4 million troops will stay on the job but they may be paid late. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration will send home almost all its personnel. Essential agencies including air traffic control, federal courts, post office, and most employees of the Department of Homeland Security will stay at work. National parks, libraries, and museums will close.
President Barack Obama signed a bill to ensure servicemen be paid during the government’s temporary shutdown. In a televised message, Obama pledged that the country’s military forces would maintain their missions as normal but warned that Defense Department’s employees might be paid late.
A few minutes before the US government technically closed, the House of Representatives convened a meeting to put forth official requirements for negotiation with the Senate. A number of congressmen from the Republican Party predicted that their leaders would finally make concessions and adopt the extension of the federal budget including the budget for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare.
In 1995-1996, the US was in similar crisis when the government temporarily stopped working for 21 days.