After the Senate failed to come to an agreement on a short-term spending bill, the government was sent into a shutdown.
The bill was supposed to help fund the government until Feb. 16 and required only 60 votes.
Republicans and Democrats could not find a common ground on certain issues. Until a budget is agreed upon, U.S. government services will be inactive and will close.
The last time the U.S. had a shutdown was in 2013, continuing for 13 days. The shutdown even caused some federal employees to take a leave of absence.
If Congress does not establish a set funding for individual government agencies, those offices will be closed under federal law. It’s a possibility that national parks and monuments will be closed because of the lack of a set budget.
Necessary services will continue to run, such as national security, air traffic control, postal services, inpatient medical services, disaster assistance, emergency outpatient medical services, taxation, prisons and electricity generation.
Trump tweeted out hours before the vote took place:
Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018
One of the main arguments between the Democrats and the Republicans was about the immigrant protection. Democrats want to offer protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. They also are adamant about making a health insurance program that aids children in low-income families permanent.
Republicans, on the other hand, are less concerned about these issues. They wanted to only add a six-year extension to the health insurance program. Trump, instead of defending the undocumented immigrants, wanted to invest in tougher border control, including the U.S.- Mexico border wall.
Due to the government shutdown, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stated that maintenance, training and intelligence operations would seize to carry out tasks and more than 50% of federal employees in his department would not work. There is also a possibility that visa and passport processing will be delayed.
Since national parks and monuments might be closed and stir up emotions in the public, the Trump administration was attempting to make cautious plans that would allow them to operate regardless whether a deal would be made or not.
