Today, the budget dispute is entering a new round: Trump has invited Democrat and Republican leaders to the White House to seek a solution.
A peak meeting on Wednesday had not led to a breakthrough. Due to the budget freeze, hundreds of thousands of government employees are on forced leave or have to work without a salary for the time being.
US Democrats passed budget draft
With their new majority in the US House of Representatives, the Democrats have passed a budget bill to end the „shutdown“ of parts of the government. Republican MPs voted against the draft in a close-to-vote vote last night (local time), which does not include the means to build a border wall demanded by US President Donald Trump.
The White House had made it clear even before the vote that Trump would reject the proposal to put an end to the budget freeze. For nearly two weeks, the budget dispute has paralyzed parts of the US administration.
Financing guaranteed
The Democrats‘ draft would secure funding for eight of the nine shutdown ministries until the end of the fiscal year on 30 September. The Department of Homeland Security – which is responsible for border security – would only be funded until 8 February.
The Democrats argue that this would leave a good month to resolve the dispute while the full government would be back in working order.
