Over 8 lakh employees without pay as US government shuts down over Mexico wall row

The US government is heading for a partial shutdown till President Donald Trump and Congress can reach a mutual consensus on their long-running battle over Trump's demand for a wall on the border with Mexico. Funding for a range of federal agencies expired on Friday midnight. Donald Trump is insisting on a $ 5.7 bn deal to build his long-promised US border wall. The shutdown means the departments of homeland security, transportation, agriculture, national parks and forests will close. Earlier, a substitute spending bill was passed in order to keep federal agencies open until February 8 but the agreement did not include funding for Donald Trump's wall. More than half of the 1,700 people who work for the executive office of the president would be would be put on temporary leave.

ALSO READ | After Syria, Donald Trump to pull half of US troops from Afghanistan

Following the House's vote on Thursday night, Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen said, "I now urge the Senate to pass this continuing resolution and prevent a government shutdown."

On Friday, Donald Trump had said at the White House that chances of a shutdown “are probably pretty good,” adding, “We’re going to get a wall.”
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said, “We had a reasonable path and there was every indication from the president that he would sign it."

“President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening toward a ‘Trump shutdown’ over Christmas,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor. “You’re not getting the wall today, next week or on January 3rd, when Democrats take control of the House,” Schumer added.

ALSO READ | US welcomes India 'reinvigorating' its ties with Maldives

“More than 420,000 federal employees deemed essential would continue to work without pay during a partial shutdown, including about 41,000 law enforcement and corrections officers and nearly 150,000 Homeland Security employees. Those working without pay — three days before Christmas — would include about 53,000 TSA workers, 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers and 42,000 Coast Guard employees, according to a report by Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Donald Trump made a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking a key campaign promise in the 2016 election, when he said it would be paid for by Mexico.