WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) US Senator Rand Paul proposed legislation that if passed would prevent future government shutdowns by triggering automatic proportional cuts across agencies, the lawmaker's office said in a press release.
"Paul reintroduced the Government Shutdown Prevention Act to incentivize Congress to properly consider and debate spending legislation," the release said on Wednesday. "Dr. Paul's plan would keep government open but institute a one-percent cut to then-current funding levels for any agency, program, and activity that Congress failed to fund by the start of the fiscal year."
Funding would be reduced by another one percent every 90 days thereafter that an agreement was still not enacted, the release added.
The current shutdown has been caused by a standoff between President Donald Trump and his Republican majority in the Senate, and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and has now continued for nearly four weeks making it the longest government shutdown in US history. The sticking point has been Democrats' refusal to approve $5.7 billion in the budget that Trump wants to build a wall on the southern border.
