US Govt. Shutdown Enters 2nd Month With No End In Sight

(@rukhshanmir)

US govt. shutdown enters 2nd month with no end in sight

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2019 ) :The U.S. government shutdown over President Donald Trump's demand for funding to build a wall along the border with Mexico aimed at blocking illegal migration entered its 32nd day Tuesday with no end in sight.Since December 22, a quarter of the government has been closed because as President Trump refuses to endorse a budget that does not contain $5.7 billion for the wall, a key promise of his 2016 election campaign.

Democrats oppose the wall, calling it "immoral," costly and ineffective. They want the government reopened before any discussion of the matter.

Trump made a new proposal on Saturday, which he said aimed to end the shutdown, extending temporary protection to about a million immigrants facing expulsion, in return for the $5.7 billion he has requested.

Although it was rejected by Democrats � and even by some anti-immigrant activists � the offer could serve as a basis for new discussions.

The partial government closure has directly affects 0.5 percent of the US labour force but has started to indirectly hit the confidence of more than half of consumers, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.

Experts say it is also pressuring the world's largest economy, against the backdrop of already slowing global growth.

In the most sensitive government agencies, including the Departments of State, Homeland Security and Transportation, the number of affected employees has been kept to a minimum.

But elsewhere, the impact is clear. National Parks no longer have security guards, numerous museums are shut, and some airport security checkpoints have been closed.

About 800,000 Federal workers, from FBI agents to scientists and some food inspectors, are furloughed or working without pay while trying to meet their financial obligations.

The affected federal employees will eventually get backpay but more than one million contractors for the government don't even have that to hope for.

PAK COMMUNITY HELPS Meanwhile, Pakistani community members on Monday delivered 200 food bags at a church in Westbury, Long Island, a suburb of New York, for the affected people.

Dr. Ijaz Ahmad, head of the American Pakistan Public Affairs Committee, said that the Pakistani community was playing its part in helping out the suffering people, a gesture widely appreciated.

The longest shutdown in US history is also beginning to have a political price. A majority of Americans hold Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress responsible, according to several polls.