The United States is once again in the grip of a government shutdown. As the "deadline" approaches, the ugly state of the "party struggle" will once again be exposed.
Each fiscal year (October 1 through September 30), Congress must pass 12 appropriations bills covering discretionary spending and federal agency funding for the following fiscal year. Fiscal year 2023 ends on September 30,  and if all 12 appropriations bills or stopgap funding agreements are not passed by then, the U.S. government will face a shutdown .
On the 19th of this month, the House of Representatives held a procedural vote on the defense budget, and the result was not passed by 212 votes in favor of 214 votes against. On the 21st local time, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress once again rejected the bill in a procedural vote on the defense budget.
After the vote failed, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, "These people just want to destroy this place, there is no way around it." McCarthy then announced that the House would adjourn.
In addition, according to the data released by the US Treasury Department, the total US national debt exceeded 33 trillion US dollars on the 18th local time. The New York Times said that the total national debt has reached a new high, and the financial outlook of the US government is worrying.
Currently, the two parties in Congress are locked in a battle over the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill. With deep divisions over whether to cut spending,  the two parties have now approved only one of the 12 annual spending bills to fund the government.
On September 22, local time, according to Reuters, the White House Office of Management and Budget said on the same day that  US President Joe Biden would veto the House appropriations bill for the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security .
With less than 10 working days left before the "deadline," will the U.S. government "shut down" after all? We'll wait and see.
The US debt  is at an all-time high!
The government is facing a "shutdown"? What's going on? →
According to the data released by the US Treasury Department, the total US national debt exceeded 33 trillion US dollars on the 18th local time. The New York Times said that the total national debt has reached a new high, and the financial outlook of the US government is worrying.
Currently, the two parties in Congress are locked in a battle over the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill. With deep divisions over whether to cut spending, the two parties have now approved only one of the 12 annual spending bills to fund the government.
The fiscal year in the United States begins on October 1 and ends on September 30.  If Congress fails to pass a long-term appropriations bill or a short-term spending bill by September 30, the last day of fiscal year 2023, the government will face a shutdown with less than 10 working days left.
U.S. House SPEAKER Kevin McCarthy:  We're going to deal with this rationally, responsibly, properly, and we want to be able to fund the government, but we're going to control wasteful spending.
The Congressional Budget Office calculated that the U.S. economy permanently lost $3 billion during the longest government shutdown in history in 2019. Us Commerce Secretary Raymond Mundo recently said that the business community is very worried about the US government in October 1 once the "shutdown", which will bring great challenges to the US economy. Goldman Sachs points out that for each week of a full government shutdown, economic growth will be directly reduced by about 0.15 percentage points.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin CASTRO:  I do hope to avoid the government "shutdown" that millions of Americans paid a high price when Republicans shut down the government in 2013.
The United States government is nearing its fourth shutdown in a decade.
According to the reference information quoted by the Hong Kong 01 website reported on September 22, due to the resistance of conservative lawmakers of the Republican Party, the United States federal government's new fiscal year budget has still not been passed, which makes the government shutdown risk increased.
Reported that the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives McCarthy to September 21 still failed to resolve the differences within the party, which involves the $886 billion (about 6.47 trillion yuan) defense budget bill. Although the ban on military abortion, transgender and other provisions, but conservative Republican lawmakers are still not satisfied, the third defection and Democratic lawmakers oppose the floor debate, this is the second time this week.
After two and a half hours of meeting on the 21st, the House of Representatives voted 212 in favor of 216 against, continue to shelve the debate on the defense budget law. With Republicans holding only a slim majority in the House of Representatives, it was a setback for McCarthy when five conservatives defected and there were not enough votes to bring the bill to debate. The Republican version of the defense budget bill is also opposed by Democrats because of some provisions added to it.
After the vote failed, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, "These people just want to destroy this place, there is no way around it." McCarthy then announced that the House would adjourn.
On the 19th of this month, the House of Representatives held a procedural vote on the defense budget, and the result was not passed by 212 votes in favor of 214 votes against.
According to China News Network quoted US media reports, McCarthy's original plan is to vote on the defense budget generally supported by Republicans, and then vote on the temporary budget after it is passed. McCarthy thought he had enough votes, but a procedural vote on the defense budget showed that McCarthy did not have enough votes, and his plan failed.
The US media analysis believes that  McCarthy's compromise with the far-right forces in the Republican Party has caused the group to become "more hardline." McCarthy's "failure" means that the risk of a government "shutdown" has intensified.
With the budget still deadlocked in the House of Representatives, even if a revised bill passes the Republican-led House, it may not pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.  Unless Congress passes a stopgap spending bill before the deadline, the United States could face its fourth government shutdown in a decade.
According to the CNN website reported that the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives asked Republicans to go home for the weekend, at the same time, the House of Representatives around the government budget differences are still deep, the possibility of a government shutdown next weekend is growing.
House Republicans had planned to stay in session through the weekend to discuss a temporary government budget bill. But that strategy is now on hold amid serious infighting among House Republicans that threatens to paralyze the entire chamber.
The new plan, according to multiple lawmakers and aides, is that Republicans will try to pass separate long-term spending bills because their short-term budget bill cannot get the necessary Republican votes due to opposition from hard-liners.
The White House issued a  threat
On September 22, local time, according to Reuters, the White House Office of Management and Budget said on the same day that US President Joe Biden would veto the House appropriations bill for the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to pass the funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on October 1.
"Deadline" looming " Party strife" farce resurfaces
According to CCTV news, the struggle between the two parties frequently pushed the US government into the "shutdown" crisis, according to statistics, since 1980, the US federal government has been shut down more than 20 times.
BLOOMBERG POLITICAL REPORTER Ryan BECKWITH:  They tend to push things to the edge of a cliff, which is like a seventh grader doing homework at the last minute. We want them to finish, but sometimes they tell you that I have a paper due tomorrow and I can't finish it and I don't tell you.
Commerce Secretary Raymond Mundo said such "uncertainty" would hurt the economy.
Gina RaimonDO, U.S. Secretary of Commerce:  If a business is going to be successful, it's important to have "predictability," the "predictability" of being able to operate in a regular order, and that kind of political drive often creates distractions.
The Washington Post reported that Washington politicians have long been at loggerheads over budget issues, and in the context of the 2024 US presidential election, the fight between the two parties may become more intense.