Stopped again? The government | lawmakers | Americans who will scare the Americans
According to the Associated Press on July 29th, members of the US Congress have begun to suspend their work in preparation for their August recess, but the work of providing funding to the government has yet to be completed, raising concerns about whether Congress can avoid some government agencies shutting down this autumn.
The report states that Congress must take action to address the government's funding issues before October 1st, the start of the new fiscal year. They can fund government agencies through expenditure bills until next year, or simply take temporary measures to maintain their operations until a longer-term agreement is reached. But no matter which approach is taken, it will not be easy.
Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Constance said, "We will scare Americans unless we finish this job."
Kong Si's Look
Republican members of the House of Representatives have taken a different direction. Many people oppose the debt ceiling agreement and refuse to vote in support. The spending amount proposed by Republican leaders in the bill is far below the amount allowed by the agreement. They also added dozens of policy additional clauses that were widely opposed by the Democratic Party, including restrictions on access to abortion drugs, a ban on funding hormone therapy and certain surgeries for transgender veterans, and a ban on promoting diversified training programs in federal workplaces, among others.
According to reports, at a press conference on Capitol Hill over the past week, some members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction within the House Republican Party, stated that it is now time for House Republicans to use all available tools to achieve the spending cuts they want.
Virginia Republican Representative Bob Good said, "We shouldn't be afraid of a government shutdown. Even if the government were to temporarily shut down, most Americans wouldn't even notice."
Many Republican members of the House of Representatives hold different opinions on this statement. Idaho Republican Representative Mike Simpson said that the statement that the majority of Americans will not be affected is too simplistic.
Simpson said, "Anyway, we will always be blamed for such things. So this is a bad policy, a bad politics."