American senators have reached a deal intended to end the budget paralysis that has blocked parts of the country’s public services for a record 40 days, according to several American media.
Republican and Democratic elected officials have reached a tentative deal allowing government funding through January, CNN and Fox News specifically report, according to which a formal vote is expected to take place overnight.
This vote ends a blockage that has impacted much of the American economy. Yesterday, disruption to American air traffic worsened with more than 2,000 flights cancelled. Chaos at airports has become a major focus of political fights over the budget, with each side blaming the other for problems experienced by travelers across the country.
Since Friday, America’s aviation regulator, the FAA, has asked companies to gradually reduce their domestic flight schedules, as mass passenger movement in the country approaches.
“Air traffic will not decrease while everyone wants to travel to see their families” on the occasion of the traditional Thanksgiving holiday in late November, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Fox News. “You will see fewer air traffic controllers starting work, which means there will be fewer flights taking off and landing,” he added.
Intense pressure on American lawmakers
The gradual reduction in traffic should account for 10% of canceled flights by next Friday if the closure continues. “This would be a major disruption, and the American public would be disappointed by it. »
Since early October, the American government has been in a situation of budget paralysis. Hundreds of thousands of federal civil servants are working without pay, including air traffic controllers.
Some of them “will be faced with the idea (…) of looking for additional work to make ends meet”, regretted the Minister of Transport on CNN. However, for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, the instruction to cancel flights was a “political trick” that had “nothing to do with security.”
For weeks, pressure has been mounting on lawmakers to agree on a way out of the crisis – a pressure that looked set to bring initial progress on Sunday. A deal is “getting closer,” the Senate’s Republican majority leader, John Thune, told the American press.
“After 40 days (of the shutdown), the Senate is showing real signs of progress”, Henry Cuellar, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, also explained, referring to “a group of senators from both parties” who agreed to finance the government “until January. » “This is the most important step towards compromise in weeks,” he added.
But approval from the Senate does not guarantee an end to the budget stalemate, because the bill must then be submitted to the House of Representatives, which has a very small Republican majority.
The budget shutdown also disrupts federal food assistance programs that support 42 million Americans – one in eight – each month. Non-payment of this program due to “closure” still has to be processed legally, but in the meantime, thousands of beneficiaries are in limbo.
