WASHINGTON, November 7. /TASS/. The US Senate will hold another vote on Friday on a bill proposed by the Republican Party to provide funding for the federal government, whose operations are currently partially suspended, The Hill reported.
According to the report, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (of South Dakota) announced the move to fellow lawmakers. On November 4, the Senate rejected the bill for the 14th time in the past few weeks. During the most recent procedural vote, the measure, previously approved by the House of Representatives, was supported by 54 members of the upper chamber, while 44 senators voted against it. Sixty votes are required for the bill’s approval. As the newspaper states, Thune said that this time he intended to introduce several amendments to the bill, which Republicans had been negotiating with the Democrats.
The US federal government partially suspended work at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding after the ruling Republican party failed to reach agreement with the Democrats in the US Congress on some expenditure items, including healthcare. The parties accuse each other of provoking the shutdown and prolonging it for political purposes and an agreement is yet to be reached.
According to US law, agencies and departments responsible for ensuring national security and foreign policy activities continue to operate during shutdowns. Similar requirements are imposed on those civil servants whose activities are aimed at "protecting life and property." The government employees who are forced to go to work in such conditions do not receive a salary, but it is usually paid to them after the issue with the receipt of funds is resolved.
Since 1977, funding for the federal government has been interrupted more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The current US government shutdown has become the longest in the country’s history, breaking the record set in 2018-2019 during Donald Trump’s first term as president (2017-2021).