AGL 38.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.21%)
AIRLINK 203.02 Decreased By ▼ -4.75 (-2.29%)
BOP 10.17 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.09%)
CNERGY 6.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-7.63%)
DCL 9.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-4.1%)
DFML 40.02 Decreased By ▼ -1.12 (-2.72%)
DGKC 98.08 Decreased By ▼ -5.38 (-5.2%)
FCCL 34.96 Decreased By ▼ -1.39 (-3.82%)
FFBL 86.43 Decreased By ▼ -5.16 (-5.63%)
FFL 13.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-4.79%)
HUBC 131.57 Decreased By ▼ -7.86 (-5.64%)
HUMNL 14.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.57%)
KEL 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-6.03%)
KOSM 7.27 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-7.51%)
MLCF 45.59 Decreased By ▼ -1.69 (-3.57%)
NBP 66.38 Decreased By ▼ -7.38 (-10.01%)
OGDC 220.76 Decreased By ▼ -1.90 (-0.85%)
PAEL 38.48 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (0.97%)
PIBTL 8.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-3.88%)
PPL 197.88 Decreased By ▼ -7.97 (-3.87%)
PRL 39.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-2.06%)
PTC 25.47 Decreased By ▼ -1.15 (-4.32%)
SEARL 103.05 Decreased By ▼ -7.19 (-6.52%)
TELE 9.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-2.28%)
TOMCL 36.41 Decreased By ▼ -1.80 (-4.71%)
TPLP 13.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.15%)
TREET 25.12 Decreased By ▼ -1.33 (-5.03%)
TRG 58.04 Decreased By ▼ -2.50 (-4.13%)
UNITY 33.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-1.38%)
WTL 1.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-9.04%)
BR100 11,890 Decreased By -408.8 (-3.32%)
BR30 37,357 Decreased By -1520.9 (-3.91%)
KSE100 111,070 Decreased By -3790.4 (-3.3%)
KSE30 34,909 Decreased By -1287 (-3.56%)

WASHINGTON: With the US government just hours from shutting down on Saturday, Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy pitched a last-gasp stopgap measure to avoid a closure that would throw into doubt everything from access to national parks to Washington's massive support for Ukraine.

The freeze of all but critical government services, set to start after midnight Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday) if lawmakers fail to reach a deal, would be the first since 2019 -- immediately delaying salaries for millions of federal employees and military personnel.

Congress has been unable to break the deadlock, largely due to a small group of hard-line Republicans in the House of Representatives pushing back against temporary funding proposals that would at least keep the lights on.

US government hours from shutdown, funding chaos

Speaker McCarthy called a vote Saturday on a fresh measure that would keep the government open for another 45 days at current spending levels, but without any aid for Ukraine -- a point of major contention for Democrats.

"I am asking Republicans and Democrats alike. Put your partisanship away," McCarthy said Saturday.

If the bill receives the significant Democratic support it would need to pass and overcome hardline Republican opposition in the House, the right-wingers have threatened to remove the speaker from his post.

"If somebody wants to remove (me) because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try," McCarthy said, as he also sought to shift any blame for a shutdown on President Joe Biden.

If Biden lobbies against the latest stopgap, "then the shutdown is on him," McCarthy said.

The White House insists the real negotiation is between McCarthy and the hardliners who scuppered a similar temporary funding measure on Friday, underlying a growing sense of chaos inside the Republican party ahead of next year's presidential election.

"There are those in Congress right now who are sowing so much division, they're willing to shut down the government tonight," Biden said Saturday morning on X, formerly known as Twitter. "It's unacceptable."

The Democrat-controlled Senate had been expected to vote on its own stopgap bill later Saturday - one that does include funding for Ukraine.

While all critical government services would remain functioning, a shutdown would mean the majority of national parks, for example -- from the iconic Yosemite and Yellowstone in the west to Florida's Everglades swamp -- would be closed to public access beginning Sunday.

With student loan payments resuming in October, officials also said Friday that key activities at the Federal Student Aid office would continue for a couple of weeks.

But a prolonged shutdown could cause bigger disruptions.

A shutdown "unnecessarily" places the world's largest economy at risk, White House National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told CNBC.

Risks that could percolate through the wider economy include air travel delays, with air traffic controllers asked to work without pay.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned a closure could also delay infrastructure improvements.

"In the immediate term, a government shutdown will only reduce GDP by 0.2 percentage points each week it lasts," said a report released Friday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, adding that a shutdown would "undermine the United States' overall credibility as a commercial partner."

The mess casts a growing shadow over Biden's policy of arming and funding Ukraine in its desperate war against the Russian invasion. For Republican hardliners behind the derailment of a new budget, stopping aid to Ukraine is a key goal.

Most Republican members of Congress continue to support US backing for Ukraine, but the shutdown will at minimum raise questions over the political viability of renewing the multibillion-dollar flow of assistance.

Comments

Comments are closed.