Increasingly, it appears that the US Federal Government will shut down tonight at midnight.
A hardline-wing of Republican lawmakers is refusing to allow any proposal to pass Congress that would include financial allocations for Ukraine. The most recent proposal was to send Ukraine $6 billion of aid.
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"A few far right members of Congress are trying to shut down the government for an amount equal to 26 minutes of federal spending," says Steve Moore, a Republican strategist who worked in the US Congress for years, continuing that "Their efforts to pull the US out of the international coalition supporting Ukraine will create an environment for war on a larger scale in two continents."
Earlier statistics cited by Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham stated that total funding on Ukraine, at this point, equated to a mere 3.5% of the total US defense budget and 3/10 of 1% of the total US budget, but provided the US with the greatest return on investment for security in its history.
Some Republicans have complained of America's national debt, which now exceeds $33 trillion dollars. However, even if Washington were to cut the spending proposal of $6 billion for Ukraine and instead allocate the money for paying off the national debt, it would equate to a mere 0.018% of the nation's debt.
Though the Republicans opposing further funding for Ukraine should hypothetically not wield such great power, they have been able to blackmail the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, by threatening to pass a measure to remove him as Speaker if the spending bill were to pass.
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Some leaders, recognizing that a shutdown is nearly certain, have begun racing to pass separate spending bills that would cover vital national interests, such as the Border Control services and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The White House, in a grim sign of how things are going, have begun preparing staffers for a shut-down. CNN reports that White House employees have received email directives that "furloughed employees to turn off their work phones. Staff have been asked to enter their personal contact information so they can get updates on their personal devices. If they are furloughed, they will not be allowed to access their government phones."
Congress has earlier appropriated some assistance to Ukraine that would continue, though perhaps with delays, in light of a shutdown, however further aid would be unlikely.
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