Key dates looming could shorten Trump’s shutdown
The US president insists that he’s ‘very proud’ of what he’s doing but will he withstand the pressure as paychecks are missed and tax refunds delayed?
Washington — President Donald Trump says he is prepared to keep part of the US government shut down for more than a year if necessary to get the money he wants for a wall on the Mexican border. But a series of deadlines over the next seven weeks will increase pressure on Trump to cut a deal to end a shutdown that could soon become the longest in history. Hundreds of thousands of workers at nine Cabinet departments and other agencies will soon start to miss paychecks, and the longer the standoff continues, the more consequences Trump and Congress will face — including shuttered courts, filth piling up in national parks, and delayed tax refunds. Later in the year, unrelated issues will compound the shutdown’s problems — the US debt limit will need to be increased, and Congress will have to strike a deal with Trump to prevent steep, automatic cuts in federal spending. Trump said at a news conference on Friday that “I’m very proud of what I’m doing” and invited reporters to call it “the...
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