WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A potential U.S. federal government shutdown is looming as lawmakers remain divided over funding measures beyond Sept. 30. Congressional leaders plan to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss the matter.
Expected to attend are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The upcoming meeting follows Trump's cancellation of a scheduled meeting with Democratic leaders on Thursday, at the urging of Johnson and Thune.
POSSIBLE SHUTDOWN
Each year, the U.S. Congress is required to pass, and the president to sign, 12 appropriations bills covering the federal government's discretionary spending for the new fiscal year. For fiscal year 2026, which begins on Oct. 1, none of the 12 annual appropriations bills has cleared both houses, heightening the risk of a full government shutdown.
Without those measures or a temporary funding extension, the federal government would face a shutdown, during which non-essential operations are suspended while essential services and mandatory programs continue, according to U.S. law.
Although Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate, they still need at least seven votes from Senate Democrats to pass a funding measure under chamber rules to prevent prolonged debate and voting delay.
Both parties remain entrenched in their positions. Democrats are pushing for the inclusion of health care subsidies and other provisions, while Republican leaders are seeking a short-term extension with additional security funding for federal branches, CNN reported.
Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, calling their demands "unserious and ridiculous." Jeffries and Schumer, two Democratic leaders, issued a joint statement Saturday evening, declaring, "We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out."
NEW CHAOS
If the current budget impasse is not resolved, the looming U.S. government shutdown could differ greatly from previous ones. The White House has signaled it may adopt a new approach, urging agencies to scale back staff in programs whose funding has expired and that do not align with the administration's priorities.
According to a memo issued Wednesday by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), agencies whose funding ends on Oct. 1 and those deemed "not consistent with the president's priorities" should consider sending out termination notices to employees.
The Trump administration's indication that federal employees could be dismissed rather than furloughed in a government shutdown has raised concerns over job security for a workforce strained by budget cuts and layoffs, Bloomberg reported.
Some analysts believe the White House is not making empty threats and the Trump administration is willing to fire federal employees if no deal is reached. "The Trump administration already has fired tens of thousands of employees, so people should take the new threat seriously," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.
During the last shutdown, which occurred from late December 2018 to late January 2019 and lasted 35 days, roughly 800,000 federal employees were furloughed or required to work without pay.
GOVERNMENT DISFUNCTION
If the U.S. government shuts down next month, immigration, border enforcement and defense operations are expected to continue through funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July, CNN reported. Contingency plans from relevant agencies are likely to outline which functions remain in operation.
The OMB said in the memo that the measure would provide sufficient resources to ensure that several core administration priorities, including the president's domestic agenda package, would not be disrupted.
This time, however, the OMB has opted not to post the plans centrally, instead leaving them on individual agency websites.
The White House, certain executive offices and Congress also remain operational, though many staff members could be furloughed or may be fired this time. Independent entities and government-sponsored enterprises not reliant on annual appropriations, including the Federal Reserve and postal services, would continue functioning, Bloomberg reported.
"Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown," the OMB wrote in the memo, as reported by Politico, a Washington-based political newspaper.
"The White House simply wants to win the confrontation (with the Democrats). It may be that they will lose in terms of public opinion if they proceed to mass firings," Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua. ■