US State Department preparing for possible gov’t shutdown

The State Department is preparing for a possible suspension of the country’s federal government (shutdown) and is deciding what activities will have to be temporarily suspended in this case, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a regular briefing for journalists, Report informs referring to the State Department’s website.

“We have had planning going on for a number of days, contingency planning in the case – in case there is a shutdown. We continue to work through that planning in the coming days to make decisions about what functions are essential, what functions are essential to national security that cannot be suspended even in the case of a shutdown, and what functions unfortunately do have to be suspended while a shutdown continues.

That said, we remain hopeful that Congress will do its job and fund the government. But we are making contingency planning in case they don’t,” he noted.

“If the shutdown occurs, there are specific functions that we are able to keep in place and others that we have to suspend in the event of the shutdown. I’m not able to preview all those now. We continue to work through it. If there is a shutdown, I’ll be able to provide more detail.”

To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must pass an initiative to extend its funding, which President Joe Biden will sign before midnight September 30 (08:00 October 1 Baku time), when the country’s current fiscal year ends.

The shutdown may lead to the dismissal of hundreds of thousands of government employees and the termination of many government programs. Republicans controlling the House of Representatives are demanding cuts in federal spending, which Democrats are not ready to support. Both houses of the legislature are preparing their own initiatives to extend government funding. However, they disagree on many issues.