WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States government is headed toward its second shutdown in two years because Republican legislators refuse to meet with Democratic congressmen to compromise on a budget, US Senator Chuck Schumer told a press conference.
“It seems the Republicans are headed to a shutdown,” Schumer said on Thursday. “We are urging [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell and the other Republican leaders along with the President… to sit down and negotiate.”
Also on Thursday, US Senators Chuck Schumer, Debbie Stabenow, Elizabeth Warren, and Mark Warner held a press conference on Senate Democrats’ legislative priorities.
They criticized Senate Republicans for not compromising on a congressional budget.
If both sides fail to reach agreement before the summer recess, another shutdown looks more likely.
“If Senator McConnell thinks he’s going to pass a sequestration bill, which cuts domestic programs dramatically, cuts defense and say take it or leave it, he's risking a government shutdown, plain and simple,” Schumer said.
Warner claimed Republican “stupidity” would delay negotiations to end the sequestration process until October 1, which would cause a shutdown.
He said that pro-defense advocates knew that sequestration needed to end.
“The last thing this economy needs is another manufactured political crisis driven unfortunately by the extremes in the Republican Party,” Warner said.
Another shutdown would cause many US federal government employees to take a temporary leave of absence from their jobs.
The only government employees not affected by the shutdown would be active duty military personnel and employees.
