Meanwhile, more than one million US military personnel will continue to serve without pay if lawmakers are not able to avert a federal shutdown, senior administration officials said in a conference call.
"Nearly 1.3 million active-duty military personnel deployed at home and overseas would not be paid for their work until after the shutdown ends," the officials said ahead of a Senate vote to prevent the government from shutting down by the end of Friday night.
This is the fourth time under the Trump administration that Congress has had to seek a bill to temporarily fund the government. Officials have said these short-term spending bills hurt the US military because they do not provide adequate funding.
Meanhwhile, US President Donald Trump tweeted ahead of Friday night’s Senate vote on a government spending bill that chances for it to be passed before the midnight deadline were slim, and blamed the Democrats for it.
Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 20 января 2018 г.
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the stopgap bill to fund federal agencies until February 16, allowing it to go to the Senate where Democrats have been demanding that the legislation also contain an unrelated measure that would protect immigrant children from deportation.
