Chuck Schumer sounded as if he was relishing his standoff with the Republicans. Every day gets better for us, he told Punchbowl News. As the shutdown got under way, Schumer explained, the Republican part believed that Democrats would quickly fold and vote to reopen the government, but instead they had stuck to their guns for a week and a half, demanding an array of concessions on healthcare and other issues.
Signs of strain have mounted in recent days in the parts of the federal government that remained operational, with staffing shortages reported at airports across the US as well as air traffic control centers. Further disruptions may come next week, when US military personnel and other federal workers who remain on the job will not receive paychecks, unless the government reopens.
The US government is hurtling towards its first shutdown in six years, with no signs congressional leaders are near agreement on legislation to continue funding beyond the Tuesday night deadline to prevent workers from being furloughed and agencies from shutting their doors. Congress's Republican majority is pushing legislation to fund the government through 21 November, but Democrats have refused to vote for it unless it includes a series of concessions centered on healthcare.
The United States government appears to be heading for a shutdown on Tuesday, as Democrats and Republicans each blame the other for the lack of a breakthrough on health care and spending. A House measure that would extend funding for federal operations for seven weeks to allow lawmakers to finish their work on annual spending is at stake. If it is not passed by the Senate before midnight (0400 Wednesday GMT), it would cause the first such shutdown in the US in almost seven years.
Chinese markets continued to show resilience today, with improved PMI surveys offering a glimmer of hope for the broader economy. The latest manufacturing PMI climbed to a six-month high of 49.8, edging closer to the key 50 threshold after a six-month period of contraction. The data, coupled with renewed optimism around Chinese tech stocks, helped the Hang Seng rise 0.9%, with traders increasingly viewing Chinese AI names as a means to diversify from the Mag7 names.
These are not budgetary measures, they are ideological attacks [that] would erase protections, endanger lives and weaponise federal funding to coerce institutions into abandoning care. For many, access to HRT and affirming care is not optional, it's life-saving.
