The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to approve two short-term spending bills, as the federal government entered its first shutdown in nearly seven years.
The Senate voted on the same two bills that it failed to pass Tuesday night -- one proposed by Democrats and the other by Republicans.
The bill drafted by the Democrats was voted down in a Senate vote of 47 in favor and 53 against on Wednesday morning. This bill includes provisions that would extend the Affordable Care Act's subsidies, which are set to expire by the end of the year.
Later in the afternoon, a short-term funding bill drafted by the Republicans failed in the Senate after passing in the House of Representatives. The Senate vote stood at 55 votes in favor and 45 against.
Both bills require 60 votes to pass the procedural vote in the Senate.
Healthcare benefits remain a key sticking point in the latest negotiations, with Democrats advocating stronger healthcare funding, while Republicans accuse them of seeking to provide free healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
This marks the third time a Republican-drafted stopgap government funding bill has been rejected. On Sept. 19, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives narrowly passed a short-term funding bill aimed at keeping federal government operations funded until late November, but that bill failed to pass in the Senate, where the Republicans hold the majority seats, later that afternoon. On Sept. 30, the Senate held another vote on the Republican-drafted funding bill, but it still failed to pass.
Following the government shutdown, those functions essential to the protection of lives and property will remain open, while services such as national parks, air traffic, and health care, among others, will be partially interrupted or affected.
The government shutdown will also hit the domestic economy. The previous shutdown, which lasted 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019, resulted in an unrecoverable three-billion-U.S. dollar hit to economic growth, with some private businesses permanently losing income, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.
The U.S. government has suffered 15 shutdowns since 1980, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank.
Senate fails to approve spending bills as government shutdown continues
The "soft landing" of the China-EU electric vehicle case will greatly boost market confidence and inject new momentum into China-EU cooperation in automobile trade and investment, a spokeswoman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said at a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
He Yongqian, the spokeswoman, made the remarks after China and the European Union (EU) agreed on the necessity of providing general guidance on price undertakings for Chinese companies exporting battery electric vehicle (BEV) passenger cars to the EU.
"China and the EU simultaneously announced on Monday that they had achieved positive outcomes following multiple rounds of consultations on the EV case, a development that has drawn wide attention at home and abroad. Industry players from both sides have 'highly welcomed and fully endorsed' the outcome, saying the 'soft landing' of the case is expected to greatly boost market confidence and inject new momentum into China-EU cooperation in automobile trade and investment. Some EU politicians have described it as a positive step toward building a sustainable China-EU trade relationship, and said it demonstrated that resolving trade differences through partnership remains feasible," she said.
"Against the current international backdrop, China and the EU, acting in a spirit of mutual respect and within the framework of WTO rules, have properly addressed the EV case, which is of significant positive importance. The outcome will not only contribute to the sound development of China-EU economic and trade ties and help safeguard the stability of the global automotive industrial and supply chains, but will also send a clear and strong signal that both sides are willing to uphold a rules-based international trading order, setting a good example for countries to resolve differences through dialogue and consultation and injecting greater certainty and positive energy into global economic growth," she said.
"China appreciates the spirit of dialogue showed by the EU side and stands ready to work with the EU, building on the current positive outcomes, to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two sides, maintain dialogue and communication, and support stable industrial and supply chains on both sides, continue to deepen cooperation on the basis of market principles, and make active contributions to the global green transition," she added.
"Soft landing" of China-EU EV case to significantly boost market confidence: MOC spokeswoman
"Soft landing" of China-EU EV case to significantly boost market confidence: MOC spokeswoman
