“The United States still has a chance to avoid a ‘shutdown’, a paralysis of the federal government, which threatens to begin on Sunday if elected members of Congress do not reach an agreement on the budget,” said the director of the Office of the Budget (OMB) from the White House, Shalanda Young, reports AFP.

“I remain optimistic because we have a day and a half” for Democrats and Republicans in Congress to reach an agreement, she said at the daily White House press briefing.

Employees of the federal administration and the military have been preparing for the shutdown for several days. But with the deadline looming and Democrats and Republicans seemingly deadlocked, a shutdown looks increasingly inevitable, AFP reported.

Public employees across the United States, soon to be furloughed or forced to work without pay, began receiving formal notices Thursday of a federal budget impasse that will begin Sunday unless lawmakers in Congress reach a deal.

“Employees appointed and notified in advance will be temporarily suspended, meaning they will not be allowed to work or use departmental resources,” the Department of Health warned in an email sent to staff on Thursday morning, which AFP was able to see consulted. .

They will then have to wait for the stoppage to end in order to receive back pay. The longest period of budget stagnation in the US lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019.