The United States is just hours away from paralyzing the federal administration over the lack of a vote on its funding, a scandal in which President Joe Biden and Republicans are blaming each other, AFP reports.

The world’s No. 1 economy is set to slow on Sunday unless an unlikely last-minute deal is struck, leaving 1.5 million government workers without pay, air travel suspended and gates to national parks closed.

That’s because neither the House of Congress, nor the Democratic-controlled Senate, nor the Republican-controlled House of Representatives could pass a finance bill to extend the federal budget, which expires at midnight on Saturday at 4:00 GMT (Sunday, 7:00 a.m. Romanian time).

A year before the presidential election, the two camps are blaming each other for a situation that is very unpopular among Americans.

This budget crisis will have direct consequences for the war in Ukraine.

The White House initially requested that the finance bill, which is being put to a vote of elected officials, would include $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Aware of the risk of fatigue for his major American ally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi visited Congress last week in an effort to persuade the United States to help him cross the “finish line” against Russia.

But the unlocking of such an amount looks increasingly uncertain, given the direction in which backroom negotiations are being conducted.

A few elected Trumpist Republicans are refusing to unlock new aid to Kyiv, understanding that these funds should be directed toward resolving the migration crisis in the United States.

POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL GEP

These aides of Donald Trump, who have disproportionate power because of the very fragile Republican majority in the House of Representatives, already pushed the United States to the brink of the political-financial abyss four months ago on the issue of raising the debt ceiling. .

They have received an order from the former president, who could face Joe Biden in 2024, to “paralyze” the federal government if they do not win on “all” of the budget documents being discussed.

Democratic President Joe Biden believes the ball is in the court of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

In contrast, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, elected at the cost of numerous deals with Trumpists, accuses Democrats of wanting to “paralyze the government.”

During the presidency of Donald Trump, the longest “shutdown” was recorded in the USA in the winter of 2018-2019.

According to some estimates, the American GDP then lost more than three billion dollars

A few hours before the deadline, America is preparing for another full or partial shutdown of services.

Officials began to be notified of the inevitability of this paralysis.

Most of America’s famous national parks, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, will close their gates.

Air traffic will be severely disrupted as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Agency (TSA) officials also come under attack.

Some food assistance recipients may no longer receive this assistance.

According to a note by economists at Goldman Sachs, each week of the “shutdown” could cost 0.2 percentage points of US GDP in the fourth quarter.