Washington [US], October 22: While the two parties have yet to find common ground on the budget issue, the US appeals court has ruled to allow the federal government to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon.
Yesterday (Vietnam time), the US Senate continued to witness the 11th failure to pass a temporary spending bill to reopen the government. The bill did not reach the 60-vote threshold needed to make progress, and so far there is no sign that the situation will change soon.
Continued war of words in parliament
Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune reiterated his stance that Republicans were willing to discuss ways to address Democrats' concerns about health care. According to CBS News, Thune was even willing to guarantee a vote on the Democrats' issue.
But that won't happen until Democrats agree to vote to reopen the government. "We're not going to negotiate anything until Democrats stop holding the budget hostage," said the Republican leader in the US Senate. Mr. Thune also said he would introduce a new bill this week to pay civil servants and military personnel who are still working during the government shutdown.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the Republican Party's attitude during the government shutdown. "Republicans seem happy to not work, not negotiate, and leave more than 20 million working and middle-class people facing skyrocketing health insurance costs," CBS quoted Mr. Schumer.
On the same day, at a press conference at the Capitol, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries commented that his Republican colleagues were living out of touch with reality and doing nothing to improve the lives of the American people. According to Mr. Jeffries, US President Donald Trump definitely needs to get involved if he wants to restart negotiations to end the government shutdown.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is still not expected to return to Washington, DC, this week since its last vote on September 19. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would call lawmakers back if the Senate approved the payment of civil servants and military personnel, but he also acknowledged that this possibility is unlikely.
AFP quoted Energy Secretary Chris Wright as saying that the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the US nuclear arsenal, began temporarily laying off most of its employees earlier this week.
New legal victory for Mr. Trump
In another development, the San Francisco (California) appeals court on October 20 ruled that US President Donald Trump could deploy the National Guard to Portland despite the objections of Oregon Governor Tina Kotek. The ruling paves the way for the deployment of a force of 200 National Guard troops to protect federal buildings in Portland from protests. However, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield called for a new trial to reconsider the ruling.
Also on October 20, Arizona State University became the seventh university to reject the federal government's proposal for a "favor-for-funding" plan. The response was sent to the Department of Education after the White House suggested that a group of universities would be prioritized for funding if they agreed to support the federal government's controversial agenda package.
Previously, six universities refused to sign the agreement, namely Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California and University of Virginia. Currently, only Vanderbilt University and University of Texas have not responded.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
