US President Joe Biden has admitted that he does not know how to prevent a shutdown of the US government (“shutdown”), which could happen on 1 October. His words were quoted by The Hill publication on 27 September.
“If I knew that, I would have already done it,” he said at a meeting with the Council on Science and Technology, answering a question about possible actions to prevent the crisis.
At the same time, the American leader disagreed with the view that a “shutdown” was inevitable.
“I don’t think there is anything inevitable in politics,” Biden said.
On 26 September, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy called on the American president to personally intervene in the situation with the looming crisis due to the lack of general agreement on the adoption of the country’s temporary budget. He also noted that it would be very important to hold a meeting with Biden to prevent a government shutdown.
Congress, in order to avoid a shutdown, must pass a full or short-term budget for the country before the end of the current fiscal year, which expires on 1 October.
On 23 September, Biden called on members of the Republican Party to prevent a US government shutdown. He stressed that a government shutdown would affect everything from food security to children’s education programmes. The American leader urged Republicans to return to the issue of the budget.
The Washington Post reported the day before that the US government had begun preparations for a possible shutdown. According to the newspaper, if a decision on the budget is not made, millions of civil servants and military personnel will not be paid, and many federal programmes will abruptly stop working.