{"id":73369,"date":"2025-11-14T10:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T05:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=73369"},"modified":"2025-11-14T11:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T05:55:37","slug":"inside-americas-government-shutdown-budget-deadlock-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/inside-americas-government-shutdown-budget-deadlock-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside America\u2019s Government Shutdown: Budget Deadlock Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>US Government Shutdown Oil Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">US President Donald Trump signed a stopgap bill recently, ending the longest government shutdown in US history.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A shutdown occurs when the government runs out of funds, forcing federal agencies to halt operations and hurting the economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the budget system began in 1976, the <\/span><b>US has faced 11 shutdowns<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with the latest lasting 43 days \u2014 surpassing the previous record of 34 days during Trump\u2019s earlier term.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Why Government Shutdowns Happen in the US but Not in India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A US government shutdown occurs not because the country runs out of money, but because the <\/span><b>government loses legislative permission to tax and spend<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike India \u2014 where the Executive is part of Parliament and a budget failure forces the government to resign \u2014 the <\/span><b>US President is separate from Congress<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This separation means the President cannot ensure passage of the budget and need not resign if it fails.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Congress, divided along party lines, cannot agree on the budget, the federal government shuts down.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the recent shutdown, Republicans lacked the 60 Senate votes needed, and the deadlock ended only when eight Democrats supported the resolution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How the US Budget Cycle Works<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The US fiscal year runs from <\/span><b>October 1 to September 30<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The shutdown began on October 1 because the Trump administration could not get its budget approved by Congress in time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Budget Preparation Begins in February<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The budget process starts much earlier. By the <\/span><b>first Monday of February<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the President must submit the budget proposal to Congress.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both chambers \u2014 the House and the Senate \u2014 then engage in months of deliberations, debates, and amendments on taxation and spending priorities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These discussions often become contentious.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Source of Conflict in the Recent Budget Debate<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A key point of disagreement during this shutdown was the scope and funding of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamps programme.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such policy disagreements create delays in approving appropriations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>October 1: The Hard Deadline<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Congressional Research Service, October 1 is a strict deadline for Congress to pass appropriations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the fiscal year ends, previous funding expires, and by law, the government cannot spend money without new appropriations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Why a Shutdown Happens<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Congress does not approve funding by October 1 \u2014 creating a \u201cfunding gap\u201d \u2014 federal agencies must begin shutting down affected programmes and activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This legal requirement triggers a government shutdown until a new budget or stopgap bill is passed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Rising US Budget Deficit<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Congressional Budget Office, the US recorded a <\/span><b>$1.8 trillion budget deficit in FY2025<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government receipts were <\/span><b>$5.2 trillion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while spending reached <\/span><b>$7 trillion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, creating a large fiscal gap.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For comparison, the <\/span><b>entire Indian GDP is under $4 trillion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the central government\u2019s total budget expenditure is about <\/span><b>$0.6 trillion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This highlights the massive scale of US finances and deficits.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The FY2025 deficit equalled 5.9% of US GDP, much higher than the long-term average of 3.8% (1975\u20132025).\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A deficit means the government must borrow more to sustain its expenditure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Larger deficits add to the rising mountain of public debt. One consequence is rising interest payments, which have now become the <\/span><b>second-largest expenditure item<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the US government, as shown in official data.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Presidential vs Parliamentary System: A Warning for India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The US shutdown illustrates how a presidential system can suffer severe governance breakdowns when the executive and legislature disagree.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, India\u2019s parliamentary system ensures continuity of government, even with its own limitations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While system choice depends on many factors, this episode highlights why a developing country like India may struggle to withstand long, disruptive shutdowns that a presidential model can trigger.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/us-govt-shutdown-the-state-of-its-budget-10364518\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/13\/us-shutdown-ends-what-happens-now-when-will-services-resume\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">AJ<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c891nvwvg2zo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BBC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explore why the US government shutdown occurs, how the budget process works, rising deficits, and why India\u2019s parliamentary system avoids such governance breakdowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":73394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,22,59,3021],"class_list":{"0":"post-73369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","10":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","11":"tag-us-government-shutdown","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}