US government shuts down again

The US government will shut down for the second time in less than a month, after the Senate failed to vote on a controversial budget bill before last night’s midnight deadline.

The bill was widely expected to pass easily through the Senate, however it was significantly delayed by Republican Senator Rand Paul (pictured), who had baulked at the large spending increases the bill includes.

Paul spent hours demanding a vote on an amendment to the bill that would show how the budget deal would “demonstrate how the two-year budget deal breaks past pledges to rein in federal spending,” the Washington Post reports.

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“I can’t in all good honesty, in all good faith, just look the other way because my party is now complicit in the deficits,” Paul said.

Shortly before midnight, the Senate was adjourned until the early hours of this morning, local time.

The New York Times says that the Senate is expected to vote to pass the budget bill sometime after 1:00am, with the debate on the bill to begin in the House before daybreak, “though the outcome in that chamber is less certain.”

The bill is facing fresh criticism from Democrats over its lack of inclusion of any measure to protect the so-called Dreamers, whose shield against deportation was rescinded by Donald Trump earlier this year.

House Democratic leaders have reportedly urged members to vote against the bill, following a meeting late on Wednesday afternoon.

According to The Guardian, dozens of House Republicans are also likely to vote against the budget bill “because of its impact on the federal debt and the increase in spending on domestic programs.”