The wall that US President Donald Trump wants to build on the Mexican border was at the center of budget discussions as the Democratic opposition refuses to give him the funds.
The US Congress must mandatorily approve a federal budget by Friday.
If it does not, one minute after midnight, the US federal government will not legally be able to function because it does not have a budget to finance its operations.
Last year, when Barack Obama was still president, lawmakers agreed to postpone until Friday the deadline for budget approval, rather than September 30th, to allow the new government to define and integrate its priorities.
However, Trump’s government, bent on delivering a promise of his electoral campaign, must include the construction of the wall, an oversized work whose final cost could exceed $ 15 billion, on the budget.
In its first project, the White House separated a $ 1.4 billion item to start the process of building it.
However, the opposition from the Democratic party has decided that it will block the approval of the budget if the wall proposal is included.
This blockade could lead to the dreaded “shutdown”, the closure of the federal government by the lack of budget.
This happened in 2013 when hundreds of thousands of public employees had to stay in their homes because their workplaces were closed. At that time, it was the Republican party that blocked the approval of a federal budget.