The Senate passed an interim budget that is expected to pave the way to ending the longest government shutdown in the country’s history. Shutdown will soon remain investors’ nightmare.
The shutdown will finally end
The Senate voted 60-40 in favor of the interim budget. The vote came after a group of eight centrists in the Democratic Party struck a deal with Senate Republican leaders and the White House to reopen the government. All in exchange for a future vote on extending increased subsidies to the health care program.
Sen. Angus King, who led the talks, told reporters that Democrats supporting the bill believe the government shutdown has gone on long enough. Asked if he was confident that his idea would gain enough support, he replied that “it certainly seems that way.”
The package that was passed must still be passed by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, which could take several days. So this does not mean that the shutdown will end today.
As news of the breakthrough broke, Trump told reporters that “it looks like we’re very close to ending the government shutdown.”
However, there is a division in the Democratic Party. For example, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, immediately announced that he would vote against the provisional measure, but suggested that the party could guarantee enough support from congressmen to pass it.
I don’t want to accept a vague promise of a vote at some unspecified date on some unspecified piece of legislation that will extend health care tax credits
Blumenthal said.
The government shutdown means in practice a partial paralysis of public services, not only the government. The shutdown effectively meant the cancellation of thousands of flights, forced furloughs of some 750,000 federal workers and no food aid for millions of Americans. In addition, it meant no payments to public employees, which reduced liquidity in the markets and hit the cryptocurrency market.a
Bitcoin price is rising
So far, the mere increase in the chance of the government reopening has led to an increase in the price of BTC and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin broke through the USD 106,000 level.
