Reuters, Washington :
More Americans blame President Donald Trump than congressional Democrats for the partial U.S. government shutdown, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday found, as lawmakers returned to Washington with no quick end to the shutdown in sight.
Forty-seven percent of adults hold Trump responsible, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress, according to the Dec 21-25 poll, conducted mostly after the shutdown began. Seven percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans.
The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand, largely opposed by Democrats and some Republicans, that taxpayers provide him with $5 billion to help pay for a wall he wants to build on the Mexican border. Its total estimated cost is $23 billion.
Trump wants the money to be included in spending measures that Congress must pass to restore funding to several government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture and Commerce.
On Saturday, when their existing funding expired, those agencies shut down “nonessential” operations. It was the third shutdown of the year. The previous two were brief.
“The president has made clear that any bill to fund the government must adequately fund border security,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement that made no mention of Trump’s proposed wall.
Just 35 percent of those surveyed in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. Only 25 percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter. The shutdown, now in its sixth day, has a had limited impact so far, partly due to vacations for the 800,000 federal workers affected, though that could change soon.
Government agencies began notifying the public on Thursday about service disruptions. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the shutdown means it cannot process new flood insurance policies, possibly disrupting home sales.
The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, offered advice to government employees on staving off creditors if paychecks lapse.
On Capitol Hill, both chambers of the U.S. Congress convened for only a few minutes late on Thursday, but took no steps to end a partial federal government shutdown before adjourning until next week.
Showing little sense of urgency over the shutdown, the Senate and the House of Representatives did nothing to restore funding for the roughly 20 percent of the government affected.
The shutdown was on track to continue into next week and possibly drag on well into January.
The wall dispute coincided with the expiration of funding for about 20 percent of the government. The remaining 80 percent is fully funded and is unaffected by the shutdown.
The departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce and other agencies, shut down “non-essential” operations on Saturday after a tentative funding deal collapsed over Trump’s renewed insistence that wall funding be provided.
The House has approved a shutdown-ending spending measure that includes Trump’s demand for $5 billion, but its prospects in the Senate were seen as poor.
Trump argues that his wall is needed to stem illegal immigration and drugs entering the country – a key plank in his 2016 presidential campaign.
Earlier this month, he said he would be “proud to shut down the government” over wall funding. On Twitter, since the shutdown started, he has tried to blame the Democrats.
In a tweet on Thursday, he framed the shutdown as a partisan issue, saying, “Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?”
The assertion, for which Trump provided no evidence, drew immediate criticism from Democrats.
“Federal employees don’t go to work wearing red or blue jerseys,” Democratic Senator Mark Warner wrote on Twitter.
“They’re public servants. And the president is treating them like poker chips at one of his failed casinos,” Warner said.
The US government partial shutdown was set to stretch deep into next week after legislators failed Thursday to make a breakthrough in the row over President Donald Trump’s demand for a US-Mexico border wall.
More Americans blame President Donald Trump than congressional Democrats for the partial U.S. government shutdown, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday found, as lawmakers returned to Washington with no quick end to the shutdown in sight.
Forty-seven percent of adults hold Trump responsible, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress, according to the Dec 21-25 poll, conducted mostly after the shutdown began. Seven percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans.
The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand, largely opposed by Democrats and some Republicans, that taxpayers provide him with $5 billion to help pay for a wall he wants to build on the Mexican border. Its total estimated cost is $23 billion.
Trump wants the money to be included in spending measures that Congress must pass to restore funding to several government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture and Commerce.
On Saturday, when their existing funding expired, those agencies shut down “nonessential” operations. It was the third shutdown of the year. The previous two were brief.
“The president has made clear that any bill to fund the government must adequately fund border security,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement that made no mention of Trump’s proposed wall.
Just 35 percent of those surveyed in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. Only 25 percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter. The shutdown, now in its sixth day, has a had limited impact so far, partly due to vacations for the 800,000 federal workers affected, though that could change soon.
Government agencies began notifying the public on Thursday about service disruptions. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the shutdown means it cannot process new flood insurance policies, possibly disrupting home sales.
The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, offered advice to government employees on staving off creditors if paychecks lapse.
On Capitol Hill, both chambers of the U.S. Congress convened for only a few minutes late on Thursday, but took no steps to end a partial federal government shutdown before adjourning until next week.
Showing little sense of urgency over the shutdown, the Senate and the House of Representatives did nothing to restore funding for the roughly 20 percent of the government affected.
The shutdown was on track to continue into next week and possibly drag on well into January.
The wall dispute coincided with the expiration of funding for about 20 percent of the government. The remaining 80 percent is fully funded and is unaffected by the shutdown.
The departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce and other agencies, shut down “non-essential” operations on Saturday after a tentative funding deal collapsed over Trump’s renewed insistence that wall funding be provided.
The House has approved a shutdown-ending spending measure that includes Trump’s demand for $5 billion, but its prospects in the Senate were seen as poor.
Trump argues that his wall is needed to stem illegal immigration and drugs entering the country – a key plank in his 2016 presidential campaign.
Earlier this month, he said he would be “proud to shut down the government” over wall funding. On Twitter, since the shutdown started, he has tried to blame the Democrats.
In a tweet on Thursday, he framed the shutdown as a partisan issue, saying, “Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?”
The assertion, for which Trump provided no evidence, drew immediate criticism from Democrats.
“Federal employees don’t go to work wearing red or blue jerseys,” Democratic Senator Mark Warner wrote on Twitter.
“They’re public servants. And the president is treating them like poker chips at one of his failed casinos,” Warner said.
The US government partial shutdown was set to stretch deep into next week after legislators failed Thursday to make a breakthrough in the row over President Donald Trump’s demand for a US-Mexico border wall.
