The Democratic-controlled US Senate voted to reject a Republican bill to maintain the federal budget, putting the federal government at nearly certain risk of closing from 0:00 on October 1, local time (around 11:00 a.m. on October 1, Hanoi time).
The results of the September 30 vote showed 55 votes in favor - 45 against the bill in the Senate vote, lower than the required threshold of 60 votes.
This development is in line with the Democratic Party's intention - to let the government shut down if President Donald Trump and the Republican Party do not accept the health policy request.
The government's shutdown means hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be forced to temporarily quit or be laid off.
Trump has warned that he will retaliate against the Democrats if this scenario occurs, including staff cuts and programs supported by the Democrats.
The last time the US government had to close was in late 2018 and early 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term. At that time, Mr. Trump asked the Congress to allocate a budget to build a US-Mexico border wall. The crisis lasted for 35 days, the longest in US history, causing many airports to be congested and federal employees to not be paid.
This time, the risk is also very high. Last week, the White House asked federal agencies to prepare to reduce staff with many programs if the government closes, meaning some unnecessary employees could be fired instead of just temporarily lay off.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about 750,000 federal employees will have to take a day off work when the government is closed.
