美国有线新闻 CNN 美墨边境墙预算陷入僵局 美国25%政府部门持续关门

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The border between the United States and Mexico has been getting a lot of attention lately and U.S. President Donald Trump¹ is planning to visit the area again on Thursday. He wants Congress to approve $5.6 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The House of Representatives approved that money in December. The Senate did not.

And because Congress and the president couldn't agree on funding for the wall as part of a bigger funding package for the Federal government, a partial government shutdown began on December 22nd. We explained and explored this issue last Friday. You can find our January 4th show in the archive's section at cnn10.com.

By partial shutdown, we mean that about 25 percent of the government is closed. It includes 800,000 Federal employees, about half of them won't be paid until the government reopens. The other half are forced to take time off without pay.

Republicans and Democrats² are pretty well dug in on their positions concerning the wall. Most Republicans want the funding approved so it can be built. Most Democrats want the funding denied so it can't be built. The president and lawmakers have had several meetings to discuss the issue but as of Monday night, there'd been no break through. So without a government funding plan in place, the shutdown continues. There've been more than 20 partial shutdowns since 1976. The longest lasted 21 days from 1995 to 1996.