US Federal Government Shutsdown For 2nd Time in Less Than One Month
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For the second time in less than a month, within only around 17 days, the US federal government has shut down tonight. This time, it isn't exactly Senate Republicans or Democrats to blame - but the House and Rand Paul in specific.
GOP Sen. Rand Paul made a statement on the Senate floor, attacking his other candidates and directly targeting the members of his own party, calling out the party's hipocrisy.
He was referencing the Republican party's consistent campaign promise and years-long definite goal to reduce America's spending and recover their debt, and now seeing all of the same members of which attacked Obama's want to spend now defending Trump's.
Paul called out the government's consistent precense in Afghanistan of which is costing the government lots of money. "I think we have to defend ourselves… but the thing is if we go and stay for decade after decade… They don’t see us as liberators. They kind of see us as occupiers."
He also snuck in some defense of the Democratic ideology, rendering criticism from the president's base on Twitter and on other social media platforms. “The Republicans are telling America trillion-dollar deficits are bad when you’re Democrats but OK when you’re Republicans."
A lot of Democrats praised his message, with his name trending on Twitter for quite a while after. He was referred to by many as 'Senator Sanity', though Republicans weren't so happy. “My hope is that both sides of the aisle will look long and hard and say this isn’t the way we should run our government…" he said, trying to find bipartisanship.
He didn't exactly avoid attacking Democrats, though, still attacking their ideology although respecting the fact that they haven't budged in recent years. "At least the Democrats are honest," he said during his speech.
Rand Paul is currently blocking a vote for the budget deal, proposed by the Senate but criticized by the House. His move was unexpected, and has caused this shutdown.
Analysts are predicting the federal government will remain shutdown for a few hours tonight, hinting at a potential very-early morning vote to end it and pass a funding bill.
This article was last updated at 12:00 AM ET.