With the clock ticking down to a April 8 midnight deadline and President Barack Obama and congressional leaders unable to resolve disputes over abortion funding and changes to the Clean Air Act, it appears more and more likely that the U.S. federal government is headed for a shutdown. If the shutdown were to continue through Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers deemed nonessential would be furloughed. Essential services, such as national defense, would continue, but soldiers would likely not be paid. Other important services such as benefits for veterans and clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health would also probably be suspended. Do other countries ever have to deal with this?
No. Other countries may have coups, revolutions, and collapses, but a government so deadlocked it simply ceases to function seems to be an exclusively American phenomenon.
In Europe thanks to robust and apolitical civil services, most governments can keep operating no matter who's in power. Belgium hasn't had a government since June 2010, but, for the most part, the trains still run on time, the trash gets picked up, and budgets are even passed.
For more: Why Don’t Other Countries Have Government Shutdowns? | Foreign Policy
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