American embassy in UAE impacted by US budget woes
Row over Trump’s planned wall on Mexico border leads to closure of some departments
Abu Dhabi: The Twitter account of the US mission in the UAE (@USAinUAE) has been impacted by the partial shutdown of the federal government in America.
On Saturday, the US embassy in Abu Dhabi tweeted: “Posting to this account [@USAinUAE] will be suspended due to the lapse in appropriations. For updates from the Department please follow @StateDept”.
Hours earlier, America’s ‘Travel — State Dept’ account (@TravelGov) had posted: “At this time, scheduled passport & visa services will continue in the US & overseas during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits. We will not update this account until full operations resume, except for urgent safety & security information. http://travel.state.gov”.
Saturday’s development follows a partial shutdown of the US government after lawmakers failed to reach a deal about funding for the federal budget.
US President Donald Trump has to sign off any deal but he is holding out until a minimum $5 billion (around Dh18.37 billion) funding for his planned wall along the US-Mexico border is also included in the deal.
He has said in a video address that the opposition Democrats bear the responsibility to resolve the deadlock.
The partial closure will put federal workers of some departments, such as Homeland Security and Agriculture, on temporary leave or have them work without pay.