Jonathan Kearsley: US correspondent on whether the end of the US Government shutdown is in sight

The US Senate has passed through legislation to reopen the US Government, indicating the long-running shutdown is closer to wrapping up.

The 41-day shutdown could last a few more days, with more members of the House set to vote on the legislation.

US correspondent Jonathan Kearsley says there's still more issues to come - as flights in the US are impacted by delays and disruptions.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonathan Kurzley US correspondence with US. Hello, Jonathan, ten out
of ten for the joke. Ev. You're being soft on him.
You know that now because he's your mate. Now, when
is the shutdown finally over? Well, it looks like it
could be tomorrow. The US House is going to resume tomorrow.
Mike Johnson, the Speaker has called them all back. They
will sit. It needs a simple majority. Republicans have the majority,

(00:22):
so it will pass. It then has to go to
Donald Trump's desk to be signed off, and then it
will become essentially legislation and law, and the government can
work to reopen and resume Certa'll be forty three on
days by the time we reached that point. Even though
that this has already passed the Senate, it actually can't
reopen until all of the legislative side and Donald Trump

(00:42):
signs off on it. So it's going to be one
more day. But there's going to be a headaches still
to come. I mean, we'll being warned about air trable
problems still because it's going to take them time to
get the air traffic controlers back at full speed, back
at full capacity. Even though the President has warned that
they will be docked pay if they aren't turning up
affective as off a couple of days ago. So it
is going to take a little bit of time for
things to get back in full swing, but the government

(01:04):
should reopen properly tomorrow. What's going on with Venezuela do
you think do you think an attack might be likely?
I think this is posturing from the American President. I
think what he's doing. You played that grab before talking
about trying to essentially ouse Maduro from Venezuela. I think
that is what he is trying to happen here. He
is trying to make a political move, but using military might.

(01:28):
He talks about he talks about peace through strength, and
that's what he's doing here. I mean, you've got the
USS gerald Ford moving down into this region. They've been
carrying out attacks on what they say drug trafficking boats,
some nineteen attacks that have killed some seventy six people.
They haven't really provided any evidence though the administration hasn't
that these are actually drug trafficking boats. But still you're

(01:51):
seeing this huge posturing going on around Venezuela and around
those waters of Latin America. Really trying to send a
message to the Venezuelan authorities and to the Venezuelan people.
But inside Venezuela, you've got their own concerns. I mean,
Maduro is essentially trying accusing the Trump administration of fabricating
a crisis when he thinks there isn't one, and trying

(02:11):
to topple his own socialist government. You've got guerrilla forces
essentially arming up inside Venezuela because Venezuela's military is not strong,
it is underpaid, it has lower grade weapons, out of
date weaponry. So you've got gorilla forces now essentially starting
to try and arm themselves to the teeth to prepare

(02:33):
for the possibility that there might be some sort of attack.
I mean President Trump suggested there could be a land action,
a land move. Now what that is, well, he would
probably need the approval of Congress to go and actually
carry that out, and would that then be an active war.
So you've got this political posturing, this military posturing. But
I think this is largely trying to send a political message.

(02:54):
He wants he wants government change in Venezuela, and that's
what he's trying to do. Interesting, Hey, thank you very much.
Jonathan has always look after Yourself Jonathan Kurzley, US correspondent.
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