Millions of Americans on Monday began the countdown to the cessation of salaries and social benefits within days, with matters in Congress heading towards the “closure” of government institutions after right-wing Republicans obstructed efforts to approve the budget.

Four months after avoiding a catastrophic debt default, the world's largest economy is once again on the brink of crisis, with the effects of the lockdown expected to begin to appear at the end of this week.

Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, were unable to approve the usual set of bills that determine departmental budgets for the next fiscal year, which begins Sunday, after their efforts were hampered by extremists in the party demanding a significant reduction in spending.

The party leadership does not have the necessary votes to advance a short-term financing bill based on spending levels for the year 2023, to ensure continuity of funding for federal institutions after midnight Saturday-Sunday.

The closure would jeopardize the financial resources allocated to workers in national parks, museums and other federally funded sites, and could have serious political repercussions for Biden as he seeks to win a second term in the 2024 elections.

The White House warned Monday that seven million people who depend on the Food Assistance Program for Women and Children may be cut off from funding.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement to reporters, "We will hold Republican extremists in the House of Representatives accountable."

She continued, "We will hold them accountable for the reckless cuts they require" to spare federal institutions from closing.

The crisis resulted from Republicans in the House of Representatives refusing to move the government forward with spending based on the levels agreed upon between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in Congress.

In addition, another thorny issue is the request for additional aid for Kiev, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Congress last week and requested more weapons to fight Russian forces in the war that has been raging in his country for 18 months.

Both parties in the Senate support the $24 billion aid bill, but a group of hard-line Republicans in the House of Representatives threatens to obstruct the approval of any financing measures, including aid.

A post by former President Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night said, “If you don’t get everything, close it,” referring to federal institutions.

The budget vote in Congress often turns into a confrontation in which one party uses the specter of a closure to extract concessions from the opponent, but these maneuvers usually fail.

Trump, who is also a presidential candidate next year, imposed a 35-day closure of federal institutions due to border controls in 2018, but the federal institutions eventually resumed their work after the administration failed to extract any concession from the Democrats.

The dilemma is usually resolved before it turns into a crisis, but the possibilities of closing federal institutions this year are exacerbated by sharp polarization in Congress.

In the Senate, two senior politicians are leading the debate: Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In talks with McConnell and the White House, Schumer seeks to pave the way for approving short-term funding that includes aid to Ukraine.

This measure, which has bipartisan support in the Senate, would ensure the continuity of the work of federal institutions until the beginning of December, but it is likely that it will not be ready to be presented for a vote before the “closing” and it will not receive the support of the right-wingers in the Republican Party.

The specter of a "lockdown" looms just four months after the country approached a catastrophic default on its debts, with dire consequences for the economy in the United States and abroad.

Moody's, the only major agency that maintained its higher rating on US sovereign debt, warned that the recent crisis could push it to lower its rating.

The US government employs more than two million civilians, in addition to military personnel and federal contractors.

“Non-essential” civil servants may be asked to stay home during the “lockdown,” and they will not receive their salaries until the lockdown ends and they return to work.