As of: 09/30/2021 8:31 pm
The provisional further financing of the US administration could be ensured: The Senate approved a transitional budget to avert a default. The approval of the House of Representatives is still pending.
The US Congress took a big step at the last minute to prevent an impending partial standstill of government business. The Senate passed a draft law for a transitional budget until December 3rd with 65 to 35 votes. At least 60 votes were necessary for a majority. The text had to be approved by the House of Representatives before a midnight deadline and then signed by President Joe Biden. Approval in the second Congress Chamber was considered certain.
This would avert an impending budget freeze at the last minute. Without an interim solution, the USA would steer into a so-called shutdown when the previous annual budget expired on Friday night. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees would then be sent on unpaid compulsory leave, and numerous public institutions would have to close. A shutdown in the midst of a national crisis situation like the corona pandemic would be a first in US history.
Six million jobs are at stake
A first attempt this week failed due to resistance from the Republicans. US President Biden’s Democrats initially tried to link a transitional budget with a suspension of the debt ceiling.
The Democrats now want to suspend the debt limit in a separate step until December 2022. If this does not succeed, the USA faces insolvency for the first time in its history. According to the Democrats, it would cost six million jobs and destroy $ 15 trillion in personal wealth.
Dispute among US Democrats
The Democrats accuse ex-President Donald Trump’s Republicans of irresponsibility because they refuse to suspend the debt ceiling. The Republicans, on the other hand, accuse the Democrats of irresponsible budgetary policies. You refer to the billion dollar investment packages that the Biden government wants to get through Congress.
The $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure package and a social policy reform package worth $ 3.5 trillion are also causing bitter disputes within the Democratic Party. The chairman of the House of Representatives, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi, wanted to have the infrastructure package already approved in the Senate passed today. The progressive wing of the party threatened to let the vote fail.
Search for compromise
Left-wing MPs only want to vote for the infrastructure package if the social package makes progress at the same time. They fear that the social package in the Senate could peter out once the infrastructure package has been approved and they no longer have any leverage.
Biden and the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives have been feverishly looking for a compromise for days. If the attempts fail, it could mean the death knell for Biden’s reform agenda.