One more patch. The US Congress adopted a long-awaited provisional budget measure for the federal government on Thursday, thus repelling the much-feared specter of the “shutdown”, a partial budgetary paralysis which would have affected several non-essential services of the administration.
After the Senate earlier in the afternoon, the House of Representatives adopted the text so that the funding of several federal administrations, which was to expire Friday evening at midnight, be extended for six weeks, until March 1 . The text was to be promulgated by Joe Biden immediately.
Without this text, thousands of civil servants would be forced into technical unemployment, particularly air traffic controllers. American elected officials were under pressure to quickly vote on this measure and thus avoid this famous partial “shutdown”, while Washington expects snowfall on Friday and the House of Representatives has already canceled the polls scheduled for that day.
Support from half of Republicans
The text adopted by Congress allows the government to continue financing state spending until the beginning of March, which gives elected officials time to agree on a long-term budget and the details of spending.
“We have good news for America: there will be no shutdown Friday,” said Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, during a speech to his colleagues. “Because both parties have worked together, the government will remain open, services will not be interrupted, we will avoid unnecessary disaster,” he added.
The recurring inability of Congress to adopt a budget for the fiscal year (which began four months ago) illustrates the dysfunctions within the American institutional apparatus. And financing measures adopted for a short period of time, like the one adopted Thursday, are often used to avoid budgetary paralysis.
The text voted on Thursday was the subject of tough negotiations between Republicans, the majority in the lower house, and Democrats, the majority in the upper house. In the end, the text was adopted by 314 votes to 108, more than the necessary two-thirds. It was supported by half of Republicans and almost all Democrats.
The blockage continues on the border and aid to Ukraine
In early January, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson announced an agreement with Democrats on the total amount of the state budget for fiscal year 2024, establishing a limit on federal spending at around $1.7 trillion. dollars.
The disagreement between the two parties concerns expenditure items. Joe Biden thus formulated a request for an additional $106 billion in the budget, mainly to help Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Israel.
The leaders of both parties in the Senate are proponents of supporting Kiev, but a number of Republican lawmakers in the House say such support is not in the United States’ interests.
Another thorny subject: the influx of migrants at the border with Mexico. Republicans and Democrats alike agree on the existence of a crisis but differ on the response to be made. The former particularly wish to limit the right to asylum and strengthen expulsion measures.