The US Congress has barely prevented government business from coming to a standstill. The Senate voted for a $1.2 trillion budget package. There is already discontent among Republicans.
The US Senate passed a trillion-dollar budget package at the last moment. Voting began late Friday evening just before the deadline a minute past midnight and ended early Saturday morning. Until recently, it was unclear whether there would be a partial standstill in government business – a so-called shutdown.
In theory, this was the case for a short time, as the deadline passed before the vote was finished. But it didn’t have an actual effect. US President Joe Biden still has to sign the law – this is considered a formality. The White House announced that night that it expected this to happen today.
Clear majority for budget package
The budget package was approved by the House of Representatives with a cross-party majority on Friday afternoon. The fact that a vote in the Senate was only just a short time ago was not due to a lack of a majority, but rather due to parliamentary tactics by Republican senators. In the end, a total of 74 senators voted for the budget package and 24 against it.
The impact of a shutdown would initially have been minimal over the weekend, as most of the government employees affected are off work anyway. It would have become problematic if the discussions had dragged on further into the coming week.
A shutdown means millions of government employees will no longer receive a salary. Many ministries and authorities have contingency plans for this scenario. The extent to which a shutdown affects everyday life and the economy in the USA ultimately depends on its length.
No Ukraine aid included
The now passed 1.2 trillion US dollar (around 1.1 trillion euros) budget package finances a large part of the US government’s business for the current fiscal year, which runs until the end of September. It contains, among other things, funds for defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor – but it does not include new financial aid from the USA to other countries such as Ukraine. A corresponding legislative package is currently stuck in the House of Representatives.
Republicans and Democrats agreed on the budget package at the beginning of the week after an initial, smaller budget package had already been passed.
As a rule, Congress agrees on a large overall package to finance government operations. It should actually have been passed last fall. Recently, however, the Republicans have resisted this. They split up the household. The second part was still pending. Together, both packages now amount to $1.66 trillion.
Motion against Republican Johnson
The arguments over the budget had been going on for months. In the meantime, Congress managed to pass several interim budgets. This essentially had to do with a blockade attitude among the Republicans.
This Friday, the votes necessary for the second budget package were achieved in the House of Representatives with Republican support. However, a majority of the group still voted against it. Among other things, the MPs had called for major cuts in the budget.
The vote in his chamber could have consequences for the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. MP Marjorie Taylor Greene from the ultra-right fringe surprisingly introduced a motion to drive her party colleague out of office. According to Greene, this was initially just a “warning”. In her view, the budget package is a Democratic budget that she does not support. At the same time, she also explained: “We need a new chairman.”