The US Congress voted, Thursday, in favor of maintaining funding for federal agencies and avoiding a costly government shutdown during an election year, after Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement in this regard on Wednesday.
Five months into the fiscal year, Congress had yet to pass the 12 annual spending bills that make up the federal budget, and was facing a midnight deadline on Friday, March 8 to avoid a temporary shutdown of many public departments and services.
The Republican-dominated House of Representatives and the Democratic-majority Senate approved a short-term “continuing resolution” extending the deadline for the first six bills until March 8, and making March 22 the deadline for the remaining six.
All Democrats in the House of Representatives, except for two representatives, voted yes on the continuing resolution, but 97 Republicans voted against it.
In an evening vote, the Senate approved the resolution by a majority of 77 votes to 13, and it will now make its way to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature to become effective.
Representatives from the right-wing movement in the Republican Party close to former President Donald Trump have so far obstructed the adoption of the 2024 federal budget, whose fiscal year began on October 1.
Until now, the largest economy in the world had operated through a series of mini-laws adopted each time to extend the budget by a few days, weeks, or months.
Once the expiry of these mini-budgets approaches, as was the case with one of them on Friday, the risk of partially closing the federal administration, which the Americans call “closing” institutions, returns.
This has several consequences, such as non-payment of air traffic controllers’ wages, closure of departments, freezing of some food aid, and lack of maintenance of public parks.
This is the fourth time since October that this entitlement has been postponed.
The mini-budget is supposed to be approved by US President Joe Biden after it is approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate, so that the threat of paralyzing the federal state can be removed.
Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress reached a preliminary agreement on Wednesday to extend the federal budget for a few days. “We agree that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government,” they said in a statement. They added that Wednesday’s agreement extends part of the current budget for one week, until March 8, and another part until the 22nd of the same month.
