Shutdown averted: US MPs in favor of transition budget
The feared government shutdown in the USA appears to have been averted. The members of the US House of Representatives approved a bill for an interim budget with more than the required two-thirds majority.
Without approval, employees in parts of the public administration, among others, would no longer have received their salaries from Saturday. The Senate, the other chamber of the US Congress, must now approve the proposal. This is considered a formality because the Democrats have a majority in the Senate and have already expressed their support for the bill. The Republican leadership there has also already signaled its approval.
A vote is expected in the course of the week. After that, President Joe Biden still has to sign the bill. However, the bill excludes the billions in support for Israel and Ukraine requested by Biden, as well as new funds for US border protection with Mexico. These points would have to be decided on separately at a later date, as would a regular budget with a longer duration. 336 members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, 95 parliamentarians rejected it.
Republicans wanted to prevent an increase in some expenditure
The bill provides for about one-fifth of the money for government operations and federal agencies to be funded through January 19, including money for military and veterans, agriculture and transportation. The other four-fifths, such as the State Department, Commerce, Labor and Health, will be funded through Feb. 2, according to the Washington Post.
The newly elected majority leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, introduced the bill last week. However, 93 of his party colleagues rejected the proposal because they want to categorically prevent the increase in some spending items it contains. Only 127 Republicans voted in favor. The bill was therefore only successful thanks to the votes of 209 Democrats, with two Democrats voting against it.
The current interim budget, which was only passed by the US Congress at the beginning of October, expires on Saturday. Until then, a solution must be found to avert the insolvency of the public administration. The political tug-of-war is repeated every year - Congress usually manages to pass a stopgap budget and then fights again a few months later over the funding of government operations.
The approval of the interim budget by the US House of Representatives means that government employees, including those in households dependent on these salaries, can avoid financial hardship during the shutdown threat. should the Senate also approve the proposal, as expected.
Some Republican members of the House of Representatives, such as the newly elected majority leader Mike Johnson, have opposed the bill due to its potential increase in certain expenditures, causing a split within their party.
Source: www.dpa.com
