The US Congress, controlled by a small margin by Democrats, approved on Thursday (2) the maintenance of government spending at current levels until mid-February, thus avoiding the risk of a “shutdown”, the stoppage of non-essential services in the government.
After being approved by 69 votes in favor and 28 against in the Senate, hours after passing through the Chamber, the measure releases funds for the federal government to continue operating in full until February 18th. Democratic deputies had the support of only one Republican, and the score in this House was 221 to 212.
The drag on public spending came with the approval of this fiscal year’s Budget, which began on October 1st. Without approving the 12 annual appropriations needed to fund government activities in time for the start of the fiscal year, Congress had released the funds on September 30, but the deadline ended at midnight this Friday (3).
Now, Democrats and Republicans have nearly 12 weeks to resolve their differences over annual allocations, which total about $1.5 trillion to fund federal programs for this fiscal year.
Resistance to a timely approval, which left the administration at risk of “shutdown,” came from some more conservative Republicans, who wanted to add an amendment blocking President Joe Biden’s vaccination requirement for American workers in different industries.
Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Roger Marshall had earlier raised the possibility that the government would be partially paralyzed over the weekend while the Senate would slowly consider the maintenance of spending.
“It’s not the government’s role, it’s not within the government’s authority to tell people they should get vaccinated and if they don’t, they’re going to be fired. It’s wrong. It’s immoral,” Lee defended before the amendment’s defeat.
In recent days, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has insisted there would be no government shutdown due to Congressional inaction, but the Republican had to negotiate over Thursday to get his coreligionists in line with quick approval.
A partial stoppage would cause political embarrassment for both parties, but especially for the Democrats, who run the two Houses by a narrow margin.
“I’m glad that, in the end, calm minds prevailed,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after reaching a deal with Republicans to allow the measure to pass. “The government will remain open, and I thank the members of this House for lifting us from the brink of an avoidable, unnecessary and costly shutdown.”
Though it sounds contradictory, the fact that the bill temporarily extends spending until February is ultimately a victory for Republicans after closed-door negotiations. Democrats had pushed for a measure that would run until the end of January, while Donald Trump’s supporters demanded a longer timetable, leaving funding at the same level agreed when the former president was in power.
“While I would like the extension to end sooner, this agreement allows the appropriations process to move towards a final financing agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro said in a statement announcing the deal.
On the other hand, she said, Democrats were able to include a $7 billion provision for the Afghan evacuees.
The approval ends weeks of suspense over whether Washington would plunge into a stalemate amid concerns from authorities about the omicron variant, yet no scientific evidence of its effects on contagion, disease severity or vaccine effectiveness. An impediment to Congress could force layoffs of government medical and research teams.
After this stage, Congress is now running against another urgent deadline. The federal government is close to the $28.9 trillion public debt ceiling, which is expected to be reached by Dec. 15, according to the Treasury Department. Failure to extend or remove the ceiling in time could trigger a catastrophic default for the US economy.
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