Senate presents compromise: there is a threat of shutdown in the US

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In a first interparty vote on Tuesday evening (local time), senators voted 77 to 19 in favor of the draft short-term transition budget, US media reported. This would guarantee the funding of the federal authorities at least until November 17 and thus avert the ‘shutdown’ that is already threatening this weekend.

The proposal, which still needs to be voted on in the Senate, also includes $6 billion (about 5.7 billion euros) in additional aid for Ukraine and for disaster relief after the storms and fires in the US. However, the question is whether this compromise will also pass the House of Representatives.

The term of the budget approved by the US Congress at the end of last year expires at the end of this month. To avoid insolvency, a new federal budget must be approved by the end of September. The political bickering repeats itself every year; Typically, Congress makes do with passing an interim budget and then fighting again in a few months over funding for government operations.

An agreement is usually only reached just before the deadline – that is part of the test of political strength in Washington. The situation is special this time because the Republicans only have a narrow majority in the US House of Representatives and the group is very fragmented.

The chairman of the parliamentary chamber, Republican Kevin McCarthy, was only elected on the 15th ballot in January and is under intense pressure from the radical right in his group. They face each other in the budget talks. US President Joe Biden’s Democrats have a narrow majority in the Senate.

(SDA)

Source: Blick