Showdown in the US budget dispute: representatives vote for interim budget Sweden descends into gang violence – now the prime minister mobilizes the army

New twist in the shutdown drama in the US: the House of Representatives voted on Saturday for a bridge budget for 45 days. Democrats reluctantly supported the Republican bill, which does not include any aid to Ukraine.

The Republicans have a narrow majority in the Congressional chamber, but were dependent on votes from the Democrats due to a special rule. Now the Senate must vote on the text. US President Joe Biden’s Democrats have the majority there. With the vote in the House of Representatives on the interim budget, there is a chance that the government company will be prevented from coming to a standstill at the last minute.

The term of the budget approved by the US Congress at the end of last year expires on Sunday evening. By then, a new federal budget or a transitional budget would have to be adopted to avoid insolvency. A shutdown means that millions of government employees will no longer receive salaries. Most recently, deeply divided Republicans in the House of Representatives tore each other apart in the dispute over a new budget, unmasking House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Republican McCarthy surprisingly presented the transition financing on Saturday morning (local time) and put pressure on the Democrats. They were confronted with the question: government shutdown or no aid to Ukraine? McCarthy was given the lead by the radicals in his faction. If the new interim budget is passed by the Senate, the dispute over a federal budget will start again in a few weeks. (sda/dpa)