An agreement in the budget dispute must be reached by the end of the month, otherwise there is a risk of the dreaded “shutdown” and government business would be paralyzed. The Senate has an emergency solution ready.
A few days before an impending shutdown of government business in the USA, the Senate proposed a compromise in the budget dispute. As US media reported, the senators voted 77 to 19 in favor of the draft short-term interim budget. This would guarantee the financing of the federal authorities at least until November 17th and thus avert the “shutdown” that is already threatening this weekend.
The proposal, which still has to be voted on in the Senate, also contains $6 billion (around 5.7 billion euros) in additional aid for Ukraine and for disaster relief after the storms and fires in the USA. However, it is questionable whether this compromise will also pass the House of Representatives.
Disputes are not uncommon
The term of the budget approved by the US Congress at the end of last year ends at the end of this month. A new federal budget must be approved by the end of September in order to avert insolvency. The political wrangling repeats itself every year – usually Congress makes do with passing an interim budget and then fights again in a few months over the financing of government operations.
An agreement is usually only reached just before the deadline – that is part of the political test of 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 faction is very fragmented.
The chairman of the parliamentary chamber, the Republican Kevin McCarthy, was only elected to office in the 15th ballot in January and is under great pressure from the radical right in his group. They oppose each other in the budget talks. US President Joe Biden’s Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
