New Hampshire
After both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed a last-minute funding deal which has dropped aid to Ukraine, the US government has narrowly staved off a shutdown. The decision for the government shutdown, however had come weeks due to a widening gap in federal funding.
Minutes before the 12.01am (5.01am BST) deadline on Sunday, to keep government agencies open minutes after it was agreed by Congress, President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill.
This decision comes after days of deliberations in the House, following the Republicans request for government agencies to cut down their budgets by up to 30 per cent.
The new stopgap package increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion dollars but does not include new aid to Ukraine, where the conflict with Russia continues.
If no decision, however, was reached by Sunday, federal workers would have faced leave of absence, as more than two million active-duty and reserve military troops would have had to work without pay and services which Americans rely on would have faced shutdown disruptions.
According to Mr Biden the deal “is good news for the American people” “we should never have been in this position in the first place,” he regretted.
And deeming it as a “manufactured crisis”, Mr joy Biden said “extreme House Republicans” were trying to walk away from a deal by demanding “drastic cuts”.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Mr Biden also added.
The deal was approved by the House 335-91 while the Democratic-majority Senate voted 88-9 to pass it guaranteeing funding until 17 November – giving another 45 days for further negotiations on a longer-term funding package.
“We’re going to do our job,” affirmed Mr McCarthy before the House vote. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep the government open.”
“It has been a day full of twists and turns, but the American people can breathe a sigh of relief: There will be no government shutdown,” said the Democratic Senate majority leader.
“Democrats have said from the start that the only solution for avoiding a shutdown is bipartisanship, and we are glad Speaker McCarthy has finally heeded our message.”
“Democrats have said from the start that the only solution for avoiding a shutdown is bipartisanship, and we are glad Speaker McCarthy has finally heeded our message,” he also said.
In the wake of the congress meeting, Federal agencies had already drawn up detailed plans rolling out which services would continue, such as border patrol and airport screening, and which would not, including nutrition aid and scientific research.
With the loss of Ukraine aid dealing a heavy blow to politicians of both parties, avoiding the shutdown has come at cost. Coming shortly after Mr Biden, however, had vowed to support President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who recently visited Washington.
Senator Michael Bennett, of the democratic part, held the bill up for several hours looking at the ways to negotiate a deal for further Ukraine aid.
The decision of both parties provides only a short-term relief, as the fundamental disagreements over government spending levels and policies between Republicans and Democrats will still remain.
