The US House of Representatives approves a government budget plan that would avoid a partial government shutdown

2024-12-21 09:30:25, Kosova & Bota CNA

The US House of Representatives approves a government budget plan that would

Hours before the partial government shutdown expired at midnight, the House of Representatives approved a new plan proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday night, which now goes to the Senate for a vote and must then be signed by President Joe Biden to return to law.

The package would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster relief, but does not include President-elect Donald Trump's request for a debt limit increase in 2025.

Mr. Johnson had insisted that Congress would "live up to its obligations" and not allow a shutdown of federal operations before the Christmas holiday season.

But the fate of his plan was uncertain after Mr Trump reiterated that an increase in the debt ceiling must be part of any deal, saying in an early morning tweet that if it didn't happen let the shutdowns "begin now".

The bill was approved with 366 votes in favor and 34 against and now goes to the Senate, which is expected to approve it soon.

"We are enthusiastic about this result," Mr Johnson said after the vote, adding that he had spoken to Mr Trump and the president-elect "was also pleased with the result".

"We will not have a government shutdown," he had said before the vote.

It was the third attempt by the Speaker of the House of Representatives to fulfill one of the basic obligations of the federal government – ??to keep it running.

The developments raise serious questions about Mr Johnson's fate as House speaker in the face of anger from his Republican colleagues, as well as the chances of his relationship with Mr Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who have opposed him. Mr. Johnson's first plan.

Mr. Trump's last-minute request was nearly impossible to meet, and Mr. Johnson had no choice but to work on an alternative that did not involve raising the debt ceiling.

He knew that he would not have enough support within the Republican majority to pass the government funding package, as many Republicans prefer to make cuts in federal government spending and would certainly be opposed to increasing the debt.

Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year and who have big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they will need to continue to rely on Democrats for the votes needed to fulfilled the obligations for the routine functioning of government.

"Is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?" quipped Mr. Musk on social media before the vote.

The new 118-page bill keeps the budget at current government levels through March and adds $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in farm aid for farmers.

Mr. Trump's request to lift the debt ceiling, which Republican leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages next year, was not included.

Republicans have promised to raise the debt limit in 2025 and also cut $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It's essentially the same deal that failed the night before — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — except for Mr. Trump's debt ceiling request.

Democrats were not enthusiastic about the latest effort after the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives that was a retreat from their original bipartisan compromise.

" Welcome back to the MAGA swamp ," House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a social media post today.

However, most Democrats were in favor of passing the bill.

Mr Trump, who has yet to take office, is showing the strength but also the limits of his influence with Congress as he speaks from Mar-a-Lago alongside Mr Musk, who will lead the new Department of Defense administration. future for Government Efficiency.

Mr. Trump himself caused the longest government shutdown in history during his first term in the White House, when the government was partially shut down for a month beginning around the end of December 2018, until around mid-January 2019. VOA