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The U.S. Senate passed a provisional appropriation bill to propose measures to the House of Representatives to avoid partial government shutdowns.
The US Congress is taking action to pass a temporary spending measure before the midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
The U.S. Senate passed a provisional appropriations bill on Thursday afternoon, which will submit legislation to avoid partial closure of U.S. government agencies to the House of Representatives for voting, which is expected to be conducted later that day.
“This is a good result, and I’m glad we have done it,” the Democratic top senator Chuck Schumer told colleagues in the chamber before the 65-35 vote.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reported from Capitol Hill that Democratic and Republican leaders had earlier stated that they “believe that the government will not shut down at midnight”.
The last time the U.S. government was forced to partially shut down was End of 2018, When a spending conflict between Congress and former President Donald Trump caused workers to take vacations and stalled plans for 35 days.
Stopgap government spending bill Including $6.3 billion Assisting in paying the expenses of the U.S. military Airlift from Kabul Airport in August And the resettlement plan for Afghan refugees.
The US Congress is currently responding to two “fiscal fires” [File: Jose Luis Magana/Reuters]Chou-Castro reported that the passage of the bill “will avoid a government shutdown, which may leave thousands of federal workers on vacation and suspend government services.” “This expedient measure provides the government with funding until December 3 to buy more time for Congress.”
But Castro Chou pointed out that the issue of government funding is only “one of the two fiscal fires currently facing Congress.”
Republicans and Democrats clashed over expanding the legal limit on the number of U.S. Treasury bonds that can be issued.
Republicans opposed the Democrats’ spending plans and refused to vote for an increase in the debt limit, forcing Democrats to adopt a time-consuming budget process to pass the increase in the 50-50 Senate only through a Democratic vote.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimated that if Congress does not take action, a historic debt default may occur around October 18.
infrastructure
At the same time, Democratic leaders are preparing for a showdown with a group of progressive Democrats on the scale and scope of legislation to implement President Joe Biden’s social agenda and climate policy.
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is meeting with competing factions of her party in the Capitol to win at the last minute support for the $1 trillion infrastructure spending measure that will be voted up and down on Thursday.
Pelosi said at the news conference: “We are now in a good position and we are making progress.” However, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives refused to predict the infrastructure that received bipartisan support in the Senate earlier this year. Whether the bill will be passed in the House of Representatives.
Progressives in the House of Representatives led by Representative Pramila Jayapal refused to support the infrastructure bill until Congress agreed to a larger $3.5 trillion budget measure that included Biden’s society and climate Agenda.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin opposed the 3.5 trillion dollar spending plan in the Senate. He told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that he was willing to negotiate a smaller budget bill of about 1.5 trillion dollars with progressives.
“I am willing to sit down and negotiate the 1.5 trillion dollars and get our priorities… They can come back later and do the rest,” Manchin said.
The Democrats are negotiating behind closed doors to discuss which proposals are in favor of cutting or reducing tax cuts for the middle class, paid family leave and childcare, early childhood education, improvement of health care benefits for the elderly, and Clean energy regulations It is essential for the United States to achieve its climate goals.
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