US Senate takes important step to avoid budget paralysis

This Thursday, the US Senate passed a measure to partially fund the federal government, which aims to delay the specter of budget paralysis until early March.

The House must now vote on the same text and, if approved, send it to President Joe Biden’s office for release before midnight Friday, the date that federal funding from parts of the state expires.

Otherwise, thousands of government employees will be forced into technical unemployment, including thousands of air traffic controllers.

US lawmakers were forced to quickly vote on the measure to avoid the famous partial shutdown while Washington faces a snowstorm on Friday and the House of Representatives has already canceled a vote scheduled for that day.

The bill would allow the government to continue funding government spending until early March, giving elected officials time to agree on a larger budget and spending details.

“If both sides continue to work in good faith, we can avoid a shutdown without last-minute whims or unnecessary worry for so many Americans,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech.

Congress’s repeated failure to pass a budget for the fiscal year (which began four months ago) illustrates North America’s institutional dysfunction, with short-term fiscal measures often used to avoid fiscal paralysis.

The text, which was voted on Thursday, was the subject of tough negotiations between the Republicans who represent the majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrats who make up the majority in the Senate.

Dozens of elected House Republicans, mostly ultra-conservatives, are expected to vote against the stopgap measure. However, expected support from elected Democrats should allow it to pass.

In early January, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson announced an agreement with Democrats on the overall government budget for fiscal year 2024, setting the federal spending cap at about $1.7 billion (€1.56 billion).

Disagreements between the two sides relate to cost items.

Joe Biden thus formulated his request for an additional $106 billion (97.5 billion euros) in the budget, mainly to help Ukraine and to a lesser extent Israel.

Leaders of both parties in the Senate favor support for Kyiv, but several Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives say such support is not in the US interest.

Another sensitive topic being discussed is the large number of migrants on the border with Mexico.

Both Republicans and Democrats agree that there is a crisis, but they disagree on the appropriate response. The first goal is primarily to limit the right to asylum and tighten measures on deportation.