Despite persistent dissension in the American Congress, the House of Representatives managed to adopt a crucial text on Tuesday evening to avoid the closure of the federal administration. This vote comes just three days before the deadline and now places pressure on the Senate to make a decision.
The House of Representatives gave its approval to increase the federal budget, with the support of both Democratic and Republican elected officials, in the hope of avoiding a potential “shutdown”. The Senate will now have to decide before midnight tonight, in order to avoid the disastrous consequences that this would bring.
If no measures are taken to extend the budget, the country risks being seriously affected, with the deprivation of salaries for 1.5 million civil servants, disruptions in air traffic and the closure of national parks.
Elected officials from both parties are reluctant to find themselves in such a situation, especially as the Thanksgiving holidays approach. The world’s leading economic power has already narrowly avoided a “shutdown” two months ago and is once again on the edge of the precipice.
Disagreements in Congress, between a Republican majority in the House and influential Democrats in the Senate, have made it difficult to pass annual budgets, unlike common practice in most other countries.
Instead, the United States simply extends its budget through one- or two-month mini-budgets. Every time these budgets expire, heated negotiations, amplified by social media, are required, followed by threats and a series of votes in the House and Senate.
It’s common for last-minute deals to eventually be reached, but past negotiations over the federal budget threw Congress into chaos last September. The impeachment of the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, following a last-minute deal with the Democrats, demonstrates the seriousness of the situation.
This time, the proposed agreement to extend the budget provides for two different deadlines: until mid-January for one part, and early February for the other. It was the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, little known to the general public and little experience in politics, who presented this proposal.
He is confronted, just like his predecessor, with conservatives who are fervent supporters of a strict budgetary policy, as well as Democrats who refuse to have an economic policy imposed on them by the supporters of the former president.
These are the same conservative elected officials who almost dragged the United States into a debt crisis four months ago. The world’s leading power narrowly avoided a default thanks to lengthy negotiations between the Biden administration and conservatives.
It now remains to be seen whether the Senate will manage to make a decision before the deadline, thus avoiding a new “shutdown” and preserving the proper functioning of the federal administration. The situation remains tense and uncertainty reigns, but we can hope that elected officials will find a compromise for the good of the country.