At least the threat of a federal shutdown before the presidential election on November 5 has been ruled out. Congressional leaders announced on Sunday, September 22, an agreement aimed at extending the government budget until mid-December and avoiding the famous and feared “shutdown.”
Lawmakers were required to approve the 2025 budget by the end of September (the end of the fiscal year) in order for all state services to remain funded. But with the House and Senate far from reaching an agreement on an annual budget, a temporary funding measure called a “Continuing Resolution” was adopted. » (CR) was widely expected.
Republican elected officials have been demanding for weeks that any budget be tied to new, though unrelated, requirements that voters prove their U.S. citizenship, language added under pressure from Donald Trump, who continues to claim without evidence that he was the victim of voter fraud in 2020. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican elected from Louisiana, ultimately waived this condition in order to reach a deal.
A vote on a bill combining voting language, the “Save Act,” and a six-month funding extension failed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“The most prudent course in the current circumstances”
The deal announced Sunday excludes the Save Act and only extends funding through Dec. 20. That further pushes the funding debate well beyond the Nov. 5 election, in which control of the House, Senate and presidency could be decided by narrow margins. The next Congress will convene shortly after the New Year, while the presidential inauguration — of either Republican Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris — will take place on Jan. 20.
In a letter to his Republican colleagues, Mike Johnson said the budget measure would be “very narrow, minimalist” and would not include “only the absolutely necessary extensions.”
“While this is not our preferred solution, it is the most prudent one under the current circumstances.”the announcer wrote. “As history has taught and current polls confirm, shutting down the government less than forty days before a fateful election would be an act of political misconduct.”he added.
$231 million more for the Secret Service
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said he and his colleagues will consider the bill in its entirety before this week’s vote; but, agreed, “Congress is now on a bipartisan path to avoid a government shutdown that would hurt ordinary Americans.” he assured.
“I am pleased that bipartisan negotiations quickly resulted in a government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, but this same agreement could have been reached two weeks ago.”Senate Majority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a press release.
The bill, which the House of Representatives is expected to vote on this week, also provides for an additional $231 million (207 million euros) for the Secret Service, which represents a significant increase for this agency that guarantees the protection of high-ranking American political figures following the two assassination attempts against Donald Trump.
It also provides an additional $47 million in funding for security in Washington during the presidential inauguration.
