Congress adopts text to lift budgetary paralysis

(Washington) The US Congress on Wednesday adopted a bill which will, once promulgated by Donald Trump, lift the longest budgetary paralysis in the history of the United States.

The White House had indicated earlier that the Republican president would sign the text immediately to “put an end to this shutdown devastating”, after 43 days which disrupted several sectors of the American economy.

After the Senate passed it on Monday, the House of Representatives approved the budget bill with 222 votes in favor and 209 against. Only six elected Democrats joined the presidential majority, while two Republicans expressed their disagreement.

The Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, welcomed the coming end of this “long national nightmare” before the vote. Later, he castigated the blockage of the Democratic opposition for six weeks.

“They knew it would cause suffering, and they did it anyway. The whole maneuver was unnecessary, it was unfair, and it was cruel,” he said from the chamber.

“Obamacare”

After more than 40 days of budget impasse, a handful of Democratic senators finally surrendered on Monday by approving with their Republican colleagues a new bill, which extends the previous budget until the end of January.

The text, however, leaves unclear the extension of subsidies for “Obamacare”, health insurance for low-income households, to the great dismay of the base and many elected Democrats.

Among the only concessions to the opposition, the text provides for the reinstatement of civil servants dismissed since the start of the shutdown.

It also includes funds for the SNAP food assistance program until September, thus preventing this aid, which benefits more than 42 million Americans, from being frozen in the event of another budgetary paralysis at the end of January, as was the case during the current blockage.

Due to Senate rules, eight opposition votes were needed to pass the text. And the eight in question have attracted the wrath of many members of the Democratic camp, who denounce meager concessions and false Republican promises.

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, thus lamented on X a “capitulation” and a “betrayal” towards working America.

Many Democrats also wondered why these senators gave in just days after their party’s large victories in important elections across the country, which they said validated their strategy in Congress.

“Not too late”

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries again called on Republicans Wednesday evening to keep their promise to hold a vote soon on “Obamacare.”

“We believe that working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, and everyday Americans deserve the same level of certainty that Republicans always provide to the rich, the wealthy, and the long-armed donors,” he said in a speech from the chamber.

“It is not too late” to extend these subsidies, added the Democratic tenor.

The question of these subsidies is at the heart of the dispute which led to the shutdown. Without their extension, health insurance costs are expected to more than double in 2026 for 24 million Americans who use “Obamacare,” according to KFF, a think tank specializing in health issues.

Since 1^er October, more than a million civil servants were not paid. The payment of some aid has been severely disrupted, and tens of thousands of flights have been canceled in recent days due to shortages of air traffic controllers, as some had chosen to call in sick rather than work without pay.