(Washington) The US House of Representatives must vote on Tuesday to end the budgetary paralysis of part of the federal administration, against a backdrop of dissension between Republicans and Democrats over funding for the immigration police, ICE.
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A final adoption of the budgetary text is planned for around 1 p.m. in Washington (Eastern time) before promulgation by Donald Trump expected immediately to end these three days of “shutdown”.
But the bill will first have to pass an important test with a procedural vote expected in the morning.
Several Republican elected officials have threatened to vote “no”, because they categorically refuse to renegotiate the budget of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a demand from the Democrats.
Threats which pose a risk to the passage of the text, since the Republicans can only afford one vote against if all the Democrats also reject the bill.
The Republican leader of the House, Mike Johnson, spent a good part of his day Monday negotiating with refractory elected officials from his camp.
“Without delay”
To convince them, he was able to count on strong support, with Donald Trump’s message on Monday to parliamentarians.
“We must reopen the government and I hope that all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this law,” said the tenant of the White House, who also said he wanted promulgation “without delay”.
However, those responsible for the majority could require a few Democratic votes to allow the adoption of the text and an end to the “shutdown” which has its origins in the recent events in Minneapolis.
Democrats are outraged by the death at the end of January of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American nurse shot and killed by federal agents on the sidelines of demonstrations against the presence of the immigration police (ICE), which depends on the DHS, in this metropolis in the northern United States.
Her death came less than three weeks after that of Renee Good, who was also shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Reforms
Since then, Democrats have insisted on their refusal to pass any budget for DHS without significant reforms to ICE being put in place.
In particular, they demand the systematic use of body-worn cameras for agents, a ban on the wearing of balaclavas and even that a judicial warrant precede any arrest.
“No one is above the law. ICE agents should be held to the same rules as any other member of law enforcement in this country,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference Monday at the Capitol.
The new version of the text, already approved by the Senate, allows the approval of five of the six budgetary sections, while the part concerning the DHS will be the subject of new negotiations over the next two weeks.
Between October and November last year, the United States experienced the longest “shutdown” in its history with 43 days, during which Republicans and Democrats fought over the question of subsidies for health insurance for millions of Americans.
