American elected officials in Congress adopted a text on Wednesday which will make it possible to finance the government budget until December, and thus avoid a paralysis of federal services (shutdown), almost a month before the American election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
• Also read: New threat of “shutdown” in the United States, just before the election
The House of Representatives and then the Senate both approved the deal on Wednesday afternoon, which keeps the government operational at current spending levels until December 20.
They had until September 30 to agree on the different budgets for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins on September 1er october. Beyond that, federal agencies would have found themselves unfunded, just five weeks before the very close election of November 5.
“Americans can breathe easy, because both camps have chosen” to work together, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate, controlled by Democrats, said in a statement.
“We will prevent vital government services from being unnecessarily disrupted,” he added.
The text was blocked in the House of Representatives, where the hard wing of the Republicans had been demanding for weeks that any budget be linked to another legislative text, the Save Actwho had been deputy under pressure from Donald Trump.
Under this text, voters would be required to prove their American citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections. At the same time, the former president and candidate continues to claim without proof that he was the victim of electoral fraud in 2020.
But the plan was abandoned because it did not have enough support from Republicans – many of whom are opposed to temporary funding bills on principle – and could not rely on votes Democrats.
The administration of President Joe Biden, worried that this text would dissuade certain voters from voting, opposed it, noting that voting by non-citizens is already illegal.
Furthermore, the prospect of a shutdown worried the Republican elected officials who control the House, as they too seek to be re-elected on November 5. They thus rejected the request of the former president – a rare thing – by adopting the financing bill without this Save Act.
The text adopted Wednesday includes more than $230 million for the Secret Service to increase protection around Donald Trump – who faced two assassination attempts – and that of other candidates on the electoral campaign.
This is the last legislative action by Congress before the election.
