Leaders of the US Congress have reached an agreement to maintain funding for the federal budget until early March, a source familiar with the negotiations told AFP on Saturday.
The announcement comes just ahead of deadlines of January 19 and February 2, dates when federal agencies would have run out of funding under the two-tranche approach.
The short-term bill, also called a permanent resolution, will allow the government to continue funding state spending through March 1 and 8, the source said, giving elected officials time to agree on a larger budget and on the details of expenses.
The permanent resolution must be adopted by both houses of Congress for the country to avoid the famous “shutdown”, which would have paralyzed the federal state.
Last weekend, US lawmakers announced they had reached an agreement on funding totals for fiscal year 2024, setting a limit on federal spending at around US$1.6 trillion (C$2.146 billion). ).
The deal, announced by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic congressional leaders, includes an increase in Pentagon spending of $886 billion and $773 billion for untied discretionary funds. to the defense.
Short-term financing measures are often used to avoid budgetary paralysis amid frequent political disagreements over how to spend the money and deal with the rising national debt.
