(Washington) The American elected representatives of Congress adopted on Wednesday a text which allows the financing of the government budget until December, and avoids a “shutdown”, this paralysis of federal services, almost a month before the American election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the deal Wednesday afternoon, which keeps the government operating at current spending levels through Dec. 20.
They had until September 30 to agree on the various budgets for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins on September 1.er October. Beyond that, federal agencies would have been left unfunded just five weeks before the tight November 5 election.
“Americans can breathe easy because both sides have chosen” to work together, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic-controlled Senate, said in a statement.
PHOTO MARIAM ZUHAIB, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
“We will prevent vital government services from being unnecessarily disrupted,” he added.
The text was blocked in the House of Representatives, where the hard-line Republican wing had been demanding for weeks that any budget be linked to another legislative text, the “Save Act”, which had been added under pressure from Donald Trump.
The bill would require voters to prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The former president and candidate continues to claim without evidence that he was the victim of voter fraud in 2020.
But the bill was abandoned because it lacked support from Republicans – many of whom oppose temporary funding bills on principle – and could not draw on Democratic votes.
The administration of President Joe Biden, concerned that this text would dissuade some voters from going to vote, had opposed it, noting that voting by non-citizens is already illegal.
In addition, the shutdown worried Republican lawmakers who control the House, as they seek reelection on November 5. They thus rejected the former president’s request – a rare thing – by adopting the funding bill without the Save Act.
The bill passed Wednesday includes more than $230 million for the Secret Service to increase protection around Donald Trump – who has faced two assassination attempts – and other candidates on the campaign trail.
This is the last piece of legislation in Congress before the elections.