The president of the United States, Joe Biden, signed an interim spending measure that will keep federal departments and agencies open until March, thus avoiding a partial closure which would begin on Saturday.
The law – the third resolution in four months – extends funding for all government agencies until March 1.
At that time, non-critical operations at the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and Veterans Affairs and military construction would be shut down, while the rest of the federal government would be shut down. would do the March 8.
Agreement on immigration and aid to Ukraine on hold
Lawmakers are confident that the extension will serve to finalize the details of an agreement between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which will set 1.66 trillion dollars global spending for fiscal year 2024.
However, an important group of Hard-line Republicans in the House of Representatives have been against the agreement, jeopardizing efforts to complete the job. Those lawmakers have called for deep spending cuts as well as the adoption of sweeping new laws to restrict illegal immigration.
The White House has said she is open to substantial changes on immigration as part of a deal to unlock additional aid to Ukraine, and Schumer has suggested that a bipartisan deal could be unveiled as soon as next week, although that deal is expected omit some of the provisions requested by conservatives.
What does the government shutdown mean in the United States?
In accordance with The New York Times“a government shutdown implies the suspension of many of its operations until Congress acts to re-allocate resources.”
The above means that, during the administrative closure, thousands of government employees are suspended and sent home without pay or work, in addition to citizens having to face the interruption of several public services.
The last closure of this type occurred during the presidency of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021) and was, with 35 days (from December 22, 2018 to January 29, 2019), the longest in history in the middle of the Christmas holidays.
With information from EFE.
