Yesterday, Tuesday, the US Senate prepared a proposal for the short-term financing of the federal state, but it is not expected to be approved by the House of Representatives, although there are only a few days left for to avoid the country's fiscal paralysis.
Days before the Sept. 30 deadline, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell approved the bill that would keep the government running until Nov. 17.
< p>But there is currently no indication that the House of Representatives will ratify it, even if it is adopted by the Senate.
If the deadlock continues, from October 1st the funding of the federal services will be stopped: the famous “shutdown”. Ministries, national parks, air traffic, some museums and many organizations will be affected, while hundreds of thousands of civil servants will be on forced holiday.
“Shutting down the government over an internal budget dispute doesn't strengthen anyone's political position,” McConnell said. “All it does is freeze significant progress. And it leaves millions of Americans in limbo,” he added.
The White House has asked Congress to adopt the Senate text. “It's time for House Republicans to start doing their jobs,” President Joe Biden said at a campaign rally last night.
Ukraine aid uncertain
This crisis may have direct implications for the war in Ukraine. The White House had initially requested $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Kiev.
Aware of the fatigue of his American allies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to Congress last Thursday to try to convince parliamentarians to help him deal with Russia.
But the release of such an amount looks increasingly uncertain given the turn of negotiations in the corridors: the text circulating in the Senate yesterday mentioned only a quarter of this aid, about 6 billion dollars.
The The House of Representatives, where Republicans have held a majority since January, does not even want to discuss this draft: “They benefit Ukraine at the expense of Americans,” complained Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, demanding money to deal with illegal immigration.
A group of lawmakers, supporters of former President Donald Trump with whom McCarthy was forced to compromise in order to be elected to the presidency of the body, are even calling for the suspension of aid to Ukraine.
Trump riots
They are the same congressmen, advocates of very strict fiscal policy, who four months ago had again pushed the USA to the brink of fiscal collapse. Then the world's biggest power avoided a default at the last minute, after lengthy negotiations between the Biden administration and conservatives.
Trump's supporters have disproportionate power in the US Congress because of the very small Republican majority. in the House of Representatives.
They have been ordered by the former president, who is running for re-election in 2024, to “paralyze” the federal state if their terms are not accepted in “all” fiscal issues.
Under Trump's presidency, the USA experienced the largest “shutdown” in its history, in the winter of 2018.
