2023-10-02 05:17:49
2023-10-02 13:17 United News Network 24 Hours Around the Corner Before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, the U.S. Congress passed a temporary appropriation bill at the critical moment to ensure that the government still has funds…
【2023. 10. 2 United States】
The U.S. Congress passed an interim budget: the government escaped the shutdown crisis, but aid to Ukraine was eliminated
“The U.S. government narrowly avoided a shutdown crisis…” Before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, the U.S. Congress passed a temporary appropriation bill at the nick of time to ensure that the government still had funds to continue operating, thereby avoiding the “government shutdown” crisis—— On the evening of September 30, the expiration date of the 2023 fiscal year, the House and Senate passed the interim budget bill, and President Biden signed it into effect before the midnight deadline. However, this temporary budget is only valid for 45 days and can keep the U.S. government running until November 17. It is a stopgap measure for Congress to buy time amid the deadlock between the two parties. However, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has He cooperated with the Democratic Party to pass the interim budget, but his comrades in the party threatened to remove him. In addition, the interim budget eliminated funds to assist Ukraine, leading Biden to call on Congress that “aid to Ukraine cannot be interrupted.”
The U.S. Congress is in a stalemate over the government budget for the 2024 fiscal year. The Republican-led House of Representatives strongly requires the Democrats to reduce spending, and some Republicans oppose continued support for Ukraine. Therefore, they cannot reach a consensus with the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority. The two sides are in a stalemate. On September 30 – the expiration date of the 2023 fiscal year – McCarthy was unable to win the support of hard-line members of the party and turned to Democratic members for cooperation. Only then did the House of Representatives finally pass the interim budget with 335 votes in favor and 91 votes against. Among them, 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voted in favor, while 90 Republican House members voted against.
On the same day, the Senate approved the interim budget with a vote of 88 in favor and 9 against. The nine opposing senators were all Republicans, highlighting the differences within the Republican Party. After the budget was passed, McCarthy immediately faced Dissatisfied with hard-liners in the party, Republican Representative Matt Gaetz threatened to recall McCarthy. He criticized McCarthy for misleading Republicans and lying about reaching a “secret agreement” with Democrats.
House Speaker McCarthy.Photo/AFP
Gaetz said he would make a “motion to vacate” against McCarthy within a few days. McCarthy was elected speaker after 15 rounds of voting in January, during which he made many compromises with hard-liners in the Republican Party. Concessions include allowing a single member to propose a motion to retire (in the era of former Speaker Pelosi, a motion to retire must be supported by a majority of members before it can be put to a vote).
After the motion to retire was proposed, McCarthy needed at least 218 votes to retain the position of speaker, and the Republican Party holds 221 seats in the House of Representatives. This means that McCarthy cannot lose the support of more than 3 votes from his party comrades, or must rely on the support of the Democratic Party. Gates said:
“The only way McCarthy can be re-elected as Speaker of the House next weekend is if the Democrats are willing to save him.”
McCarthy fired back, saying, “I will survive.” He also accused Gates of caring about gaining attention for himself rather than keeping the government running. McCarthy said: “He (Getz) wants to force the government to shut down, even threatening his own district and The soldiers there, he won’t succeed.”
This interim budget, which has caused discord within the Republican Party, is only valid for 45 days. It can only ensure that the U.S. government continues to operate at the current level of support until November 17. If the two parties are still at odds and cannot reach a consensus by then, , the same situation may happen again – due to the budget stalemate in fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government is facing the risk of shutting down; if the government shuts down, millions of public sector employees and financial markets across the United States will not be paid during the shutdown. Social welfare measures will be suspended, while official government-issued documents such as drug use, gun licenses, and passports will also be delayed.
Gaetz threatened to oust McCarthy.Photo/Associated Press
Since 1981, the U.S. government has shut down 14 times due to budget issues. The longest shutdown was between December 2018 and January 2019 during former President Trump’s term due to funding issues for the construction of the U.S.-Mexico wall. A confrontation with Congress eventually led to a 35-day government shutdown.
Therefore, after the interim budget was passed, Senate Democratic leader Schumer said:
“It’s been a day full of twists and turns, but the American people can breathe a sigh of relief that there will be no government shutdown.”
Biden signed the interim budget less than an hour before midnight on September 30, averting the US government shutdown crisis. He issued a statement saying:
“Bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to keep the government open, thereby averting an unnecessary crisis that would cause unnecessary pain to millions of hard-working Americans… This is a huge benefit to the American people. That’s good news, but I want to point out that we should never have been in this situation in the first place.”
Biden stressed that the United States cannot interrupt its support for Ukraine and urged McCarthy to ensure that Ukraine is given the necessary resources to resist aggression…
The interim bill includes a $16 billion disaster relief budget, but excludes a budget for aid to Ukraine. Since Russia launched its aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the U.S. Congress has approved a $113 billion aid budget for Ukraine, which Biden requested in August. Congress passed another $24 billion to support Ukraine.
Some Republicans believe that the United States should spend funds on domestic issues, such as strengthening the border, and therefore oppose additional aid budgets to Ukraine. Biden emphasized that the United States cannot interrupt its support to Ukraine and urged McCarthy to ensure that Ukraine receives the assistance it needs to resist aggression; Biden believes that McCarthy will soon introduce a supplementary bill to allocate additional funds to aid Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Zelensky just visited Washington in late September, hoping to win more aid support from the United States. However, the interim budget passed by the U.S. Congress now excludes budget aid to Ukraine, shocking other allies in the international community who are assisting Ukraine. The European Union Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed surprise and regret at this, stating: “Europe will continue to support Kyiv no matter what… Our support for Ukraine not only continues, but continues to grow.”
Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party warned: “Ukraine may become a victim of radical elements in the Republican Party… We hope that the bipartisan majority in the U.S. Congress that supports Ukraine can quickly pass a resolution, otherwise the credibility of U.S. foreign policy will be seriously damaged.”
Ukraine still maintains confidence in the United States. Rustem Umerov, the newly appointed Ukrainian Defense Minister in September, said he received a phone call from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stating that the United States would continue to support Ukraine.
Zelensky visited the United States in September, and Biden met with Zelensky.Photo/European News Agency Past 24 hours United States
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