The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate announced the agreement on the budget on Friday evening, minutes before the United States slipped into a shutdown, meaning the paralysis of public services.
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The American Congress adopted a text on Saturday March 23 aimed at crediting the federal state until September and preventing the world’s leading economic power from slipping into a shutdown – the paralysis of its public services.
Senators did not approve the text before a future deadline of midnight on Friday, which is believed to trigger the impasse. But elected officials agreed on the final adoption of the $1.2 billion funding bill.
After hours of intense negotiations with Republicans, US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declared from the half-cycle, “It wasn’t easy, but our persistence was worth it.”
“It is good for the Americans that we have reached an agreement,” he added, before final approval of the text.
This small delay should not have a major impact on American ministries that are at risk of being deprived of funding due to lack of agreement.
A year of chaos
More than a great threat to the United States, these last-minute twists reflect the chaos reigning in the American Congress.
In the past year, the organization has fired one of its leaders, failed to send funds to Ukraine and narrowly avoided bankruptcy of the world’s leading economic power.
On Friday morning, the vote on the federal state budget in the House of Representatives, which was also supposed to approve the text, was also the scene of a spectacular development.
Minutes after the vote, Marjorie Taylor Green, an elected official close to Donald Trump, announced that she had filed a motion to oust the organization’s leader, Republican Mike Johnson, whom she accused of “treason.” A handful of ultraconservative elected officials criticize the Republicans, who have been in office since October, for making too many budgetary concessions to Democrats.
“We need a new speaker,” the elected official, known for her escapades, her provocations and her offensive comments, told reporters. There is also an air of déjà vu in this twist of theatre. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was impeached in a similar scenario just a few months ago. Will Mike Johnson be the second Republican leader to bear the brunt of budget negotiations?
Ban on any direct funding to UNRWA
The US budget has been extended until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. The 1,012-page text, the result of intense negotiations, contains measures that have strong implications abroad.
The text thus bans any direct funding from the United States to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, since Israel accused 12 of its roughly 13,000 staff in Gaza in late January of being involved in the deadly October massacre. 7 attacks were carried out by Hamas.
It also has tens of millions of dollars for Taiwan, but does not release any funds for Ukraine, the envelope for Kiev being the subject of separate negotiations.
The text also contains several measures related to immigration, an explosive topic in the middle of the presidential campaign, and a litany of provisions not necessarily tied to the budget. For example, the ban on flying the rainbow flag at American embassies, contrary to what some are accustomed to doing during “Pride Month”, a norm of the LGBT+ community.
The text adopted on March 9 made it possible to complete the second part of the 2024 budget.
with AFP
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