Thursday, September 30, 2021
Budget dispute in the USA
Transitional financing should avert shutdown
In the United States, the danger of a partial standstill of government business is approaching. Decisive hours are therefore coming up in the US Congress. In order to avert a shutdown at the last minute, the US Senate wants to vote on transitional financing.
The USA is gradually running out of time: If the budget is not agreed by October 1, the country is threatened with a shutdown. The budget for the current financial year ends on Friday night. To avert a lockdown, the US Senate wants to vote on interim government funding by early December. The vote will take place in the morning (local time), said the Democrats.
The transitional budget that the Senate intends to pass would ensure the funding of the federal authorities until December 3. In the event of a budget freeze, hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be sent on unpaid compulsory leave, and numerous public institutions would have to close. A shutdown in the midst of a national crisis situation like the corona pandemic would be a first in US history.
US President Joe Biden is in a crucial week in terms of domestic and economic policy: He is fighting over a $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure package and a social policy reform package worth $ 3.5 trillion. In addition, there is the impending shutdown – and furthermore an impending insolvency of the US in mid-October if Congress does not suspend the debt ceiling.
Originally, President Biden’s Democrats tried to pass a transitional budget by December 3, along with a suspension of the debt limit until December 2022. But they failed because of the resistance of the Republicans in the Senate.
The Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said that the Congress Chamber could only vote for a transitional budget. “We can decide on this measure quickly and send it to the House of Representatives.” Then Biden could sign the transitional budget before the funding of the federal authorities expires on Friday night. “The last thing Americans need now is a government shutdown,” said Schumer.