The US senate has passed a 1.2 trillion dollar package of spending bills in the early hours of Saturday morning, pushing any threat of a government shutdown back to the autumn.
“It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”While US congress has already approved money for veterans affairs, interior, agriculture and other agencies, the bill approved this week is much larger, providing funding for the defence, homeland security and state departments and other aspects of general government.
House speaker Mike Johnson brought the measure to the floor even though a majority of Republicans ended up voting against it. He said afterward that the bill “represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government”. Mr Johnson broke up this fiscal year’s spending bills into two parts as House Republicans revolted against what has become an annual practice of asking them to vote for one massive, complex bill called an omnibus with little time to review it or face a shutdown.
I believe we should protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare so the working people who built this country can retire with dignity.It took legislators six months into the current fiscal year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term, stop-gap spending bills to keep agencies funded.