US Congressional leaders announced on Sunday, September 22, an agreement aimed at extending the government budget until mid-December and avoiding a federal shutdown before the November elections.
The 2025 budget had to be adopted by Congress by the end of September, the end of the fiscal year, for all services to remain funded. But with Congress far from reaching agreement on an annual budget, a temporary funding measure called a “Continuing Resolution” (CR) was widely expected.
Republicans have been demanding for weeks that any budget be tied to new requirements that voters prove their US citizenship, language added under pressure from Donald Trump, who continues to claim without evidence that he was the victim of electoral fraud in 2020.
The budget approved at the end of September
A vote on a bill combining the voting language, the “Save Act,” and a six-month extension of funding failed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday. The agreement announced on Sunday excludes the “Save Act” and only extends funding until December 20.
That pushes the funding debate well beyond the Nov. 5 election, where control of the House, Senate and presidency could be decided by narrow margins.
The next Congress will convene shortly after the New Year, while the presidential inauguration (of Republican Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris) will take place on January 20.
“I’m pleased that bipartisan negotiations quickly resulted in a government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, but this same deal could have been reached two weeks ago,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a news release.
The bill, which is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week, also provides for an additional $231 million for the Secret Service, representing a significant increase for this service that guarantees the protection of high-ranking American political figures following the two assassination attempts against Donald Trump.
It also provides an additional $47 million in funding for security in Washington during the presidential inauguration.
Source: BFM TV
