United States President Joe Biden approved an emergency funding measure on Saturday evening, avoiding a last-minute government shutdown for 45 days.
The head of state signed the law about half an hour before the limit set in the North American Constitution, which would have led to a government shutdown that would have started at midnight (5 a.m. in Lisbon).
In a statement, Biden emphasized that “an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted unnecessary pain on millions of American workers” was avoided.
“This bill ensures active-duty troops will continue to get paid, travelers will avoid airport delays, millions of women and children will continue to have access to essential nutritional assistance, and much more,” the president said.
“We should never have been in this position,” the head of state lamented, recalling that months ago he had reached a budget deal with the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, “to prevent exactly this kind of manufactured crisis ”.
“For weeks, extremist House Republicans tried to walk away from this agreement, demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating to millions of Americans. That failed,” Biden said.
Regarding aid to Ukraine, the president argued that “the overwhelming majority of Congress has been steadfast in its support” for the country.
“Under no circumstances can we allow U.S. support to Ukraine to end,” Biden said.
The head of state called on McCarthy to “maintain his commitment to the Ukrainian people and ensure the approval of the necessary support to help Ukraine at this critical time.”
Congress will debate another bill that would allocate $24 billion (22.7 billion euros) in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which Biden wanted to see included in the budget.
According to the North American press, a vote could take place early next week.
Hardline conservatives like Matt Gaetz strongly opposed including aid to Ukraine in the deal, despite support from moderate Republicans, including McCarthy.
Biden passed the law shortly afterwards. As expected, the proposal passed easily, with 88 votes in favor and nine against, in the Senate, where Democrats, who support the Biden administration, have the majority.
The law, which the US government will keep in effect until November 17, includes $16 billion (15.1 billion euros) in aid for “the disasters in Florida, the terrible fire in Hawaii and also the disasters in California and Vermont.”
Source: DN
