USA: Senate submits compromise proposal in budget dispute

2023-09-27T01:29:49.558Z

Highlights: US Senate submits compromise proposal in budget dispute. Time is running out in the search for an agreement on the US budget. The Senate has voted in favor of a bill. Now he still has to go through the House of Representatives – but there is work on his own bill. Congress must pass a new budget bill by midnight on September 30 to secure funding for federal agencies. If Republicans and Democrats cannot reach an agreement, there will be a budget freeze. Then hundreds of thousands of civil servants will have to be sent on unpaid forced leave.

Time is running out in the search for an agreement on the US budget. The Senate has voted in favor of a bill. Now he still has to go through the House of Representatives – but there is work on his own bill.

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Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol

Photo: Jose Luis Magana / AP

A few days before an imminent budget freeze in the United States, senators from Democrats and Republicans have presented a compromise proposal for a short-term transitional budget. The compromise released Tuesday would ensure funding for federal agencies until Nov. 17. The proposal also includes around six billion dollars in additional aid to Ukraine.

President Joe Biden had asked Congress for $24 billion. The chances of success of the compromise proposal in the House of Representatives are still uncertain. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives plans to push ahead with its own partisan bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell are working together to find a solution to achieve a short-term extension of government funding at current levels, supported by both parties.

Situation in the House of Representatives much more difficult

The U.S. Congress must pass a new budget bill by midnight on September 30 to secure funding for federal agencies. If Republicans and Democrats cannot reach an agreement, there will be a budget freeze, the so-called "shutdown". Then hundreds of thousands of civil servants will have to be sent on unpaid forced leave and numerous public institutions such as museums and national parks will have to be closed.

While Biden's Democrats and the opposition Republicans were able to agree in the Senate, the situation in the House of Representatives is much more difficult: The far-right wing of the Republicans, who have the majority in the Chamber of Congress, is blocking attempts to reach an agreement.

Biden had therefore blamed "a small group of extreme Republicans" for the impending budget freeze over the weekend. He had reached an agreement in talks with the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. "Now a small group of extreme Republicans do not want to honor the agreement," Biden criticized. "Everyone in America has to pay the price."

In the US, not only the president, but also the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate will be re-elected in November 2024. Politically, therefore, it is also a question of who is to blame in the event of a shutdown.

cop/Reuters/AFP

USA: Senate submits compromise proposal in budget dispute

Situation in the House of Representatives much more difficult

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