China News Service, Washington, March 23 (Reporter Sha Hanting) The U.S. Senate passed a budget totaling $1.2 trillion in the early morning of the 23rd local time to avoid a "shutdown" of some federal government agencies.
The House of Representatives passed the budget bill on the 22nd with 286 votes in favor and 134 votes against. After that, the Senate began to deliberate on the budget. After more than ten hours of deliberation, the two parties finally reached an agreement, and finally passed the budget in the early morning of the 23rd with 74 votes in favor and 24 votes against.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer, a Democrat, said that day, "It has been a long and difficult day, but we finally reached an agreement to keep the government running, which is a good thing for our country."
The budget will keep some federal government agencies operating until the end of fiscal year 2024, without shutting down at midnight on the 22nd due to running out of funds. The budget would provide funding to the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, Labor and others. Among them, the defense budget increased by 3% compared with the previous fiscal year, and the non-defense budget remained the same as the previous fiscal year.
Previously, in a vote in the House of Representatives, the budget bill encountered strong opposition from conservative members of the House of Representatives. They believe that the budget is too large and fails to achieve budget reduction goals. Republican House Speaker Johnson compromised too much with the Democrats. The final voting results showed that 101 Republican members and 185 Democratic members voted in favor, while 112 Republican members and 22 Democratic members voted against. More Republicans voted against it than voted for it.
Far-right conservative Republican Congressman Green filed a motion to remove Johnson on the 22nd. Green said that Johnson's cooperation with Democrats to reach the budget bill was a "betrayal" to the Republican Party. "We need to find a speaker who is willing to stand with the Republican Party."
In October last year, Republican Congressman Gates proposed a removal motion, which eventually led to the removal of former House Speaker McCarthy. (over)