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Announce US Congress Yesterday, Sunday, an agreement was reached between the two parties Republican AndDemocrat Concerning the total federal budget for the new fiscal year, taking a step towards avoiding a government shutdown in a year that will witness presidential elections.
Council Chairman said US Representative Mike Johnson said that senior congressional leaders agreed – yesterday– At a total federal spending level of $1.6 trillion per year Fiscal 2024, with the aim of avoiding a partial government shutdown later this January.
Johnson – who belongs to the Republican Party – added in a letter to lawmakers that the total amount includes $886 billion for defense spending and $704 billion for non-defense spending.
The president praised joe biden With the decision, he said – in a statement – that the agreement “brings us one step closer to avoiding an unnecessary government closure and protecting important national priorities.”
Biden added in his statement that the agreement “rejects deep cuts in programs on which hard-working families depend, and provides a path to passing funding bills for a full year that meet the needs of the American people, and are free of any extremist policies.”
Time is running out
But time is running out for the two parties in Congress to agree on the details of the spending operations and adopt a text before the deadline of January 19, a date when some federal agencies will find themselves without funding.
In a joint statement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives said Hakeem Jeffries It is by ensuring $772.7 billion in non-defense discretionary funding that “we can protect essential national priorities like veterans benefits, health care, and food assistance from the draconian cuts that right-wing extremists want.”
The statement added that the agreement “paves the way for Congress to act in the coming weeks to preserve important funding priorities for the American people and avoid… Government shutdown“.
But the agreement is likely to anger the far-right wing of Johnson’s party in the House of Representatives, after a large number of those belonging to this wing pressed for “belt tightening” at the budget level.
The House of Representatives – controlled by Republicans – and the Senate – controlled by Democrats – must still agree on how to allocate these funds.
Johnson noted in his letter that “the final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, nor will they reduce spending to the extent that many of us would like.”
This means that there are no financial resources available to spend on this ministry or institution, and therefore it is forced to close its doors. To conduct their work, all government agencies rely on financial allocations determined by Congress annually before the start of the fiscal year (October 1-September 30).
Congress traditionally passes the draft budget after long negotiations between the two parties and the various parties affected by this budget, and then presents it to the president for his signature.
The draft budget is divided into 12 spending projects that report to the 12 subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee.
