The United States government has successfully averted a federal shutdown by securing bipartisan agreement in both the House and Senate for a short-term funding arrangement.
This bill, which guarantees funding until November 17, garnered substantial support and was promptly signed into law by President Joe Biden just minutes before the looming deadline.
However, it’s important to note that this funding bill does not include any new assistance for Ukraine, marking a setback for the Democratic Party, as it had been a significant demand for them.
In a notable display of defiance against hardline members of his own party, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy introduced the bill.
The potential government shutdown, which could have resulted in tens of thousands of federal employees being placed on unpaid furlough and the suspension of various government services, was scheduled to commence at 00:01 ET (04:01 GMT) on Sunday.
Democrat denies setting off fire alarm to stall spending vote
However, there was a sudden and dramatic shift in Mr. McCarthy’s stance on Saturday afternoon. He opted to put to a vote a temporary funding measure that would maintain government operations, including funding for natural disasters, but would not yield to significant concessions on spending levels—a crucial demand of the Republican majority in the lower house.
A majority of lawmakers were determined to avert a government shutdown, and notably, the bill received more support from Democrats than Republicans. Up to 90 House Republicans voted against it.
This decision dealt a blow to a small faction of right-wing Republicans who had been stalling negotiations in the chamber with unwavering demands for spending reductions and opposition to new aid for Ukraine.
Following the vote, the House adjourned immediately, leaving the Senate with no alternative but to accept the House legislation, even though the Senate had previously passed its own bill that included aid for Ukraine. Only nine senators voted against the House bill, and all of them were Republicans.
In a statement released shortly after the Senate vote, President Joe Biden said “extreme House Republicans” had sought to create a “manufactured crisis”, and urged Speaker McCarthy to allow a further funding deal for Ukraine to pass without delay.
He said: “We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.”
In an unusual move, senior Senate leaders from both parties, including minority leader Mitch McConnell, released a joint statement signalling their intention to “ensure the US government continues to provide” support to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
It came after Senator Michael Bennet – a Democratic member from Colorado, who backs more funding for Kyiv – held up Saturday’s proceedings in protest at the lack of guarantees for Ukraine included in the deal.
Congress has approved about $113bn (£92bn) in military, humanitarian and economic aid to Ukraine since Russia waged its full-scale invasion last year. President Biden has requested another $24bn.
- What happens in a US government shutdown?
Shutdowns happen when both chambers of Congress are unable to agree on the roughly 30% of federal spending they must approve before the start of each fiscal year on 1 October.
With Republicans holding a slim majority in the House and Democrats holding the Senate by a single seat, any funding measure needs buy-in from both parties.
Repeated efforts to pass spending bills in the House have been thwarted in recent weeks by rebel right-wingers.
The group has opposed short-term spending measures and pushed for making cuts by passing long-term spending bills with agency-specific savings, even though such bills stand little chance of advancing through the Senate.
Mr McCarthy had been extremely reluctant to rely on Democratic votes to pass the House’s bill until the last minute, given this would anger these hard-line conservative members of his party.
This drama is likely to be repeated again in less than seven weeks as fundamental disagreements over government spending levels and policies between Republicans and Democrats, and among Republicans themselves, have not been resolved.
In the meantime, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and hard-line conservatives in the House have a decision to make.
Mr McCarthy’s decision to rely on Democratic votes to pass the short-term bill was supposedly a red line that, if crossed, would prompt an attempt to remove the Speaker from his leadership position, by triggering a so-called motion to vacate.
At his Saturday news conference, Mr McCarthy challenged those who oppose him to “bring it”, adding: “There has to be an adult in the room.”
The days ahead will reveal whether Mr Gaetz and company were serious about their threat – or just bluffing.