2024-01-08 00:00:43
He Republican Party y the Democratic Party They announced this Sunday a 1.66 billion agreement of dollars to finance the US Executive in 2024, a first step to avoid a government shutdown.
The deal was jointly announced by Senate Majority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer, and the president of the House of Representatives, the Republican Mike Johnson.
It will now have to be ratified by the US Congress and overcome the very likely opposition of the far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives, who expected force deep budget cuts.
The legislators, who return to Congress this week after the Christmas holidaysthey have until January 19 to approve the agreement that will avoid the closure of the Government.
And the funds for approximately 20% of the government budget They will be exhausted on January 19, including those for items such as assistance to veterans, while the rest of the funds will be exhausted on February 2.
Agreement reached
Although no details have been published about the agreement, according to the Washington Post, it will allow $886.3 billion in defense spending and $772.7 billion in domestic discretionary spending.
These figures, the newspaper points out, are in accordance with an agreement reached last spring by President Joe Biden and the then president of the House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy to suspend the nation’s debt limit.
In a letter published after today’s announcement, Johnson (current speaker of the lower house) explained that he achieves “key modifications” with respect to the beginning of negotiations in June and that there will be “more than 16 billion in additional spending cuts to offset discretionary spending levels.
“While these final spending levels will not satisfy everyone and will not cut as much spending as many of us would like, this agreement provides us with a path to move the process forward, reprioritize financing within the top line toward conservative goals, instead of last year’s Schumer-Pelosi omnibus, and fight for the important policy provisions included in our House bills for FY24,” he said.
On November 15, the US Congress approved a new budget extension that avoided an imminent administrative closure with two expiration dates – January 19 and February 2 – that should allow congressmen to negotiate the budget for fiscal year 2024 in time.
The White House has been warning for weeks about the tight deadline to negotiate the agreement, which includes controversial aspects such as immigration policy and military aid for Ukraine.
Congress had focused its efforts before the end of the year on negotiating the economic package of more than $100 billion requested by the White House in military aid, among others, for Ukraine and Israel.
In exchange for aid to Ukraine – of more than $60 billion – Republicans have asked for a tightening of immigration policy.
The White House, for its part, had warned that the money approved throughout 2023 for Ukraine has run out and that it will not be able to continue supporting Kiev in its war with Russia.
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