US Senate approves interim budget bill to prevent government shutdown

2024-01-19 07:53:25

The US Senate has approved a temporary budget bill that will prevent a partial shutdown of the federal government.

The bill, which provides funding for the federal government until the beginning of March, was accepted with 77 votes against 18.

In the vote in the US Senate, which is dominated by Democrats, all those who voted against the bill were Republican senators.

The next stop of the bill, which was passed by the US Senate, will be the US House of Representatives, just before the expiration of the temporary budget, which provides financing to the country’s ministries of Energy, Agriculture, Transport, Housing and Urban Development until January 19.

If the interim budget bill is approved by the US House of Representatives, it will be submitted for President Joe Biden’s signature to become law.

With the new budget bill, it is envisaged that funding will be provided to the ministries of Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and the US Food and Drug Administration until March 1, and to the rest of the government, including the Department of Defense (Pentagon), until March 8.

3rd interim budget to prevent government shutdown

If passed into law, the bill in question will be the third interim budget to prevent a government shutdown in the 2024 fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2023.

On September 30, 2023, when the 2023 fiscal year ended in the USA, the interim budget was first adopted, providing financing to the government until November 17, 2023. Days before the first temporary budget was due to expire, the temporary budget came into force, which provided for financing to the ministries of Energy, Agriculture, Transport, Housing and Urban Development until January 19, and to the rest of the government, including the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon), until February 2.

According to American law, if Congress cannot approve the permanent budget for the fiscal year that starts on October 1 and ends on September 30, the gap must be closed with temporary budgets. During periods when the interim budget cannot be approved, federal institutions that lose their spending authority temporarily cease their activities.