In the dispute over a new budget law and a multi-billion dollar corona aid package, the US Congress has averted the shutdown of federal agencies for another two days. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate voted late on Friday evening (local time) and thus almost at the last minute for a renewed extension of the current federal budget, this time until Sunday.
The Republicans of current President Donald Trump and the Democrats of the newly elected President Joe Biden have so far not been able to agree on a new budget law. The negotiations are made more difficult by parallel discussions about a new Corona rescue package, which have not brought any results for months.
The US budget year actually ends at the end of September. Congress had extended the current budget to December 11th this year to give the parties time to negotiate their budget until after the November 3rd presidential election. Since no solution was found by December 11th, a postponement until December 18th at midnight was agreed.
But even until Friday evening there was no agreement, so that both Congress Chambers decided at the last minute to postpone it until Sunday. This gained two more days for negotiations. Should the two sides fail to reach an agreement, there is a risk of a budget freeze and the closure of federal authorities.
Disputes over the budget had led to a five-week financial blockade for some of the federal authorities over the turn of the year 2018/19. It was the longest “shutdown” of its kind in US history. A large number of state services as well as the salary payments for around 800,000 federal employees were temporarily canceled at that time.
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