U.S. Congress fails to pass a budget: shutdown practically imminent
20 December 2024 12:18
On Thursday, December 19, the House of Representatives failed to pass a government funding bill. If it is not passed by Saturday, the country will face a shutdown, a situation where a number of government agencies will stop working due to the lack of an approved budget. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Reuters.
Only 174 congressmen voted in favor of the document, while as many as 235 voted against it. As many as 38 Republicans refused to comply with President-elect Donald Trump’s order to support this version of the budget instead of the bipartisan compromise.
The agency notes that dozens of Republicans defied the president-elect in this way.
“The vote exposed divisions in Trump’s Republican Party that could resurface next year when they control the White House and both houses of Congress,” the publication says.
The new bill would allow the Trump administration to increase spending, significantly cut taxes, and raise the ceiling on the national debt, which currently stands at $36 trillion in US dollars.
GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson did not provide any details when journalists asked him about the next steps after the failed vote.
“We’ll come up with another solution,” he said.
The failed vote makes a shutdown almost inevitable: Republicans have until midnight on Friday to take any action. If Congress fails to reach at least some kind of agreement, it will be the first government shutdown since December 2018, when the shutdown lasted until January 2019 during Donald Trump’s first term.
