Washington (EFE). – The United States Senate approved Friday an extension of the federal budget until September, avoiding the government shutdown that would have begun at midnight.
The upper house, where the Republicans control 53 seats, ed the bill with 54 votes in favor and 46 against.
Conservatives needed a majority of 60 to advance the bill in the procedural vote before the final vote, and the controversial of some Democrats in that earlier step cleared their path before the deadline.
On Thursday, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would not block the resolution.
Senate Democrats had been under intense pressure from their House colleagues and outside progressive advocates to stand firm against funding the extension for Donald Trump’s istration, which had already ed that chamber on Tuesday night.
House Democratic leadership released a statement Thursday saying the bill would “unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government.”
Musk, the owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency and has pushed forward an aggressive policy of cutting spending and red tape since the Republicans took power on Jan. 20.
Schumer defended his stance, saying, “If we go into a shutdown — and I told my caucus this — there’s no off-ramp. The total off-ramp of a shutdown, how you stop a shutdown, is totally determined by the Republican House and Senate.”
Trump thanked Schumer for his on Friday. “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took “guts” and courage! The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming,” he wrote before the vote on his Truth Social network.
The Republican-drafted resolution funds the government through Sep. 30, with a slight reduction in funding from 2024, but with a 6 billion dollar increase in military spending and 485 million dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A shutdown of the federal government over a lack of funding could leave hundreds of thousands of public workers without pay, agencies operating at minimum services, and museums and national parks closed.
In December, under the mandate of former President Joe Biden (2021-2025), Congress approved “in extremis” an extension of the budget until Mar. 14, with the vote in favor of Democrats and Republicans, despite the fact that Trump, then president-elect, had tried to boycott it. EFE
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