USA: Senate reaches agreement and avoids government shutdown – 03/23/2024 – Market

The United States Congress approved in the early hours of this Saturday (23) a budget law to provide funding to federal agencies until September, avoiding a partial shutdown of government activities.

The Senate exceeded the established deadline, until midnight on Friday (22), but, after reaching an agreement between Democrats and Republicans, voted in favor of the amount of US$ 1.2 trillion (about R$ 6 trillion), after the House of Representatives approved the plan.

“It wasn’t easy, but tonight our perseverance paid off. It’s good for the American people that we’ve reached a bipartisan agreement to get the job done,” said Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

A year of chaos

These last-minute maneuvers portray the chaos that prevails in the American Congress.

Last year, the institution removed a president of the Chamber, failed to reach an agreement on a new aid package for Ukraine and narrowly avoided the collapse of the world’s main economy.

In the middle of an election year, the Budget was the target of a long confrontation between the party of Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republicans.

White House and Congress negotiators finally reached an agreement on a text, revealed on Wednesday night (20).

But this proposal was immediately criticized by congressmen sympathetic to former Republican President Donald Trump, who will face Biden in the November elections.

On Friday morning, the vote on the federal Budget in the Chamber of Representatives also had its share of enthusiasm.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene presented a “motion” to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom she accuses of “betrayal of the American people.”

The announcement landed like a political bombshell in Washington, even though Greene did not set a timetable for the impeachment vote, which she described as more of a “warning.”

The adoption of the budgets generated enormous tension in the United States.

The list of possible consequences of a budget paralysis is long: military and transport security officers without pay, closed natural parks and frozen food aid.

Nothing for UNRWA

This law will extend the US Budget until the end of the fiscal year, September 30th. The 1,012-page text contains measures with strong repercussions abroad.

The text prohibits any direct funding from the United States to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which has been embroiled in controversy since Israel accused, in January, 12 of its 13,000 employees of being involved in the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in October 7, in Israeli territory.

The measure was widely criticized by the left wing of the Democratic Party. Hundreds of millions of dollars are also allocated to Taiwan, but it does not unlock any money for Ukraine.

The project also contains several measures related to migration, an explosive topic in the middle of the presidential campaign. It foresees, among other things, the hiring of tens of thousands of border agents.

Finally, it contains a series of measures, not necessarily linked to the budget, such as the ban on US embassies from flying the rainbow flag of the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month.

A text approved on March 9 has already made it possible to guarantee another part of the 2024 budget.