白宫表示,乔·拜登总统周六签署了一揽子融资法案,使其成为法律,避免了政府部分关闭。
拜登在一份声明中说:“这项协议代表了一种妥协,这意味着双方都没有得到想要的一切。“但它拒绝了众议院共和党人的极端削减,并扩大了儿童保健的覆盖面,投资于癌症研究,资助心理健康和药物使用护理,提升美国在海外的领导力,并提供资源来确保我的政府成功争取到的边界。”
拜登再次呼吁国会通过一项国家安全补充法案,向以色列、乌克兰和台湾提供美国援助,并为边境安全和边境政策改革提供资金。
“国会的工作还没有完成,”拜登说,后来又补充说,“是时候完成这项工作了。”
经过一天的程序性磋商后,参议院于周六凌晨通过了政府拨款法案,并在最后一刻达成了一项修正案协议,以加快该法案的通过。
1.2万亿美元的政府拨款法案被送到拜登的办公桌上,因为国会山的深夜戏剧为一个动荡的过程画上了句号,这个过程包括一年的讨价还价、六个月的权宜之计以及围绕金钱和政策的激烈党派冲突。
多数党领袖舒默周六凌晨在议会上宣布了这项协议。
“这是漫长而艰难的一天,但我们刚刚达成协议,完成为政府提供资金的工作。舒默说:“我们达成了这项两党协议,这对国家来说是好事。这并不容易,但今晚我们的坚持是值得的。”“我们今晚达成了一项为政府提供资金的协议,这对美国人民来说是件好事。”
白宫在午夜后不久表示,管理和预算办公室停止了关闭准备工作,理由是“高度相信”国会将“很快通过”拨款法案以保持政府开放。
白宫在参议院通过该法案后表示:“由于联邦基金的债务每天都在发生和跟踪,各机构不会关闭,可能会继续正常运营。”
尽管遭到共和党核心小组极右翼成员的反对,这些法案在周五下午早些时候以286票对134票在众议院获得通过。支持该法案的民主党人多于共和党人,因为100多名共和党议员投票反对该法案。
1.2万亿美元的一揽子计划被认为是高度分裂的众议院两党的一项重大努力,为六项法案提供资金,包括国防、金融服务、国土安全、劳动卫生与公共服务和教育、立法部门以及州和国外业务。
更多:政府关门再次逼近。尽管在DHS融资问题上达成了协议,但避免这一局面的时间为何已经不多了
如果该方案在参众两院获得通过,政府将在9月30日财年结束前获得资金。这也将结束持续的决议周期,自去年10月以来,这一周期已导致国会五次几乎关闭政府(至少部分关闭)。
政府资助计划是在暂停规则的情况下在众议院提出的,该规则需要三分之二的多数票才能通过。这再次意味着,众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊需要依靠民主党人让法案通过终点线——这一举动使他的前任凯文·麦卡锡陷入困境,并导致他去年被罢免议长职务。
少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯在一个小时的辩论中发言敦促议员投赞成票。
杰弗里斯说:“从维护美国人民的健康、安全、教育、国家安全保护以及最重要的经济福祉的角度来看,这是一个好结果。”
Biden signs $1.2 trillion government funding package, averting partial shutdown
President Joe Biden signed the funding bills package into law Saturday, the White House said, averting a partial government shutdown.
"This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted," Biden said in a statement. "But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border that my Administration successfully fought to include."
Biden once again called on Congress to pass a national security supplemental bill to provide U.S. assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, and funding for border security and reforms to border policy.
"Congress’s work isn’t finished," Biden said, later adding, "It’s time to get this done."
After a day of total procedural hijinks, the Senate passed the government funding bills in the early morning hours of Saturday, having struck an eleventh-hour amendment agreement to allow expedited passage of the bill.
The $1.2 trillion government funding bill was sent to Biden's desk as the late night drama on Capitol Hill capped a turbulent process featuring a year of haggling, six months of stopgaps and intense partisan clashes over money and policy.
Majority Leader Schumer announced the agreement on the floor early Saturday morning.
"It's been a very long and difficult day but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government. It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal it wasn't easy but tonight our persistence has been worth it," Schumer said. "It is good for the American people that we have reached an agreement to fund the government tonight."
The White House said shortly after midnight that the Office of Management and Budget ceased its shutdown preparations, citing "a high degree of confidence" that Congress will "imminently pass" funding bills to keep the government open.
"Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations," the White House said after the Senate passed the bill.
The bills passed in a House 286-134 vote earlier Friday afternoon, despite pushback from far-right members of the Republican caucus. More Democrats backed the bill than Republicans as more than 100 GOP lawmakers voted against it.
The $1.2 trillion package -- considered a major bipartisan effort in the highly divided House -- provides funding for six bills including Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor and Health and Human Services and Education, Legislative Branch and State and Foreign Operations.
If the package is passed by both chambers, the government will be funded through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. It will also put an end to the continuing resolution cycle that has led to Congress nearly shutting the government down, at least partially, five times since October.
The government funding package was introduced in the House under suspension of the rules, which required a two-thirds majority vote for passage. That meant, yet again, House Speaker Mike Johnson needed to rely on Democrats to get the bills across the finish line -- a move that landed his predecessor Kevin McCarthy in hot water and led to his ouster as speaker last year.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., took to the floor during an hour of debate to urge lawmakers to vote yes.
"This is a good result for the American people in terms of standing up for their health, their safety, their education, their national security protection and, of course, above all else, their economic wellbeing," Jeffries said.