Bloomberg News reports that a stopgap bill was signed by President Joe Biden so that he could extend government funds that would be carried forward into early 2024. This would likely keep a government shutdown at bay as of now. However, it would eventually kickstart a divisive debate politically related to federal spending about a presidential election the following year.
What Did the White House Confirm?
There was a confirmation from the White House released in a statement in Washington Friday morning, less than 24 hours before the prevailing funding would cease to exist.
As per the statement, for a summit of the APEC leaders held in California, Biden signed legislation. Meeting the night deadline of Friday and the House with a new leader, the Congress passed an interim measure towards the beginning of the week with broad bipartisan majorities.
There would be a widespread fallout in Washington in the event of a shutdown. The short-term package will eventually assist the lawmakers in regrouping over Thanksgiving break. At the same time, the talks would continue on policy agreements and spending.
Debt Default
This ongoing battle had almost brought the United States to the verge of debt default during spring. It also led to the Fitch Ratings plummeting, thereby downgrading the country’s sovereign credit rating. It cost Kevin McCarthy his position as House speaker.
Criticism from the White House
There was initial criticism from the White House related to the stopgap measure. The Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre called it a reason for even greater chaos among Republicans and more shutdowns. However, Biden came around since the Democrats assured them they would not block the proposal to avert a funding lapse immediately.
The Stopgap Measure Proposed by Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson, the Speaker, designed the stopgap measure. The measure funds a few government outfits through January 19th and a few others through February 2nd.
It also lacks the Israel and Ukraine aid as has been demanded by Joe Biden, while the Republicans had demanded stringent border policies. In January, the threat of a partial shutdown looms large. This is because those agencies whose funding will cease at that time will not trigger the dire consequences politically. These include curbing military payouts and shutting down national parks. These very outfits would run out of cash in February.
Why did Johnson Drop Emergency Aid?
One of the main reasons for Johnson to stagger the deadline for funding and drop the emergency aid was to appease the conservative hardliners. They are annoyed and furious with the decision to pass the bill without bringing about changes to immigration laws and deep cuts in spending.
