US Congress races to finish budget before midnight shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON, March 22 — US lawmakers are set to vote today on a sprawling US$1.2 trillion (RM5.6 trillion) package to fund the government, teeing off a race against the clock to ensure the lights stay on past a midnight deadline.

Congress has just hours left to avert a shutdown of several key federal agencies by signing off on a six-bill funding package covering vast swathes of the 2024 budget — including defence and homeland security.

But the legislation has already been delayed by six months in a Congress which is divided almost evenly between the parties, and has been deadlocked by policy and spending disputes.

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Party leaders fear the Senate may struggle to rubber-stamp the House vote before the midnight deadline, with arcane procedural rules threatening to push the action in the upper chamber into the weekend.

A lapse in federal funding over tomorrow and Sunday would have a very limited impact on government operations and would not likely be felt by the public, as long as the spigot was turned back on at the start of the working week.

A longer pause could result in thousands of public employees being sent home without pay and a vast array of government operations and services being hit, from airport security to border controls.

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Some public employees in the health sector were receiving messages today warning of a potential shutdown.

“This funding agreement between the White House and congressional leaders is good news that comes in the nick of time,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor of the upper chamber, putting a positive gloss on the potential for delays.

‘Fiscal sanity’

House Republican leaders scheduled a vote for 11am (1500 GMT/11pm Malaysian time), dropping a rule that that requires lawmakers to be allowed 72 hours to review any legislation before calling votes.

The shutdown deadline comes just before Congress is scheduled to shut up shop for two weeks over Easter, and senators have shown little appetite for a weekend of drama or a delayed start to the holiday.

But some two dozen Republican amendments have been submitted, and Democrat Michael Bennet is threatening to gum up the works in protest against the deadlock in the House stalling military aid for Ukraine.

Figures on the House Republicans’ right flank have been heavily critical of the lack of stricter border security provisions in the package, as well as the spending figure and the elevated speed with which the deal has been negotiated.

“The American people do not accept what is in this bill. We cannot continue to do this. Americans want secure borders and fiscal sanity,” Chip Roy, a conservative hard-liner in the House, posted on X.

The party leadership on both sides of the House voiced confidence however that they would be able to deliver enough votes to hit the two-thirds needed to pass the measure.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters yesterday he expects a “substantial majority” of his members to support the package, noting that it had omitted most conservative policy riders.

Vote-counters expect a couple of dozen Democratic dissenters, including progressives upset about more than US$3 billion in funding for Israel included in the package and cuts to UN funding for Gaza.

House Republicans are likely to have to contribute around 100 votes to achieve the two-thirds majority. — AFP