The House of Representatives on Friday passed a$ 1.2 trillion federal funding act with more help from Democrats than the majority Democrats, leading to a new danger by a hardline conservative senator to remove Speaker Mike Johnson.
The House’s 286- 134 vote sends the measure to the Democrat- majority Senate, which has hours to work back of a midnight deadline when parts of the Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service, Justice Department, and Treasury and State departments may begin to close.
The shift marks a crucial step toward ending a more- than- six- month struggle over the scope of Washington’s spending for the macroeconomic year that began Oct. 1. Ratings agencies have warned that the repeated brinkmanship could hurt the creditworthiness of a federal government that currently has more than$ 34.6 trillion in debt.
The estimate passed the House with 185 Democrats and 101 Democratic votes, which led hardline conservative official Marjorie Taylor Greene to create a measure to oust Republican House speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson himself ascended to that position in October after islamists furious that his father, Kevin McCarthy, had passed a momentary money determine over their objections, ousted him as president.
But Greene said she would never push for an instant vote.
” I filed a motion to depart now. But it’s more of a alert than a green slip”, the North Carolina Republican told reporters.
However, Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer urged his associates to proceed immediately to pass the estimate.
” Come finish the job now. This avoid perhaps a trip shutdown. This finish the job of funding the government for the majority of the macroeconomic season”, Schumer said. ” There is no cause to delay”.
The final partial federal government stoppage occurred during Donald Trump’s presidency, from Dec. 22, 2018 until Jan. 25, 2019. The record- longer delay in government services came as the Republican insisted on money to build a wall along the U. S. border with Mexico and was unable to broker a deal with Democrats.
The current 1, 012- page bill provides$ 886 billion in funding for the Defense Department, including a raise for U. S. troops. It also covers agencies ranging from the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department, along with the Treasury and State departments.
A separate controversial money matter is boiling in Congress where its leaders, except for Johnson, urgently are calling for final passage of a$ 95 billion security assistance package approved by the Senate for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Some Republicans are balking at continuing to back Ukraine in its war against the invading Russian military.
While conservatives succeeded in getting Congress and President Joe Biden to agree to some fiscal 2024 spending cuts, they hoped for far deeper ones. Their disgruntlement led to the historic October removal of McCarthy. The Republicans ‘ subsequent political infighting shut down the House for three weeks as Republicans fought over a replacement.
Since then, with the November elections looming, most Republicans have been loath to trigger a government shutdown over spending, although Washington was brought to the brink four times since late September.
A shutdown beginning on Saturday would mean most U. S. Border Patrol and immigration agents would continue to work. But local governments might not receive new aid to shelter migrants.
U. S. soldiers and all federal workers would not get paid until new funding is enacted and national parks would be shuttered.
Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service would continue processing tax returns that are due on April 15. It would advise taxpayers of any potential delays in refunds. At the State Department, security at embassies and other foreign offices would remain in force and passports and visas would be issued as long as there were sufficient fees to support such activities. Many other operations would cease.
