US Congress avoided shutdown – REUTERS
The nightmare has been averted. At the last minute, according to a practice that seems to repeat itself with disturbing punctuality. The US Congress avoided a government shutdown over the Christmas period, after weeks of tense negotiations that stretched to the maximum limit allowed by law, by approving a measure that funds federal agencies until mid-March. With the midnight deadline already past a few minutes (six in the morning in Italy), senators abandoned the normal procedure to speed up the vote and thus halting preparations for the government shutdown. In this way they “saved” over 800,000 workers who risked being sent home without pay. “It's good news that the bipartisan approach ultimately prevailed. It's a good outcome for America and for the American people,” Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech to the Senate.
Democrats lead the Senate, so there was little doubt the funding package would get the green light after the party was crucial in helping the House's Republican majority pass the bill earlier in the day. But because senators often balk at complex legislation, there were fears the fight over funding could drag on into next week. This would have resulted in non-essential operations being halted, up to 875,000 workers being made redundant and a further 1.4 million forced to work without pay. Congressional setting of state budgets is always a difficult task, with both chambers divided by Republicans and Democrats.
These are employees of key services such as law enforcement who would continue to work, but would only be paid when government functions were restored. Many national parks, monuments and sites have reportedly been closed during a time when millions of visitors are expected in the United States. Lawmakers avoided that by funding the government through March 14 with a package that includes $110 billion in aid for natural disasters and financial relief for farmers. This is essentially the same bill that failed on Thursday's vote, but without the two-year suspension of the country's self-imposed debt limit requested by Trump. The influence of Musk, the richest man in the world, on Republicans – and his rapprochement with Trump – has become the subject of attack from Democrats, who question how an unelected citizen can exercise such great power over the outcome of such an important vote for the country. Even among Republicans, according to some American media, anger is growing over Musk's interference, who trashed the original agreement with an avalanche of posts – many of which are decidedly inaccurate – on X. “The last time I checked, Elon Musk still didn't have a vote in Congress,” Georgia Republican Rich McCormick told CNN. “Now he has influence and he's going to pressure us to do what he thinks is the right thing for him. But I have 760,000 people who voted for me to do the right thing for them.”
