Agreement avoids shutdown before presidential election

At least the threat of a federal shutdown before the November 5 presidential election has been averted. Congressional leaders announced an agreement on Sunday, September 22, to extend the government’s budget through mid-December and avoid the dreaded “shutdown.”

The 2025 budget was supposed to be passed by lawmakers by the end of September — the end of the fiscal year — to keep all government services funded. But with the House and Senate far from reaching agreement on an annual budget, a temporary funding measure called the Continuing Resolution » (CR) was widely expected.

Republican lawmakers had been demanding for weeks that any budget be tied to new requirements — unrelated, though — that voters prove their U.S. citizenship, a requirement that came under pressure from Trump, who continues to claim without evidence that he was the victim of voter fraud in 2020. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, eventually waived that requirement to reach an agreement.

A vote on a bill combining the voting legislation, the “Save Act,” and a six-month extension of funding failed Wednesday in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“The most prudent course in the current circumstances”

The deal announced Sunday excludes the Save Act and extends funding only through Dec. 20. That pushes the funding debate further into the Nov. 5 elections, in which control of the House, Senate and presidency could be decided by narrow margins. The next Congress will convene shortly after the New Year, while the presidential inauguration — either for Republican Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris — will take place on Jan. 20.

In a letter to his Republican colleagues, Mike Johnson said the budget measure would “very narrow, minimalist” and would not include “only the absolutely necessary extensions.”

“Although this is not our preferred solution, it is the most prudent path in the current circumstances.”wrote the speaker. “As history has taught and current polls confirm, shutting down the government less than forty days before a fateful election would be an act of political malfeasance.”he added.

$231 million extra for the Secret Service

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has said he and his colleagues will evaluate the bill in its entirety before a vote this week, but with the deal, “Congress is now on a bipartisan path to avoid a government shutdown that would harm ordinary Americans,” he assured.

“I am pleased that bipartisan negotiations quickly produced a government funding deal free of cuts and poison pills, but this same deal could have been reached two weeks ago.”said Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, in a statement.

The bill, which the House of Representatives is expected to vote on this week, also provides an additional $231 million (€207 million) for the Secret Service, a significant increase for the body that protects senior American political figures following the two assassination attempts against Donald Trump.

It also provides an additional $47 million in funding for security in Washington during the presidential inauguration.