Late Saturday night, President Joe Biden signed HR 5860, the official name for the spending bill, into a law, averting a government shutdown that would have had disastrous repercussions for the American people and economy.
Spending bill passed into a law-
Three hours before the federal government would have shut down at 12:01 a.m, The Senate voted to approve the continuing resolution. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law, late on Saturday night. In order to give the House and Senate additional time to complete its funding legislation, the bill permits the government to remain open for 45 days. The House will get back to its functioning on Monday.
The 71-page short term plan, drafted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R Calif., allocates funds for disaster relief but does not provide any more funding for the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The United States has provided Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, security aid totaling more than $43 billion since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.
The bill extends other provisions, such as those for the Federal Aviation Administration, and supports the government at existing levels through mid-November. The House passed the bill 335-91, with the majority of Republicans and nearly all Democrats voting in favour. By a vote of 88-9, the Senate approved the measure.
The decision, more of a temporary relief, puts a halt to the government shutdown danger for the time being, but the delay might not last long. As opinions become more entrenched, particularly among right-flank lawmakers whose demands were eventually dismissed this time in favour of a more bipartisan approach, Congress will once again need to fund the government in the coming weeks, triggering a crisis.
What President Biden has to say-
President Joe Biden criticized “extreme House Republicans” while praising the bill’s passing. For the American people, this is fantastic news. However, they shouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place, Biden said in a statement following the Senate’s passage of the bill.
The president also stated that he anticipates Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will work to increase U.S. funding to Ukraine, which was not included in the stopgap measure. “We cannot, under any circumstances, allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden stated.
What would have happened in case of a Government shutdown?
Federal agencies are prohibited from making any financial commitments under the Anti deficiency Act (first enacted in 1884 and revised in 1950) without a congress appropriation or approval . If the Congress fails to pass the 12 annual appropriations, then federal agencies can stop performing all non- operations unit Congress does not pass the 12 spending bills. This makes it a situation of government shutdown. If the Congress passes some, but not all in that case the affected federal agencies don’t perform their operations leading to a partial government shutdown.
Many federal workers are instructed to not report for work during shutdowns, but according to a 2019 legislation, they are reimbursed with some payments when the shutdown is over. Until Congress takes some action, government workers who provide what are considered critical services, such as air traffic control and law enforcement, continue to work but are not paid.
If a government shutdown would take place had the recent spending bill not been passed on late Saturday night, more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military personnel would have been forced to work without pay, programmes and services that Americans depend on from coast to coast would have been forced to take furloughs.
