The US House of Representatives on Thursday largely rejected a new Republican budget text aimed at avoiding a paralysis of the federal state, a stinging failure which increases uncertainty before the fateful hour of Friday evening midnight.
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In Washington, in the halls of Congress, there is once again chaos and elected officials are deeply divided. A feeling of déjà vu, describes our correspondent in the United States, Loubna Anaki.
The elected Republican representatives, although in the majority in the lower house, had submitted this new proposal to a vote the day after the torpedoing byDonald Trump And Elon Musk of a previous agreement negotiated with the Democrats which would have avoided UNITED STATES A “ shutdown » just before Christmas.
The future American president had nevertheless given his blessing to the new Republican text, welcoming “ a very good deal for the American people “. Before the vote, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, had expressed his opposition to this proposal, “ not serious ” And “ laughable » according to him. And while two-thirds of the votes were necessary for adoption, the text did not even reach a simple majority, with 38 Republicans joining the Democrats’ “no”.
The path forward is now uncertain for the Republican President of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, pressed on the one hand by the Democrats to return to the negotiated agreement, and on the other by certain conservative elected officials who refuse all text which would not include a budget cut to compensate for the new aid.
Final negotiations before a “ shutdown »
After the announcement that there would be no further vote on Thursday evening, Mike Johnson promised that the elected officials would “ come together and find another solution “. Time is running out before the fateful hour of midnight Friday evening. A paralysis of federal public services would lead to technical unemployment for hundreds of thousands of civil servants, the freezing of several social benefits or even the closure of certain daycare centers. An extremely unpopular situation, especially as Christmas approaches.
The probability of a shutdown » was greatly increased when Donald Trump expressed his disapproval on Wednesday faced with a negotiated bill by the Republicans in Congress with the Democrats, judged “ ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive » by the president-elect.
The twist took elected officials by surprise and gave a glimpse of a Trump 2.0 presidency even before the Republican took office on January 20. With a style similar to his first mandate, not bothering with conventions, even if it means causing a certain chaos. The future president was not the only one to dynamite the first agreement. “ Kill the text! », launched his ally Elon Musk on his social network X in a long series of posts, where he denounced unnecessary expenses according to him. The boss of Tesla and SpaceX, on the other hand, said he supported the Republicans’ new proposal.
On the Democratic side, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are accused of having defeated a hard-won compromise budget, even though they are not yet in power. “ If there is a shutdown, it will be all the fault of Elon Musk and Donald Trump » said Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic minority in the House.
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