Published 2024-01-07 22.35
The US Congress has taken a small step towards avoiding a shutdown of the country’s government apparatus on January 19.
The leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed on a spending ceiling of 1,600 billion dollars – the equivalent of more than 16,400 billion kroner – for the budget year 2024. This is reported by American media.
The Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, wrote in a statement that the agreement “paves the way for Congress to act in the coming weeks” to avoid the shutdown that threatens January 19.
For his part, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, says that there will be “changes” in the agreement to reduce non-military spending, which, according to the settlement, will receive $886 billion of the budget money.
Johnson also states with satisfaction that the agreement is “the most favorable budget agreement the Republicans have reached in over ten years”. Among other things, he boasts of having cut spending by 16 billion dollars against the proposal that the former Speaker, his party mate Kevin McCarthy, agreed with President Joe Biden on.
In a first comment, Biden says, according to NBC News, that the agreement “takes us one step closer to avoiding an unnecessary shutdown and protects important national interests.”
In order for the shutdown not to end, several steps remain, among other things, Sunday’s agreement must be voted through by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.