What next after the US govt shutdown deal? Joe Biden says THIS
government shutdown on Saturday. However, he called for Congress to swiftly approve aid to war-hit Ukraine after it was left out of the agreement.
In an official statement, Biden said, “We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted." "I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment," he added, referring to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy. AFP reported that lawmakers must now wrangle a separate bill on $24 billion in military assistance to Ukraine that Biden wanted in the budget, with a vote possible early next week.
Hard-right Republicans had strongly opposed the inclusion of Ukraine aid in the deal, despite support for it from moderate Republicans, including McCarthy. In response, Biden said that the deal to avert a shutdown was "good news for the American people" but added that “we should never have been in this position in the first place." The US Congress on Saturday approved a ‘stopgap funding bill’ in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running for another 45 days and avert a damaging government shutdown.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 335-91 to adopt a 45-day stopgap measure hours before funding for federal agencies was set to expire. Kevin McCarthy, the top US House Republican could face an untimely end to his role as speaker if party hardliners oust him, for averting a costly government shutdown on Saturday with a stopgap bill that drew more support from Democrats than Republicans, Reuters reported.
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