Open in mode full screen On Friday, the budget vote in the US House of Representatives was the scene of spectacular twists and turns. (Archive photo) Agence France-Presse President Joe Biden on Saturday promulgated the law financing the American state until the end of September, adopted a few hours earlier by Congress, thus preventing the world's leading power from paralyzing its public services. . This bipartisan law I just signed allows the government to continue to govern, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security, the President of the United States argued in a statement. During the night from Friday to Saturday, the Senate with a Democratic majority let the fateful midnight deadline that was supposed to trigger this paralysis, called shutdown, pass. However, senators agreed on the final adoption of this 1.2 trillion dollar budget law. It was not easy, but our perseverance was worth it, welcomed the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, the elected representative of New York Chuck Schumer, in the x27;hemicycle, after hours of intense negotiations with elected Republican officials.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democratic Majority Leader of the US Senate (File photo)
It's good for Americans that we have reached an agreement, he added before the final approval of the text.
This small delay should have no major impact on the departments Americans who risked being deprived of funding due to lack of agreement.
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Last farewell to Brian Mulroney
ELSEWHERE ON INFO: Final farewell to Brian MulroneyLoading
Last farewell to Brian Mulroney
ELSE ON INFO: Last farewell to Brian Mulroney
More than a great danger for the United States, these last minute twists and turns illustrate the chaos reigning in the American Congress.
During last year, this institution dismissed one of its leaders, failed to send funds to Ukraine and avoided, only narrowly, the bankruptcy of the world's leading economic power.
Friday morning, the vote on the federal state budget in the House of Representatives, which was also supposed to approve this text, was the scene of spectacular twists and turns.
A few minutes after the vote, elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene, close to Donald Trump, said she had filed a motion to oust the leader of the institution, Republican Mike Johnson, whom she accused of treason.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is known for her antics, provocations and offensive remarks. (Archive photo)
A handful of ultraconservative elected officials criticize this Republican, in office since October, of having made a too many budgetary concessions to Democrats.
We need a new president of the House of Representatives, said this elected official, known for her escapades, her provocations and her insulting remarks, to journalists.
This twist also has an air of déjà vu.
Former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, had been impeached only a few months ago in a very similar scenario.
Will Mike Johnson be the second Republican leader to bear the brunt of budget negotiations?
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson during a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, January 17, 2024. (File photo)
The tension surrounding the adoption of these finance laws is such that the United States has so far failed to adopt any budget for 2024, a situation with which no other large global economy is struggling.
Rather, they functioned for months thanks to the adoption of mini-budgets which expired after a few weeks, a headache for American departments.
The bill ultimately passed extends the US budget until the end of the fiscal year, September 30.
This 1012-page text, the result of very acrimonious negotiations, contains measures which could have strong repercussions abroad.
The text thus prohibits any direct funding from the United States to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in heart of a controversy since Israel accused at the end of January 12 of its approximately 13,000 employees in Gaza of being involved in the deadly attack of October 7, 2023 perpetrated by Hamas. p>
Israel suspects around ten employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of having participated in the attacks of Hamas on October 7. (File photo)
The law also contains hundreds of millions of dollars for Taiwan but does not release any funding for Ukraine, the envelope for Kiev being the subject of separate negotiations.
The latter is blocked by Donald Trump's Republicans, who want to condition it on immigration to the United States – a hot point in the presidential campaign –, and President Biden has warned both houses of Congress on Saturday: The work is not finished.
The House must pass additional bipartisan national security provisions to advance our national security interests . And Congress must pass the bipartisan [Mexico] border security agreement, the strongest and fairest reform in decades.
A quote from US President Joe Biden in a statement
The adopted text also contains a litany of provisions not necessarily linked to the budget, for example the ban on American embassies from flying the rainbow flag -en-ciel, standard of the LGBT+ community, contrary to what some were accustomed to doing on the occasion of Pride Month.
A first text adopted on March 9 had already made it possible to complete another part of the 2024 budget.