US government services don’t have to close ahead of the holidays. That is the effect of the agreement on the budget. Without a deal, many services will be closed and millions of civil servants will not be paid.
The Senate approved the budget proposal on Wednesday evening (local time), after the House of Representatives had already agreed. Now only President Joe Biden needs to sign.
US politicians must reach an agreement each year on the budget for the new year. Without such an agreement, spending must be temporarily curtailed. For example, millions of government employees who work in defense, regulators, the Coast Guard and national parks will not receive their wages for a short period of time.
It threatened to happen again. The government may have to freeze some of its activities if politicians do not come to an agreement this week. So it didn’t come.
However, the happiness will be short-lived. There will be a new deadline in two months. A section of the Republican Party has already indicated that it will not accept a new proposal.
Earlier this fall, a tentative agreement on the budget was also reached. It lost the head of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. The next deadline is January 19.
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