US Averts Government Shutdown One Day Ahead Of Deadline
Muhammad Irfan Published December 03, 2021 | 08:30 AM
Washington, Dec 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Dec, 2021 ) :The US Congress approved a stopgap funding bill Thursday in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep Federal agencies running into 2022 and avert a costly holiday season government shutdown.
With the clock ticking down to the 11:59 pm Friday deadline, the Senate voted by 69 to 28 to keep the lights on until February 18 with a resolution that had already advanced from the House.
The "continuing resolution" avoids millions of public workers being sent home unpaid with Christmas approaching, as parks, museums and other federal properties and services closed.
"I am glad that, in the end, cooler heads prevailed -- the government will stay open," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
"And I thank the members of this chamber for walking us back from the brink of an avoidable, needless and costly shutdown." Congress watchers had expected to see the resolution getting a rough ride in the Senate, where a small group of hardline Republicans threatened to tank the measure in protest over the White House's pandemic response.
But Democrats agreed to allow a straight majority vote on defunding President Joe Biden's vaccine-or-testing mandate for large companies, which promptly failed as expected.
The right-wing Republican group, led by Utah's senior senator Mike Lee, argues that the mandate is an assault on personal liberty.
- 780,000 dead - The pandemic has killed more than 780,000 people in the United States and the troubling new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has raised fears of a winter surge in cases.
But legal challenges have mounted against Biden's edict requiring vaccination or weekly tests for some sections of the US workforce, including companies with more than 100 employees.
Lee had campaigned to remove federal funding to implement the mandate and was backed by right wingers in both chambers.
"If the choice is between temporarily suspending non-essential functions on the one hand and, on the other hand, standing idle as up to 45 million Americans lose their jobs, their livelihoods and their ability to work, I'll stand with American workers every time," he said.
The figure Lee cited would represent more than a quarter of the 157 million people that make up the US workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.
Only five percent of unvaccinated adults say they have left a job due to a vaccine mandate, according to an October survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
In the evenly divided upper chamber, any single senator can torpedo any vote.
But the majority of Senate Republicans -- including their leader Mitch McConnell -- were against the move, fearing they would be blamed for a shutdown.
Ahead of the House vote McConnell had indicated that Republicans would support the continuing resolution, although he gave no indication that he bring Lee and the other hold-outs to heel.
- Deadlocked - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most senior Democrat in the House of Representatives, earlier hit out at Lee and his backers, accusing them of "defiance of science and public health." If Congress had failed to keep the government open, the closures would have begun just after midnight on Saturday and would likely have bled into the following week.
There has never been a shutdown during a national emergency such as the pandemic, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the 2018-19 stoppage wiped $11 billion from the economy.
The stopgap measure buys legislators time to negotiate full-year spending bills for the rest of fiscal 2022.
And with the threat of a shutdown off the table, Democratic leadership is now free to focus on passing Biden's domestic agenda -- a $1.8 trillion social welfare and climate spending plan.
The bill is central to Biden's legacy, but risks failing because of feuding between the Democrats' progressive and centrist factions.
Lawmakers are also deadlocked over the prospect of a first-ever US debt default that would erase an estimated six million jobs and wipe out $15 trillion of household wealth, tanking the economy.
The government is likely to run out of cash on or soon after December 15, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned, unless Congress raises the federal borrowing cap.
But Republicans say they won't help, despite having pressed for hikes under former president Donald Trump, because they want no part in the Democrats' historically large package of social reforms.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Shayan, Rashid, Junaid to represent Pakistan in U12 Regional Qualifying Jrs
Govt committed to empower youth with modern tech, IT: PM
Olympic Games Paris 2024: How teams qualified
LESCO detects 74,285 power pilferers in 219 days
RTO destroys huge quantity of non-duty paid cigarettes
Rain-windstorm/thunderstorm expected in most parts of country: PMD
Pakistan's total liquid foreign reserves reach $ 13.28 billion
Pakistan to tour New Zealand for 3 ODIs, 5 T20Is next March
ENGRO announces strong results for 1st quarter 2024
RDA inflows rise to $7.660 bn in March 24
US economic growth slows significantly in first quarter
FPCCI welcomes direct flights between Pakistan-Azerbaijan
More Stories From Miscellaneous
-
PDMA predicts gusty wind, rain with thunder, hails
2 days ago -
Iranian president Raisi given guard of honour at PM House
3 days ago -
Intellectuals, writers accolades Naseer Mirza on his literary contribution
4 days ago -
Bahawalpur Adabi Sangat hosts memorable mushaira
4 days ago -
Cattle farming vital to alleviate poverty in rural areas
4 days ago -
Pakistan: A land of tourism, archeological wonders
4 days ago
-
Transforming education sector: from job hunters to job creators
6 days ago -
Amjad Bobby remembered on 19th death anniversary for timeless contributions to music
10 days ago -
Legendary actor Nadeem’s 26 films released on Eid-ul-Fitr days in 50 years
11 days ago -
Besant Hall Cultural Centre to celebrate evening with Sanam Marvi on 26 April
11 days ago -
Radio Bahawalpur presents program “Eidi Shidi”
14 days ago -
Radio Bahawalpur to broadcast Eid programs
16 days ago