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Measure unveiled to avoid govt shutdown

China Daily | Updated: 2023-11-13 00:00
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WASHINGTON — The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has unveiled a Republican stopgap spending measure aimed at averting a government shutdown on Nov 18, but the measure quickly ran into opposition from lawmakers from both parties in Congress.

Unlike ordinary continuing resolutions that fund federal agencies for a specific period, the measure announced by Johnson on Saturday would fund some parts of the government until Jan 19 and others until Feb 2. House Republicans hope to pass the measure on Tuesday.

"This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories," Johnson said after announcing the plan to House Republicans in a conference call.

The measure contains no supplemental funding such as aid for Israel or Ukraine.

The House and the Democratic-led Senate must agree on a spending vehicle that President Joe Biden can sign into law by Friday or risk a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade that would close national parks, disrupt pay for as many as 4 million federal workers and disrupt a swath of activities from financial oversight to scientific research.

The White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the proposal was "just a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns". "House Republicans are wasting precious time with an unserious proposal that has been panned by members of both parties."

Moody's rating

Johnson unveiled his stopgap measure a day after Moody's, the last major credit ratings agency to maintain a top AAA rating on the US government, reduced its outlook on the nation's credit to "negative" from "stable", citing political polarization in Congress on spending as a danger to the nation's fiscal health.

The Louisiana Republican appeared to be appealing to two warring House Republican factions: hard-liners who wanted legislation with many end-dates; and centrists who had called for a stopgap measure free of spending cuts and conservative policy riders that Democrats reject.

The legislation would extend funding for military construction, veterans' benefits, transportation, housing, urban development, agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and energy and water programs until Jan 19.Funding for all other federal operations would expire on Feb 2.

However, the plan quickly came under fire from members of both parties.

"My opposition to the (plan) just announced by the Speaker to the@HouseGOP cannot be overstated," said Representative Chip Roy, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus.

Democratic Senator Brian Schatz called Johnson's measure "super convoluted", adding that "all of this nonsense costs taxpayer money".

"We are going to pass a clean short-term (continuing resolution). The only question is whether we do it stupidly and catastrophically or we do it like adults."

A stopgap measure would give lawmakers more time to implement full-scale appropriations bills to fund the government until Sept 30.

Agencies Via Xinhua

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