The feared government shutdown before the US election has been prevented: Congressional leaders have agreed on funding until shortly before Christmas. This also includes additional millions for the Secret Service.
The leaders of the US Congress have announced an agreement on a stopgap budget that is expected to prevent a partial shutdown of authorities from October 1st. According to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, this is intended to ensure funding for the authorities until December 20th.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the agreement reached this week.
Amendment to electoral law rejected
The MPs had delayed an agreement for a long time. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives rejected a proposal from Johnson that would combine a spending bill with a change to the election law. Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans began shortly afterwards.
Unlike the rejected proposal, the current agreement no longer contains a provision requiring citizens to provide proof of their citizenship when registering for nationwide elections. This change, which the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had called for, was strictly rejected by the Democrats. They fear that this could also result in voters who are entitled to vote being removed from the electoral rolls or otherwise deterred.
Democrats pointed out that voting by non-citizens was already illegal and that there was no evidence that undocumented immigrants would vote in elections, as Trump claimed.
An additional $231 million for the Secret Service
Temporary funding laws typically provide similar levels of funding for agencies as the current one. However, the new bill includes an additional $231 million to better equip the Secret Service. The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting current and former presidents, came under criticism because of the two assassination attempts against Trump. There is also more money for a disaster relief fund, among other things.
Democrat Schumer said of the agreement that he was “pleased that the bipartisan negotiations quickly led to a government financing agreement without cuts (…)”. But he added that the agreement “could have been made two weeks ago.”
The chairman of the House of Representatives, Johnson, described the agreement in a letter to his party colleagues as a “stripped-down” bridging budget that contained “only the absolutely necessary extensions”. This is the “most prudent path forward.”
