The US government almost shut down for the second time
At 5:00 a.m. on February 9 (US time), the US Congress passed a 600-page funding bill with a budget of 500 billion USD, saving the US government from the risk of a second shutdown in just a few hours.
Following the successful vote in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to open a debate on immigration next week.
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| Senator Rand Paul (center), who made the vote to pass the second government spending bill difficult. |
The new bill would fund the US government for six weeks and includes a plan to increase military and non-military spending by $300 billion in 2018 and 2019, raise the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019, provide $90 billion for natural disaster relief and address the opioid abuse crisis in the US.
Meanwhile, Democrats in both houses want to use the debate over the federal budget to find a long-term solution for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children (Dreamers). Dreamers were protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under President Barack Obama. Mr. Trump ended DACA in September 2017 and set a March 5 deadline for the issue.
Earlier, on January 22, the new US government had to shut down for the first time, the day Donald Trump celebrated his first year in office, because the US Senate did not have enough votes to pass a temporary government spending bill. In the early morning of January 23, the US House of Representatives passed a short-term measure to fund the federal government's operations until February 8.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, a fiscal conservative, has delayed a Senate vote on the new budget because of his frustration with the large spending increases. He has demanded an additional provision to cap government spending.
Thus, within the first 5 hours of February 9, US congressmen from both parties and both houses worked hard to vote on the new spending plan of the US government. This vote was considered dramatic but successful.
