The Senate finds itself in a familiar position on Friday, working to avoid a partial closure of the government with only hours to lose while the Democrats confront two painful options: allow the adoption of a bill which, according to them, gives the president Donald Trump A great discretion for spending decisions or the non -voting and leaving a financing period ensued.
The Democratic leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, gave the members of his Caucus days to evacuate their frustration about the options that grasp them, but late Thursday, he clearly indicated that he would not allow a closure of the government. Its move gives the Democrats from Place to Republicans and allows continuous resolution, often described as a CR, to be voted on Friday.
A procedural vote on Friday will provide a first test to find out if the package has the 60 votes necessary to move forward, before the final vote, probably later in the day. At least eight democrats will have to join the Republicans to advance the financing package.
“Although the CR is always very bad, the potential of a closure has consequences for America which are much worse,” said Schumer.
The congress was unable to adopt the annual bills of credits designed to finance the government, they therefore resorted to the adoption of short -term extensions. The legislation before the Senate marks the third resolution continues for the current financial year, now almost half.
The legislation would finance the federal government until the end of September. This would reduce the defenseless expenses by around $ 13 billion compared to the previous year and increase the defense expenses by around $ 6 billion, which is marginal changes when talking about a level of front -line expenditure of almost 1.7 Billion of dollars.
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The house led by the Republicans adopted the expense bill on Tuesday, then postponed. This decision left the senators to the decision to make or leave it. And while the Democrats were pressure for a vote on a fourth short -term extension, the GOP leadership clearly indicated that the option was not a starter.
The head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, RS.D., and others used their floor time on Thursday to argue that everything blame for a closure was going to be outright on the Democrats.
“Democrats must decide whether they will support the financing legislation that came from the House, or if they will close the government,” said Thune when the chamber is opened.
Progressive groups have urged democratic legislators to insist on the extension of 30 days and to oppose the bill of spending, saying that “cases as usual should not continue” while Trump and Ally Elon Musk are distorting the agencies and critical programs.
But Schumer said Trump would seize more power when closing, as it would give the administration the opportunity to consider entire agencies, uncommon programs and staff and the staff on leave without any promise that they would ever be rehired.
“A closure would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country,” said Schumer.
Democrats criticized the financing levels of the bill. They note that defense and non-defense expenses are inferior to what was agreed almost two years ago when the congress adopted legislation raising the debt ceiling in exchange for the costs of constraints.
But they are even more concerned with the discretion that the bill gives to the Trump administration in spending decisions. Many Democrats refer to measurement as a “white check” for Trump.
The bills of expenditure generally come with specific financing guidelines for key programs, but hundreds of these directives fall under the continuous resolution adopted by the Chamber. The administration will therefore have more latitude to decide where money is going.
For example, a democratic memo said that the bill would allow the administration to move away from the fight against fentanyl and use it rather on mass deportation initiatives. In the body of army engineers, the financing levels of more than 1,000 projects to improve trade, control of floods and healthy ecosystems would be determined by the administration rather than by the congress.
Democrats also oppose the treatment of the Columbia district, because the bill effectively repeals its budget of the current year and forces it to return to the levels of the previous year, even if the district collects most of its own money. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the district should reduce the $ 1.1 billion spending in just a few months.
Democrats are also opposed to recovering $ 20 billion in IRS special funding, in addition to the termination of US $ 20 billion approved the previous year. The changes have essentially reduced half of the increase in funding that Congress intended to give the agency through legislation adopted by Democrats during the presidency of Joe Biden.
The Senate spending bill is separated from the GOP’s effort to extend the tax reductions for those adopted in the first term of Trump and to pay people with discounts of expenditure elsewhere in the budget.
This second package will be developed in the coming months, but it was clearly part of the political calculation that the Democrats envisaged as they argued against the six -month extension. The two efforts are designed to help the wealth at the expense of other Americans, they said.
“You look at a one-two punch, a very bad CR, then a draft law that descends, which will be the last kick in the teeth of the American people,” said senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT.
Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark, said that democratic arguments were hypocritical because they essentially called to close the government to protect the government.
“Democrats are fighting to refuse the payroll checks of air traffic controllers, our troops, federal childcare staff,” said Cotton. “They can’t be serious.”
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