According to a source, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is trying to find a compromise in the US budget dispute to avoid the imminent shutdown. He wants to push his Republicans for a bill that would provide disaster relief, a person familiar with the plans said today. This could also be supported by Democrats.
The fronts between President Joe Biden’s Democrats and Republicans, as well as between various Republican blocs in the House of Representatives, have hardened. This means that a budget blockade to finance federal authorities and institutions is getting closer.
If no progress is made by midnight (local time), hundreds of thousands of civil servants in the world’s largest economy will face mandatory unpaid leave. Numerous offices, museums and national parks will then have to close, at least temporarily.
Chambers of Congress must agree on a budget
To avoid the fourth shutdown in a decade – and the 15th since 1981 – the two chambers of Congress must agree on a budget. The budget dispute regularly boils over as the start of the new budget year on October 1 approaches. This time, however, the situation is particularly precarious.
Not only is there a deep divide separating the two increasingly irreconcilable parties. A power struggle is also taking place within the Republican Party between comparatively moderate representatives and a small group of ultra-conservative representatives in the House of Representatives. McCarthy is also under attack. So far, he has been unable to get the archconservatives in his party to cooperate.