Reuters-US Senate bill to fund govt clears procedural hurdle as shutdown looms
September 26, 2023 4 min 790 words
这则报道揭示了美国政府可能再次陷入停摆危机的严重性和复杂性。两党议员在资金拨款问题上存在分歧，导致了参众两院之间的僵局。参议院试图通过一项双方支持的短期政府资金延续法案，但众议院却提出了一项具有明显党派色彩的法案，几乎没有机会在民主党多数派的参议院获得支持。这种分歧不仅可能导致政府再次停摆，还可能影响到美国政府信用，对经济和金融市场产生不利影响。 特别引人注目的是对移民政策和边境安全的争议。众议院计划重新启动美墨边境墙的建设，并加强移民政策，这引发了批评，认为这将实际上终止美国对移民的庇护权。这一争议揭示了党派分歧的深刻性质，对于寻求解决移民问题的长期解决方案可能是个坏兆头。 此外，报道还指出，政府停摆可能会对数十万联邦工作者造成停薪休假，并影响到各种服务，包括经济数据发布和营养福利。这会在社会各个层面引发问题，包括影响国家信誉。 最后，报道提到了这一政治僵局可能会影响到2024年总统选举。前总统特朗普支持政府停摆，这表明了他将继续利用党派争议来塑造自己的政治形象。整个情况凸显了政治分歧对国家稳定和政策进展的威胁，需要各方团结起来，以避免政府停摆的发生，并找到解决分歧的途径。
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday took a step forward on a bipartisan bill meant to stop the government from shutting down in just five days, while the House sought to push ahead with a conflicting measure backed only by Republicans.
The Senate voted 77-19 to begin debate on a measure that would fund the government through Nov. 17, and includes around $6 billion for domestic disaster responses and another roughly $6 billion in aid for Ukraine.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives, however, planned to push along with its own partisan bill that was unlikely to win support in the Democratic-majority Senate.
The split between the two chambers suggested the federal government was increasingly likely to enter its fourth shutdown in a decade on Sunday, a pattern of partisan gridlock that has begun to darken Wall Street's view of the U.S. government's credit.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell worked in tandem to win passage of a bipartisan short-term extension of federal funding at current levels.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday told reporters he would seek approval from his splintered Republicans on a bill that also would temporarily fund the government.
But he intends to attach tough border and immigration restrictions that are unlikely to win support from enough Democrats in the House or Senate to become law.
Democratic President Joe Biden and McCarthy had aimed to head off a shutdown this year when they agreed in May, at the end of a standoff over the federal debt ceiling, to discretionary spending of $1.59 trillion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
But hardliners to the right of McCarthy have rejected that deal, demanding another $120 billion in cuts.
McCarthy's measure would restart construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a signature policy of former President Donald Trump, and tighten immigration policies.
Critics have said it would effectively put an end to U.S. asylum for immigrants.
McCarthy called on the Biden and congressional Democrats to reconsider their opposition. The top Senate Republican pleaded with his House counterpart to embrace the Senate bill.
"Government shutdowns are bad news, whichever way you'd look at it," McConnell said.
McCarthy countered, "Let's do something on the border, keep the government open and show this nation that we can do it right, and solve the rest of our problems as we go."
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and a wide range of services, from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, will be suspended beginning on Sunday if the two sides do not reach agreement. In Washington, the National Zoo says it would have to curtail its farewell party for three giant pandas before they return to China.
The standoff has caused concern at credit rating agency Moody's, though it is unclear whether it will hurt U.S. creditworthiness, as past shutdowns have not had a significant impact on the world's largest economy.
It is also factoring into the 2024 presidential election, with Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, cheering on the shutdown talk.
The cuts that hardliners are pushing for only account for a fraction of the total U.S. budget, which will come to $6.4 trillion for this fiscal year. Lawmakers are not considering cuts to popular benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to grow dramatically as the population ages.
Biden himself has called on House Republicans to honor his deal with McCarthy.
Bowing to their concerns, McCarthy has teed up a procedural vote on Tuesday evening to take up four spending bills for the coming fiscal year that reflect conservative priorities and stand no chance of becoming law.
If Tuesday's House vote succeeds, lawmakers would try to pass the four measures out of the House later in the week. They would not fund the full government or prevent a shutdown.
Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 majority and have few votes to spare, particularly since some Republican hardliners have threatened to move to oust McCarthy from his leadership role if he relies on Democratic votes to pass legislation.
That could complicate any effort to pass a stopgap spending bill and avert a shutdown.
Congress has shut down the government 14 times since 1981, though most of those funding gaps have lasted only a day or two.