The White House urged Congress on Thursday to approve a short-term federal budget bill for avoid a government shutdown and to be able to fund key programs as lawmakers approach the September 30 deadline.
For the second time this year, the United States is facing a crisis: unless Congress acts, the government will run out of money on September 30, which will trigger a shutdown that jeopardizes countless federal programs that millions of Americans depend on.
Currently, the government is funded until the end of September, and the Office of Management and Budget recognizes that Congress needs more time to reach a “bipartisan and bicameral” agreement on individual annual appropriations bills for government programs and agencies for fiscal year 2024.
“While crucial work continues to reach a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the FY 2024 appropriations bills, it is clear that a near-term continuing resolution (CR) will be needed next month,” a spokesperson for OMB told The Hill and added that OMB would provide Congress with technical assistance to avoid “serious disruptions to government services in the first quarter of the fiscal year.”
The funding deadline approaches as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces increasing pressure from the most conservative members of his party to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Last month, McCarthy said House Republicans’ investigations into Biden are “rising to the level of an impeachment inquiry.”
The Washington Post first reported that among the new funding requests made by the Biden administration are an additional $1.4 billion to fund nutrition assistance programs for low-income families, as well as $1.9 billion for the Office of Resettlement of Refugees takes care of thousands of new arrivals from Haiti and Cuba.
The administration is also asking Congress to allow federal agencies to spend more quickly to prepare for pandemics, process student loan applications and payments, and review Social Security applications.
Thursday’s request joins a roughly $40 billion supplemental spending request that the White House sent to Congress earlier this monthwhich included $24 billion in military, financial and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
The previous funding request also included a request for $12 billion in supplemental funds, to ensure that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has enough money to respond to natural disasters, as well as to handle future disasters. That figure has become even more pressing as the agency responds to wildfires in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia in Florida.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have attempted to push through a series of appropriations bills that would fund the government through fiscal year 2024, which begins Oct. 1.
But the two parties remain very opposed on specific aspects, and House Republicans are seeking spending cuts so deep that Biden and his Democratic allies refuse to accept them.
Keep reading:
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Source: La Opinion
