Rejection of a Republican proposal could lead to a shutdown. The impact on the US election is still unclear, but is already causing concern.
Washington, DC – The US House of Representatives has rejected a Republican proposal for a stopgap budget to avert an impending budget freeze. 220 representatives voted against the proposal of the republican202 in favor. As expected, several Republican representatives also spoke out against the bill proposed by their presidential candidate Donald Trump Washington is threatening to do so before the US election on 5 November a so-called Shut down.
McConnell worries about US election: Shutdown “would be politically more than stupid”
Funding for federal agencies is only secured until the end of September. The bridging budget should postpone the deadline for a possible shutdown to the end of March, when the future president will already be in office after the US election.
Mitch McConnell, minority leader in the Senate, has already pleaded with his party colleagues not to continue to move towards a shutdown. McConnell fears that the standstill could have a negative impact on the Republicans’ election chances. “It would be more than stupid politically if we did that shortly before the election, because then we would certainly be blamed,” the 82-year-old is told by Raw Story quoted.
Internal dispute among Republicans: Trump hardliners accept shutdown before US election
However, the proposal, introduced by the Republicans, also met with resistance within their own ranks, as the law would also pass a controversial rule that would require citizens to provide proof of their citizenship when registering to vote nationwide. This would make it more difficult for some people to cast their vote in the US election.
Trump had demanded that this so-called Save Act be linked to the vote on the bridging budget. The representatives of his party should not agree to any kind of solution if they “don’t get every detail of the Save Act,” he wrote on his online service Truth Social before the vote. In doing so, the former president is willingly accepting a shutdown. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, had initially canceled the vote on the regulation in view of the expected rejection.
Shutdown looms ahead of US election: Hundreds of thousands would suddenly be without pay
The Democrats by President Joe Biden are against the regulation because it could also remove eligible voters from the voter rolls or otherwise deter them. They point out that voting by non-citizens is already illegal and there is no evidence that undocumented immigrants participate in elections. It is a claim that was made several times before the US election, especially by Republican hardliners around Donald Trump and the ex-president himself.
If there is still no budget agreement before the deadline at the end of September, the shutdown will send hundreds of thousands of civil servants on forced, unpaid leave. This would mean restrictions on government services and on numerous public institutions such as national parks and state museums. Only last year was a shutdown averted at the very last moment. (nak/AFP)
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