As of Saturday, September 30th, the US government has narrowly avoided another government shutdown. The projected deadline for the shutdown was Monday, October 2nd, and failure to act from Congress would have resulted in all government employees being furloughed. The funding in discussion was a bill regarding aid to Ukraine and federal disaster assistance. President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill that will push the possibility of a federal shutdown back to November 17th.
The US Congress was at a standstill over the proposed bill to aid Ukraine. The bill offered $6 billion in aid to Ukraine and increased our own federal disaster budget by $16 billion. Failure to sign off on the bill would only temporarily delay the issue, as it would eventually have to be confronted in order for the government to be refunded.
This potential shutdown would have furloughed over 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops, as well as other government employees, and shut down government funded programs and services.
President Biden’s temporary plan successfully avoided these furloughs and keeps these programs running for those who need it. However, the issues are only pushed off government officials’ desks until mid November.
The temporary agreement was approved by the House with a 335-91 vote, and an 88-9 Senate vote. Former speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, risked his own position when he abandoned demands for steep spending cuts that were strongly supported by his fellow right-wing advocates. McCarthy turned to the left wing House members to pass the bill.
Following the temporary bill vote, McCarthy was voted out of his job as Speaker of the House on Tuesday, October 3rd. Shockingly, the vote was led by fellow republican senator Matt Gaetz. This decision jeopardizes the republican majority in the House, and puts them in a time crunch to elect a new candidate for the job. The final vote in the House was 216-210, and McCarthy was removed from office.
As of now, there is no clear candidate option, but action is halted in the House until late next week, and the threat of another government shutdown will linger until mid November.