File photo shows the interior of the US House of Representatives
With only hours left to avoid the fourth partial shutdown of the United States government in a decade, the House of Representatives has passed a temporary measure to keep the government funded for another 45 days.
The bipartisan measure was passed 335-91 on Saturday after Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy broke ranks with those party members, who had insisted that any bill had to pass the chamber with only Republican votes.
A total of 209 Democrats supported the bill, which was far more than the 126 Republicans who did so, prompting Democrats to describe the result as a win.
"Extreme MAGA Republicans have lost...," top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said. He was citing the acronym for former president Donald Trumps "Make America Great Again" motto that has many Republican buyers across the two chambers of the US Congress.
The so-called stopgap bill is slated to keep the government open until the middle of November.
Even with the bill passed, there is little time to avoid the federal governments shutdown, which will begin at 0401 GMT on Sunday, unless the Democratic-majority Senate also passes the bill and President Joe Biden signs it into law
in time.
The standoff over the budget had raised worries on Wall Street, with the Moodys ratings agency warning it could damage US creditworthiness.
A shutdown could also see millions of federal employees and military personnel sent home or required to work without pay.
Biden had earlier warned that a shutdown could take a heavy toll on American troops, saying "We cant be playing politics while our troops stand in the breach. Its an absolute dereliction of duty."
The Senates lawmakers have said that they would not object to a speedy vote that could avoid the prospect.
The vote is expected to take place after Senate Democrats meet.
The temporary measure features a freeze on the governments multi-billion-dollar flow of military assistance towards Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. This is while arming and funding what many observers consider as the US proxy war against Russia has been a key policy plank for Bidens administration.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/27369
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