White House warns of danger of “shutdown”

The Biden administration plans to pass “a short-term budget bill” in the coming weeks to avoid “severe disruptions to federal operations.”

The White House on Thursday asked the U.S. Congress to vote on a budget extension to prevent a month-long U.S. “shutdown” that shuts down the entire federal government.

“It is clear that a short-term budget bill is necessary next month,” the White House Budget Department said in a statement. This is to “avoid serious disruption to federal operations” after the start of the next budget year on October 1, according to a press release.

“We need to fund critical programs for Americans and address urgent needs,” Joe Biden’s spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said, adding that without a quick vote, food aid programs could be threatened.

“There’s no reason why Congress can’t do its job,” he opined.

Payment default avoided

The US Congress is currently divided: the Senate is dominated by Democrats, but the House of Representatives is controlled by the Republican opposition. It is the second time in a few months that the world’s leading power faces the risk of political-financial impasse.

The US already avoided a default in June following lengthy negotiations between the Biden administration and conservatives.

A default on payments would have been unprecedented, while the US has already experienced several more or less prolonged periods of “shutdown” of budget freezes.

This time the debate was about the roughly twenty billion dollars in budget extensions requested by the White House on August 10. Joe Biden wants Congress to specifically vote for $13 billion in additional aid to Ukraine.