US Congress Averts Government Shutdown

Facts

• A US federal government shutdown was averted after Congress passed a stopgap funding bill three hours before the midnight Saturday deadline, with Pres. Joe Biden signing it just shy of this cutoff.¹
• After an additional $6B in military and economic aid to Ukraine was dropped from the bipartisan deal, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 335-91 to pass the bill.²
• The Democratic-led Senate then voted 88-9 to pass the bill, also known as a Continuing Resolution, to keep the government funded at current levels through Nov. 17.²
• In anticipation of a government shutdown — which would have seen many government services closed and a majority of the 4B federal workers go without pay — federal agencies had formulated a plan to decide what services would continue, such as border patrols, and what would shut down.³
• The US gross national debt has grown by $1T in the last three months, while the budget deficit has reached $1.5T for the first 11 months of the fiscal year — an increase of 61% since last year.⁴
• Meanwhile, the vote could cost Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job, as many GOP lawmakers had reportedly vowed to remove him if the stopgap measure was approved with Democrat support.⁵

Sources: ¹The hill, ²Associated Press, ³Reuters, ⁴CNN and ⁵Ndtv.com.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by PJ Media. While a government shutdown is averted, it's only a temporary fix for a very real problem: the US is sitting on $33T of debt. Before Democrats celebrate this accomplishment, it should be noted that Congress did little more than push the deadline back some 45 days. There will be no shutdown for now, but if Democrats continue doing things like they've been since the mid-90s, that will change.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Associated press. While the US can breathe a sigh of relief, the country should never have been in this position in the first place. The GOP is solely responsible for bringing the federal government to the brink of default by demanding drastic cuts that would have devastated millions of Americans and damaged US creditworthiness. The Republicans must stop playing political games with people's lives.

Predictions