Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Congress announced this Tuesday government financing agreement for the remainder of the fiscal year that began in October 2023, and prevent a forced partial government shutdown when it runs out of funds at midnight Friday.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed the agreement in statements released Tuesday.

The biggest point of contention between the two groups was Department of Homeland Security funding because Migration has become a major election issue with former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021) trying to use it against his eventual Democratic challenger, President Joe Biden.

In a post published on X, Johnson indicated that an agreement was reached on this point for the Department of Homeland Security, which will advance the process of developing the text of the fiscal year 2024 budget bill, which runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.

The work of drafting the bill is now assigned to committees in the Senate and House of Representatives. The text must subsequently be voted on by the plenary of both houses, but congressional rules stipulate that lawmakers must have three days to read the text before voting on it.

Time is of the essence because a significant portion of the US government will run out of funds at midnight Friday.

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Expected that the package covers about three-quarters of the government’s discretionary spending, which would be about $1.66 trillion for the fiscal year ending September 30. This clause contains funding for functions such as the military, transportation, housing and food security.

Both Johnson and Schumer agreed in another statement that the process must go quickly so that the text is approved “as quickly as possible” and thus avoiding a government shutdown.

In his statement, Biden also noted that the House and Senate are now working to finalize the package, which can be “quickly” submitted to the plenary session and promised that as soon as this happens, I will sign it “immediately” for it to take effect.

Last year, Johnson split the state budget approval process into two parts. Earlier this month, lawmakers already A $460 million financing package has been approved. to avoid a government shutdown until March 8th.

Now they are repeating the process, but the funding is related to agencies such as the Department of Homeland Securityin charge of migration, so the process could be more politicized and presents more difficulties.

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Johnson also refused I’m voting for now $95 billion foreign security aid package including money that advocates say Ukraine desperately needs in its war against Russia.

The measure was approved by the Senate with bipartisan support. and it is believed that it would have considerable support in the House of Representatives if its members were given the opportunity to vote.

With information from EFE And Reuters.