USA is heading toward a partial government shutdown after Republicans failed to approve their plan to extend budgets in the House a day before a deadline for the executive branch to run out of funds.

The bill was put to a vote did not reach the required two-thirds continue the parliamentary process towards the Senate: 174 legislators voted in favor, 235 against, one voted present and 20 did not vote.

At the Republican meeting there were 38 congressmen voted against and nine people who did not vote, reflecting a split within the Conservative ranks that makes it difficult to reach an agreement before midnight Friday to Saturday, even if the required limit is reduced to a simple majority.

Lower House President Mike Johnson expressed disappointment with the result but blamed Democrats.

“We are very disappointed that all Democrats except two who voted against to help farmers, against disaster relief and against all these bipartisan measures that have already been agreed upon,” Mike Johnson told reporters.

Republican majority in the House of Representatives and Democratic majority in the Senate. They reached a bipartisan agreement last Tuesday to provide the government with new funds, but that pact was scrapped Wednesday after opposition from President-elect Donald Trump, who will begin his second term on Jan. 20.

The latter concluded that Johnson’s re-election was due to his acceptance of his demands, but in the end a “Plan B” was presented, which reduced the original draft’s 1,547 pages to 116 pages. and that it was confirmed by Trump, it was not implemented.

Pressure on the original resolution also came from tycoon Elon Musk, the president-elect’s right-hand man and to whom the task was set to reduce federal spending and bureaucracy in the new administration.

Johnson stressed at the end of the vote that the “only difference” between the first draft and the second is that The federal debt limit was lifted for two years.which also did cause resistance from more moderate Republicans.

“We will reach a different solution,” he added in his brief speech to the press, in which He considered it “irresponsible” to risk a government shutdown on issues which, in his opinion, had already been decided.

The lower house announced this no new votes expected this Thursday eveningso Congress has only Friday to reach an agreement.

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Since 1976, when new budget laws were passed, the US administration has experienced budget shortfalls approximately 20 times. although most of the time it only lasted one day.

Longest closure, 35 days, This happened during Trump’s first term (2017-2021) due to disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over funding for the wall he wanted to build on the border with Mexico.

This was stated by the leader of the Democratic minority in the lower house of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries. He criticized Republicans for not being serious. when it comes to helping working-class Americans, “Unacceptable,” Johnson said.

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Even before the vote, he had already warned that his party would vote against it. It seemed that this bill was doomed to failure in any case. because the Democrats have a majority in the Senate.

On this tumultuous political day, even the White House intervened and criticized, through its spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, that Republicans would break their word support the bipartisan agreement and emphasize that the proposal, later submitted unilaterally, was a “gift to billionaires.” (EFE)