The American National Assembly has not been able to pass the annual budget allocation bills to the Government, so it must rely on temporary extension packages, also known as the Resolution to continue (CR), to allocate budgets to specific agencies and programs of the federal government. According to AP, this is the 3rd temporary budget bill made in the current fiscal year, which started in October 2024.
American National Assembly Building
The bill to maintain the current spending level until the end of September. The House of Representatives approved the bill on 11.3 and the Senators left the capital. Therefore, the final decision now depends on the Senate, namely the Democratic MPs. The Republican Party is controlling the Senate with 53/100 seats and will need the support of at least 8 votes from the Democratic Party to pass the bill.
The Democratic Party is facing two difficult options, or through a bill with content that they are not satisfied, or opposed and let the government close, the development that the Local Leader at the Senate Chuck Schumer describes is “much worse”. According to Reuters, Mr. Schumer said it would be through a bill because the closed government would be like a “gift” to President Donald Trump when giving the government a bigger control, especially the ability to identify agencies, programs and employees “unnecessary”, leading to leave without guarantee they will be recruited again.
Meanwhile, other Democratic MPs criticized the budget level in the temporary and more concerned bill of authority that the bill awarded to the government related to spending decisions. According to AP, CR does not come with specific spending indicators for important programs, and this gives the executive branch more autonomy in allocating money, which can lead to the reduction of budget from the programs that the Democratic Party supports to transfer to the initiatives they do not agree.
“Both options that we are recommended are full of despair,” Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper said. Republican Senator John Cornyn predicted that the Democratic Party would “give in” and criticize them for protesting the government to reduce the federal labor force but now want to let all employees quit their jobs through the closing of the government. “If the government is closed, it is not the Republican’s fault,” President Trump said at the White House on March 13.
