When will Congress vote to avoid a U.S. government shutdown?
Just over two months since the last federal government shutdown, the U.S. looks set to have another despite a deal reached in the Senate.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill last week with the help of seven Democrats. That was despite their party leaders being opposed saying that “taxpayer dollars are being misused to brutalize U.S. citizens,” through the funds granted to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Several of those Democrats defended their vote saying that no additional money was being given to the agency and that DHS would be free to direct the extra money already approved last year in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act as it wished, but now some bipartisan restrictions had been put in place. Furthermore, another shutdown would disrupt the lives of ordinary Americans.
However, the mood changed after a second person, Alex Pretti, was shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis the following day. Even some Republicans and right-wing pundits began speaking out against the extreme tactics of immigration agents that have been terrorizing communities across the nation.
Bipartisan agreement reached but Speaker Johnson says Americans should expect a “short shutdown”
Democrats in the Senate said earlier this week that they wouldn’t approve the DHS funding bill unless more guardrails for immigration enforcement were included. On Thursday night it was announced that a bipartisan deal had been reached that would extend DHS funding for two weeks.
President Donald Trump took to social media to say he is “working hard with Congress” and encourage lawmakers to pass the funding bills, including for DHS, in order to avoid “another long and damaging Government Shutdown.”
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan “YES” Vote,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Senators will vote on that at 11 am ET Friday, however, it will still need to be approved by the lower chamber it before midnight to avoid a government shutdown. That is unlikely to happen though, as the House won’t be in session until Monday.
Speaking to reporters at the premier of ‘Melania’, the documentary about the Trump’s wife, Speaker Mike Johnson said: “We may inevitably be in a short shutdown situation. But the House is going to do its job.”
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