The US Congress on Friday adopted a large federal services budget bill totaling $1.7 trillion, including $45 trillion for Ukraine. This with a final vote from the House of Representatives.
After that of the Senate on Thursday, this vote with 225 votes against 201 of the House of Representatives makes it possible to avoid the paralysis of the American federal administration, which could have already intervened on Friday evening. President Joe Biden has yet to sign the bill into law with his signature.
“This bill is good for our economy, our competitiveness and our people – and I will sign it as soon as it’s on my desk,” he said in a statement Friday.
“This bill is essential legislation not only to fund the state, to pay our public employees, but also to demonstrate that the American state works,” said House Democrat leader Steny Hoyer before the vote. .
This budget must finance the functioning of the American federal state: law enforcement, diplomacy, military, economic policy, etc. – until September 2023.
Amendment introduced
It also includes an amendment to a 19th century law to mention that the US vice president cannot directly intervene in the certification of election results.
Donald Trump had used the ambiguities of the old text to suggest that Mike Pence, his vice president, could have stopped Joe Biden’s rise to power after a victory that the incumbent Republican did not want to acknowledge – one of the elements that led to the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The billionaire, again a candidate for 2024, on Thursday called the text “an abomination”, attributing it to the “extreme left”, the elites of the capital and the lobbies.
Republican support
With the Democratic majority in the House still for a few days, and two days after the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warmly welcomed by the vast majority of parliamentarians, the positive outcome of the approval of the text was certainly not in doubt.
Kevin McCarthy, the group leader of the Republicans in the House, however, had invited the elected officials of his faction to vote against the bill, in order to benefit from greater leeway when the holidays returned, when the new Republican majority in the House, resulting from the mid-term elections mandate, will take office.
But Republican senators largely ignored it Thursday afternoon, giving Democrats nearly 20 votes to pass the bill 68 to 29 before the House adopted it on Friday.
Before the vote, the Republicans elected in the House of Representatives took the floor to denounce the lack of time allowed to them to study the text – it was finalized three days ago – and to criticize the presence of provisions classified as “woke”, such as the financing of projects in support of the LGBT+ community.
Pelosi hails support for Kyiv
But McCarthy didn’t repeat last year’s performance, when he held the microphone for eight and a half hours to reject the vote, all hoping to reach their families in time for the holidays while avoiding the winter storm that hits the country.
“We are two days away from Christmas,” he said. “The holiday season is the season for giving, but in Congress it seems to be the season for lining the pockets for Democratic allies and bearing the baton for hard-working Americans.”
Nancy Pelosi, outgoing speaker of the House of Representatives, for her part welcomed the funding of “another substantial series of security, economic and humanitarian aid” for Ukraine. “Et il ne s’agit vraiment pas-comme le président de l’Ukraine l’a dit l’autre soir-de charité. Il s’agit de sécurité, il s’agit de travailler ensemble”, at-elle she says .
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats/afp
