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Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
US senators from both major political parties belatedly reached a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown over $1.2 trillion in spending, ending a brief budget stalemate that threatened to shutter non-essential operations at some federal agencies.
The agreement to proceed with a final vote on the spending legislation was announced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just before midnight on Friday. The progress in the upper house of Congress – which is controlled by Democrats – followed the legislation’s tumultuous passage in the House of Representatives, which is led by Republicans – earlier in the day.
The proposal was welcomed by the White House, which said it had “paused preparations for the shutdown because there is a high degree of confidence that Congress will shortly approve the relevant appropriations and that the President will sign the bill Saturday”.
Although the House passed the bill with broad bipartisan support on Friday, it triggered a backlash from Donald Trump’s allies within the Republican Party who opposed the compromise.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgian congresswoman, has launched an attempt to oust Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, who has only been in office since last October. Greene did not say when she planned to follow through on the threat, but she called it a “warning” to Johnson.
The Senate deal included allowing Republicans in the upper chamber to vote on a series of amendments – including some related to toughening immigration laws – in an effort to use the increase in border crossings as a political weapon against Democrats in the 2024 election. Democrats have resisted pressure to allow the amendments.
“Senate Democrats are shutting down the government rather than allow us to vote on things like deporting criminal migrants. Say what you want, but they are committed to open borders,” JD Vance, Trump’s closest Ohio senator, wrote in X before the deal was reached.
The agreement on the spending bill will keep funding for the government through the end of September and sets the stage for a bigger battle in the coming weeks over the fate of aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian aid to Gaza, which it was blocked in Congress.
Although the Senate passed the White House-backed national security package earlier this year, it languished in the House, where Johnson resisted bringing it to a vote under pressure from Ukraine aid skeptics within the House. his party – and Trump’s.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, has floated a plan to instead offer a loan to Ukraine, which some Democrats eagerly view as a last resort, but most Kiev supporters in Washington are still hoping for a breakthrough on the aid package. .
However, Greene’s move to threaten Johnson’s presidency could further complicate efforts to secure aid for Ukraine as she is a staunch opponent of aid to Kiev.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s majority in the House of Representatives looks set to shrink to just one vote, after Mike Gallagher, the Wisconsin Republican who chaired the House Select Committee on China, said he would resign his seat on the 19th. April.