Lawmakers prepare to vote on compromise to avert US shutdown

Receive free updates on US politics and policy

Lawmakers prepared to vote on Saturday on a last-minute compromise to avert a U.S. government shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers, halt military pay and risk damaging the economy.

Any deal would need to pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate by midnight on Saturday, after which many government actions would have to halt.

A government shutdown was all but certain late Friday after 21 Republican opponents voted against a stopgap funding measure proposed by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. House Democrats also voted against the measure because it included deep budget cuts.

But on Saturday, McCarthy made a new proposal to continue funding the government at current levels for 45 days. House Democrats said they need time to consider the proposal before deciding whether to approve it.

McCarthy will rely on Democratic votes because Republicans narrowly control the House, but rebels on his own side leave him without the necessary votes.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, the upper house of Congress, lawmakers are also preparing to vote on Saturday afternoon on their own temporary measure that would continue funding the government at current levels and provide billions of dollars in additional aid for Ukraine and disaster relief Providing relief to parts of the U.S. affected by flooding and wildfires.

It’s unclear whether the Senate majority would be willing to forego additional aid to Ukraine in order to reach a deal with the House, and many Republicans have been wary of providing more support to Kyiv.

Democrats blame Republicans for the government shutdown drama, as a handful of powerful hawks in the House have blocked several proposed compromises in recent days.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a lengthy speech on the House floor, blasting “extreme” Republicans for “leaving us facing a dangerous government shutdown” in an attempt to buy time for Republicans to consider McCarthy’s latest proposal.

“We should believe that chaos, dysfunction and extremism are largely the result of the narrow position of the Republican majority,” he said. “We have the same majority on the other side of the aisle — an extremely narrow majority — and instead of chaos and dysfunction and extremism, we get things done for the American people.”

The White House has also blamed House Republicans for the imbalance, insisting that Congress is responsible for funding the federal government.

Svlook