US President Joe Biden has welcomed the passing of a stopgap funding plan to avert a federal government shutdown - but says the country should never have been in that position in the first place.
With a midnight deadline looming, Congress on Saturday approved a short-term funding bill to keep federal agencies open through to November 17, and sent the measure to Biden to sign. Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts, but also cut aid for Ukraine.
In a statement, Biden said the bill was “good news for the American people.”
“But I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis,” he said in a statement. “For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.”
Had Congress not acted by the end of the day, federal workers would have stop getting paid, air travel might have been ensnarled by staffing shortages and food benefits would pause for some of the country’s most vulnerable families.
Asked on Friday if Biden should bear any responsibility for the potential shutdown, White House budget director Shalanda Young said “absolutely not” and accused Republicans of being cavalier with people’s lives.
Anita Dunn, Biden’s senior adviser, blamed the threat of shutdown on “the most extreme fringe” of House Republicans in a presentation to allies on Thursday. She said “we have to hold them accountable” and “make sure they pay the political price.”
The crisis was a sequel to the standoff over raising the debt limit earlier this year. McCarthy, refused to authorise the federal government to issue debt unless Biden negotiated over spending cuts.
After resisting, Biden agreed to budget talks, reaching a bipartisan deal that averted a first-ever default. The White House had this time refused to negotiate, stressing that an agreement was already in place and House Republicans are refusing to honour its terms.
The bill passed on Saturday increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting Biden’s full request, but the lack of funding for Ukraine could set the stage for a fresh round of fights in the coming weeks.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said. “I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.”
At a Wednesday fundraiser outside San Francisco, Biden said McCarthy cares more about protecting his job as speaker than keeping the government open.
“The fact is that I think that the speaker is making a choice between his speakership and American interests,” Biden said.
The shutdown threat overlapped with Biden ramping up next year’s reelection campaign. For the past few months, the president has taken full ownership of the economy’s performance as inflation has dropped while unemployment has stayed low.
But an emerging set of risks are on the horizon and most US adults still feel pessimistic about the country’s direction.
Mortgage rates are at a 22-year high. Oil prices are nearly $91 a barrel, pushing up the cost of petrol. Unionised autoworkers are likely entering a third week of strikes. Student loan repayments are restarting. Pandemic-related money for child care centres is set to end, potentially triggering a set of closures that could hit working parents.
A government shutdown would be another dose of chaos that could cause pain for millions of households.
