USA Trump wants to push through new budget bill
After his latest blockade maneuver in the US budget dispute, President-elect Donald Trump wants to push through a new draft for a transition budget in Parliament.
20.12.2024, 00:35
SDA
Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform, which he co-founded, that there is a new plan that could avert a partial government shutdown. The Republican spoke of a "very good" agreement and called on both parties in Congress to pass the bill immediately in order to avoid a shutdown.
In order to prevent a partial government shutdown on Saturday night (local time), the US parliament would have to pass a bill by Friday - and President Joe Biden, who is still in office, would have to sign it. If this does not happen, state institutions would have to partially cease their work and many civil servants would not be paid for the time being.
Blockade maneuvers by Trump and Musk
Trump, who will not be sworn in as president until January, had torpedoed the passing of a transition budget in Congress shortly before the deadline - seconded by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is supposed to help Trump cut government spending and is a close confidant of the Republican. The blockade maneuver of the two is also a demonstration of the balance of power in the Republican Party.
The future president had openly called on all his Republican MPs not to approve a comprehensive bill that had already been negotiated with the Democrats. In doing so, he raised the threat of a shutdown in the first place and plunged Parliament into major turmoil shortly before the Christmas break.
The Republicans have now put forward a significantly slimmed-down version of the bill, but this has met with great resistance from the Democrats. The Democratic minority leader in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, called the new draft "laughable" and complained that extreme forces in the Republican Party were about to trigger a government shutdown.
