Shutdown averted in America – news.ORF.at

US President Joe Biden signed into law a budget package negotiated by Congress, thus avoiding a shutdown in government business. The White House announced this today. The Act will fund government business until the end of September in the current fiscal year. The US Congress passed the trillion dollar package with a vote in the Senate last night (local time).

In theory, the deadline for the shutdown had already passed at midnight US Eastern Time — but in practice there was no standing in government business. The White House ordered agencies to continue operating as the budget bill passed.

Biden Pushes More on Controversial Matters

The just-passed $1.2 trillion (about 1.1 trillion euros) budget package funds the bulk of the US government's business. “This deal represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything they wanted,” Biden said. But the “extreme budget cuts” demanded by Republicans did not come. Biden simultaneously urged Congress to pass new aid to Ukraine and immigration legislation to secure the border. “It's time to do this,” Biden said.

No new aid to Ukraine

The budget package includes funds for defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor — but does not include new U.S. financial aid for Ukraine. A legislative package for that is currently stuck in the House of Representatives.

The budget just passed also continues to freeze funding for UNRWA, the UN's Palestine relief agency. More recently, Israeli allegations that individual UN staff may have been involved in the October 7 massacre by Islamist Hamas in Israel led to the withdrawal of international aid funding.