The U.S. Congress has agreed to fund the government, but without the defense and social programs departments
Kyiv • UNN
The U.S. Congress has agreed on a partial funding package that will keep most government agencies running through September but excludes the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.
Congressional leaders have agreed on a package to keep most of the government running through Sept. 30. The package, worth 436 billion dollars, covers about a quarter of the funding of government agencies, but bypasses the protracted disputes, giving up funding for a number of Ministries. This is written Bloomberg, reports UNN.
Details
The U.S. Congress announced a $436 billion package covering about a quarter of the funding for government agencies. It is said to be the first real progress in resolving ideological controversies that have lasted more than five months.
The package includes provisions banning the sale of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China and tracking foreign purchases of U.S. farmland,but bypasses lingering controversyby refusing to fund the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and social programs administered through the Department of Health and Human Services. These agencies are currently scheduled to close on March 23, and an agreement on their funding has yet to be reached.
The House plans to take up the partial funding measure first, approving it before President Joe Biden delivers his annual State of the Union address Thursday.
The Senate plans to follow suit as money for many agencies will run out at the end of the week.
Funding for the non-defense sector as a whole is not being cut. According to the publication, President Biden asked in his budget proposal for this year to increase spending on this category by 72 billion dollars.
The measure includes funding for the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Energy, and the Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Interior are also included in the program.
The new bill directs officials to flag foreign transactions to purchase U.S. farmland, focusing on companiesassociated with China, North Korea, russia and Iran.
Interestingly, the bill does not explicitly ban such purchases, but it does add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which will review agricultural transactions.
Also confirmed is the renewal of strategically important treaties with Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, which grant the U.S. military access to their waters in exchange for funding.
Among other things, Republicans secured a new change to the provision: the Department of Veterans Affairs now shares information with the federal gun registry - this provision would limit that sharing to cases where a veteran poses a danger to themselves or others.
Republicans are also pleased that the bill would redirect $20 billion in Internal Revenue Service tax audits, Bloomberg writes.
Recall
The U.S. Congress approved another short-term funding extension for the federal government, which will allow some federal agencies to operate through March 8 and others through March 22.
