US avoids government shutdown hours before running out of funds

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, signed a law this Friday to avoid a shutdown of the Administration just hours before it ran out of funds to continue operating, this very midnight.

The White House announced this Friday that Biden had signed the law that both houses of Congress approved this Thursday to extend government funding until February 18, at which time Democrats and Republicans will have to reach another agreement to prevent the Administration is paralyzed.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives of the United States, with a Democratic majority, approved the initiative with 221 votes in favor and 212 against. The only Republican who supported the measure was the moderate Adam Kinzinger.

Hours later, the Senate backed that bill with the backing of 69 senators and the opposition of 28.

Although the initiative finally went ahead, for hours there was some uncertainty about its approval because a group of Republican senators led by Mike Lee of Utah threatened to paralyze the Government in protest against the rules of the US president, Joe Biden, so that the large companies force their employees to get vaccinated.

That group of senators had rebelled against their leader, Mitch McConnell, who was determined to reach an agreement with the Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.

Neither Biden’s party nor the leadership of the Republican Party wanted to paralyze the Administration during Christmas, as it happened three years ago during the Presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021).

That was the longest shutdown in U.S. history at 35 days, though the Administration has run out of funds 20 times since 1976, when new budget laws were passed.

When the government runs out of funds, most government agencies, museums and national parks close their doors, while hundreds of thousands of federal employees are temporarily out of work and without pay.