Partial US administrative shutdown averted at last moment

Washington, Dec 12 (EFE) Another shutdown of the US government has been averted at the last moment after the House of Representatives approved a $1.01-trillion budget until October 2015 and a two-day extension of current funding, giving time for the Senate to vote on it.

The House gave the green light to the budget Thursday just two hours before midnight, when the current financing was due to expire which would have left the Senate with no time to vote.

To give the senators enough margin and to prevent another administrative paralysis, Congress passed a continuing resolution to allow the financing for two more days -- this was then signed by President Barack Obama.

The Senate is expected to take charge of the budget Friday but it is still not clear when it will vote on it.

"It could be tomorrow (Friday), it could be two days afterward," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

An alternative option to prevent a shutdown, a compromise that had been worked on by both parties, was to approve an extension of about two or three months and restart the debate on the budget next year when the Congress will be totally controlled by Republicans.

"There are some things that people will be upset about in this bill. To be candid there are some things I'm upset about in the bill. But this bill is so much better than a short-term CR," Reid said referring to the continuing resolution.

Finally, with 219 votes in favour (161 Republicans and 58 Democrats) and 203 against, the budget bill marched forward despite opposition from a section of the Democratic Party led by Elisabeth Warren.

The White House did its bit to ensure the necessary votes for the budget, with Obama himself calling out to Democrat legislators who opposed the measure.

The minority leader of the Democratic party in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, believed that they were "blackmailed" to approve the law, with the argument of preventing a new administrative paralysis.

"I'm enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. That would be the only reason I think they would say they would sign such a bill," she said.

The indignation of several Democrats is on account of two measures that Obama himself has disagreed with: The removal of restrictions for financing electoral campaigns and the amendments to the Dodd-Frank law for reforms in the financial sector.

The 1,603-page budget bill includes a sum of $5.4 billion to fight Ebola as well as $64 billion to fund military operations outside US borders, among them the war against the Islamic State Sunni radical group in Syria and Iraq, and aid to European countries threatened by Russia.

A total of $521 billion is allotted for military expenditure and $492 billion to finance the federal agencies, and the budget does not set aside any amount for Obama's healthcare reforms.

--IANS/EFE

ab/dg