The main disagreement between Republicans and Democrats is the allocation of funds for aid to Ukraine.
Republicans and Democrats, however, in the U.S. House of Representatives reached an eleventh hour agreement to continue funding the government for 45 days to avoid a government shutdown. The House, with Republicans, was poised to vote in favour of lifting the stopgap measure amid a bitter fight over the level of government spending.
Joe Biden blamed Republicans for the disproportionate dereliction of duty as the U.S. government prepared for a government shutdown for the fourth time in a decade. Still, the deal’s success pleased Biden, and he called for swift approval of aid to Ukraine soon after it was removed from the agreement:
We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.
Biden reiterated the importance of U.S. support in the Ukraine crisis that support for the Ukrainian people is now more important than ever.
The consequences that would result from a government shutdown would be devastating for the U.S.: science and food aid for disadvantaged mothers would be halted, 4 million government workers would go without wages. Of course, the federal agency had a plan in place for such an eventuality, but that plan would have started at the lines of essential services, such as airport screening and border patrols.
The government was kept open and a lot of negative judgment was directed at McCarthy, who is already having a hard time keeping the party together as a unit. McCarthy said before the vote:
I want to keep government open while we finish our jobs.
Some other Republicans explain that the government shutdown is worth it for the goals laid out by the foundation. They include massive cuts to government agencies and limiting aid to Ukraine, but increasing funding for U.S. border security.
Bob Good, a conservative congressman, brought back that “If we don’t have the willingness to say ‘no’ and the resolve to say ‘no’, the Senate and the White House will not accept any spending cuts.”
