Congress halts US government shutdown by pushing rows over immigration, healthcare and surveillance into 2018
Representatives approved a stopgap that will fund government until mid-January, when policy battles will resume
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Your support makes all the difference.Averting a government shutdown, Congress has passed a short-term spending bill that defers decisions on key issues.
Budget brinkmanship has become routine in Washington, and this year was no different; with a Friday deadline approaching, representatives approved a stopgap that will fund the government until mid-January.
They had last cobbled together a temporary extension two weeks ago.
The measure left unresolved disputes around immigration, surveillance and an imperilled children’s health insurance program.
Despite Democrats pushing hard for a deal, there was no agreement on replacing an initiative known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or Daca, that allowed young immigrants in the country illegally to secure work permits and deportation reprieves.
The bill temporarily extends a warrantless surveillance program authorised under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – powers that continue to be embroiled in a congressional debate over privacy and civil liberties.
A lapsed health insurance programme that offers coverage to millions of low-income children will be funded until March, with Congress unable to strike a long-term settlement for a popular initiative whose funding expired in September.
Disagreement over military spending also helped thwart a longer-term agreement. Republicans pushed legislation that would have allocated a year’s worth of defence spending but only funding other programmes for four weeks, drawing objections from Democrats who said the measure unfairly privileged the military over other needs.
The government last suffered a shutdown in 2013, when Republicans refused to approve funding without language that undercut Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
The shutdown lasted for more than two weeks until they agreed to a deal with only minor impacts on the law.
Donald Trump has threatened to wield the budget as leverage, saying he would be willing to risk a shutdown to secure funding for his as-yet unfunded border wall with Mexico.
During the last budget spat, he sought to blame Democrats for the risk of a shutdown, citing what he called their intransigence on immigration.
“The Democrats are really looking at something that is very dangerous for our country. They are looking at shutting down,” he said.
“They want to have illegal immigrants; in many cases, people that we don’t want in our country.”
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