Politics
08:42, 03-Feb-2018
House sets Tuesday vote on bill to avoid government shutdown
["china"]
Share
Copied
The US House of Representatives plans to vote on Tuesday on legislation to keep federal agencies operating beyond February 8, when existing funds expire, a senior House Republican aide said on Friday.
The aide did not provide details, however, on the duration of this latest-in-a-series of temporary funding measures. Congressional negotiators are fighting over defense and non-defense spending levels for the fiscal year that ends on September 30, as well as other unrelated matters.
In shutdowns, non-essential government employees were furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep working.
The Republicans blamed Democrats for withholding their needed votes in the Senate in order to press for a resolution in the immigration debate while the Democrats argued the Republicans control both Congress and White House – it should be Republicans' fault to fail to keep the government open.
People protest for immigration reform for DACA recipients and a new Dream Act, in Los Angeles, California, US, January 22, 2018. /Reuters Photo
People protest for immigration reform for DACA recipients and a new Dream Act, in Los Angeles, California, US, January 22, 2018. /Reuters Photo
Senate Democrats dropped their opposition to the short-term funding bill after securing assurances over a vote on the “Dreamers,” the estimated 700,000 people under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, brought to the US illegally as children but at risk of deportation after Trump rescinded an Obama-era program protecting them.
Under the program, young people who qualified were allowed to live openly in the United States, working and attending college and shielded from deportation.
The stopgap bill approved on January 22 includes a six-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health insurance for nine million children.
(With input from Reuters)