USA: Lockdown can be avoided

Leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives agreed on a spending ceiling of $1,600 billion – equivalent to more than 16,400 billion kroner – for the 2024 budget, US media reported.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote in a statement that the agreement “clears the way for Congress to act in the coming weeks” to avoid the shutdown that threatens on January 19.

For his part, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson says that there will be “changes” in the deal to reduce non-military spending, which according to the agreement will receive $886 billion in budget funds.

Johnson also notes with satisfaction that the agreement is “the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have reached in more than a decade.” Among other things, he boasts of spending cuts of $16 billion in exchange for the proposal that the former Speaker of Parliament, his party colleague Kevin McCarthy, agreed with President Joe Biden.

In his first comment, Biden said, according to NBC News, that the agreement “brings us one step closer to avoiding an unnecessary closure and protects important national interests.”

In order for the lockdown not to end, several steps remain. Among other things, the agreement must be voted on on Sunday by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.