Lawmakers in Washington approved the deal, which includes President Donald Trump's border wall and increased military spending. Proposed cuts to environmental programs were rejected.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Shelley
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The US Congress approved a $1.3 trillion (€1.05 trillion) budget on Friday which funds the government through September, avoiding another government shutdown. The spending bill was a bipartisan effort to avoid another quick stopgap measure, of which there have already been five in this fiscal year alone.
US President Donald Trump had threatened to veto the bill but relented at the end "as a matter of national security."
"There are a lot of things I'm unhappy about in this bill. There are a lot of things we shouldn't have had in this bill but we were, in a sense, forced (to have) if we want to build our military," he said after signing it.
"My highest duty is to keep America safe."
Military spending
The new budget increases funding for domestic programs and the military, including more money for new Navy ships, anti-opioid programs, the FBI and NASA. The deal also includes $1.57 billion for Trump's border wall and other related security measures and $380 million to improve election security.
"This bill starts construction on the wall," Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan told reporters.
Although the president had wanted to cut funds to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the bill keeps the agency's budget the same at $8 billion. Lawmakers also rejected calls from Trump to cut spending for clean-up programs in the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay.
Despite the Democrats pushing for protection from deportation for the "Dreamers" who came to the US illegally as children, that did not make it in to the final deal. The Democrats were however able to secure money for building better roads.
The bill also prompts state governments and federal agencies to send the necessary records for the national gun-purchasing background check system. Although they were already obliged to do so, the process has remained slow and incomplete.
'A pox on both your houses'
The budget passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 256-167, but it nearly stalled in the Senate when an Idaho lawmaker tried to stop the entire process over the renaming of a forest in his home state.
Senator James Risch, a Republican, was unhappy that the forest was to be renamed after Cecil Andrus, a four-term Democratic governor.
Finally, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, another Republican, told Risch he was being "ridiculous."
Not every lawmaker was pleased with the final outcome. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky tweeted "a pox on both your houses," and criticized his colleagues for not giving themselves time to read the 2,200 page bill.
US government shutdowns: A chronology
President Joe Biden's government is facing a shutdown if the Republican Congress doesn't approve the budget for the coming fiscal year. DW looks at how shutdowns started, when they became partisan and how much they cost.
Image: Getty Images/D. Angerer
Sundown shutdown
As midnight approaches on September 30, it's go time for Congress: Approve a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, or shut down the government. Originally, Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution required lawmakers to approve the budget. Honing it further in 1870, the Antideficiency Act targeted agencies that spent money without asking. But deadlines were often missed.
Image: picture-alliance/CNP/A. Edelma
No money, no pay, no work
At the behest of President Jimmy Carter, the US attorney general revisited the Antideficiency Act in 1980 to answer the question: "Without a budget, are government employees required to work?" According to his Attorney General's legal opinion, no money meant no work. Carter's presidency saw only small shutdowns, but the new interpretation of the law turned shutdowns into a negotiating tactic.
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Ronald Reagan and the first shutdown
The first real shutdown — more than 240,000 workers furloughed, more than $80 million (€65 million) down the drain — occurred in November 1981. President Ronald Reagan refused to sign a budget without billions in tax cuts. The Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House found a solution the next day. This happened seven more times by his last year in 1989.
Image: AP
Bill Clinton and the rise of the partisan shutdown
Budget impasses were largely drama-free until 1995, when President Bill Clinton faced off against Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (pictured left). The Republican-led Congress wanted a balanced budget within seven years, higher Medicare premiums and rollbacks on environment regulations. It took 27 days in total to strike a deal. The cost: at least $1 billion.
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A game for Congress, a headache for the agencies
Many departments such as the military, national security and any deemed essential to the protection of life continue working during shutdowns. But agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must cease operations. This results in delays on tax decisions, food inspection and disease research among other problems.
Image: picture-alliance/BSIP/B. Boissonet
Barack Obama and Congress on Cruz-control
The next major shutdown came in 2013 under President Barack Obama. His Affordable Health Care Act — or Obamacare — faced stark opposition from conservative House Republicans. Led by Senator Ted Cruz, the group pushed for drastic curbs on the health care act in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The 18-day shutdown resulted in the furlough of some 850,000 workers. The cost: $24 billion.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Dharapak
Shutdown for a wall
The longest shutdown in US history so far lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019. Hundreds of federal workers went without paychecks. Despite the disruption, then-President Donald Trump insisted that funding for his Mexico border wall be included in the budget. In fact, Trump had said he was prepared for the impasse to go on for years — before he gave in and reopened government.
Image: Doug Mills/UPI Photo/Imago Images
Cost of playing politics
The prohibitive cost of shutting down some government operations has not tamed the trend. Washington loses millions not just in revenue, but also in back pay, even though furloughed employees stay at home. So, time lost, work lost — and money lost. According to a 2019 estimate by ratings agency Standard and Poor's, a government shutdown costs the US roughly $6 billion per week.
Image: Imago
Shutdowns contributing to distrust?
The biggest loser is not the economy, or the party that makes the most concessions, it's the government itself. According to a Gallup poll in the aftermath of the 2013 shutdown, public dissatisfaction with the government in general rose to 33%. The previous all-time high regarding political dysfunction was 26% during the Watergate scandal.
