The US Senate will vote legislation that will finance the government until September before an imminent term that ends at midnight this Friday. A first preliminary round will precede the final vote in the morning, scheduled later in the day.
American senators are being depleted to approve a continuous short -term resolution (CR in English) promoted by Republican congressmen, which will finance the government after the deadline of midnight on Friday.
The United States Senate will vote this morning in a first preliminary round that will verify if the legislation has the 60 votes necessary to advance before the final vote, scheduled for later this day.
Although the US upper house has a republican majority, it is not necessary to approve the measure, so at least eight democrats are needed to advance with the financing package.
The leader of the majority of the Senate, Republican John Thune, insisted before the plenary on Thursday to argue that any responsibility for a closure would fall directly to the Democrats.
“Democrats must decide whether they will support the financing legislation approved by the House of Representatives or if they will close the government,” Thune said when inaugurating the session.
The senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has asked the Senate to approve an earlier version of the measure whose negotiation the Democrats participated. Democratic senators express their concern to facilitate the way for the Trump administration to continue implementing large -scale changes in the federal government and social security programs.
At the end of Thursday, Schumer ceded and expressed his support for the legislation, which will prevent parts of the government from closing after midnight.
“I will vote to keep the government open and not to close it,” said the New York senator in a speech before the Senate.
The bill was approved by the House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, earlier this week.
“I don't want a government closure,” said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Thursday. “And that is why I would like to vote on a bill to maintain the open government for 30 days while we maintain a bipartisan negotiation. But I will not support this bill of the Republican Representatives Chamber that simply gives Elon Musk more resources and tools to dismantle large sectors of the federal government in order to manipulate it for people like him and the very rich.”
“Voting against the joint resolution will harm the American people and will end the incredible impulse that President (Donald) Trump has generated in the last 51 days,” the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, told the press at the press.
The House of Representatives, of a Republican majority, approved on Tuesday a short -term expenditure measure for 217 votes in favor and 213 against. The House of Representatives suspended their sessions for the rest of the week from Tuesday afternoon, pressing the senators to approve their version of the joint resolution.
The president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, told the press on Tuesday that the continuous resolution of seven months was an important step towards the implementation of the Trump agenda to eradicate waste and government abuse through the Government Efficiency Department (Doge).
“It allows us to advance in the modification of the size and scope of the federal government. There is a radical change in Washington. This is a different time than we have lived. Doge's work is detecting massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse,” Johnson said. “We have a White House really dedicated to we resume a fiscally responsible path.”
The representative Thomas Massie was the only Republican who remained firm, despite Trump's publication Monday night in Truth Social, in which he asked Massie to lose his seat if he voted against the expenditure measure.
The continuous resolution gives time to legislators to reach an agreement on the versions of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives on public spending, a key tool to implement the Trump's internal policy agenda.
The question is how and when to promulgate the proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts and how to reduce the American deficit without cutting key social security network programs that help US voters.
Senate leaders have proposed to approve tax cuts in a separate bill at the end of this year.
(With the collaboration of Katherine Gypson, VOA correspondent in Washington)