American legislators seek to reach an expense agreement before March 14, to avoid a partial closure of the government, which would leave millions of federal employees temporarily without salary and suspend some non -essential government services.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, addressed on Wednesday the concerns that the legislation to finance the federal government beyond the deadline of March 14 includes controversial cuts to social security network programs such as Medicaid and Social Security.
“We are not going to touch it,” Trump told reporters. “Now we are going to look for fraud. I am sure that it does not bother them, such as people who should not be missing, illegal immigrants and other criminals.”
These cuts are one of the problems that legislators are rushed to solve before the short -term expenses bill is exhausted in just two weeks.
The House of Representatives approved a budget resolution for 217 votes in favor and 215 against Tuesday night, when the president of the Chamber, Mike Johnson, got enough votes within his party.
“We promised to deliver the complete agenda of President Trump, not just a part of it, not just a little now and return for the rest,” Johnson told journalists early.
Now it will be necessary to reconcile the bills of the Chamber and the Senate to become law.
Before the vote, several members of the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives were still worried about the size of the expenditure measure, how and when to promulgate a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts, and the political impact of cutting the social security network programs that benefit many US voters.
“We are not only working to find savings for the American taxpayer, a better and more efficient use of his dollar, which we are morally forced to do, we also have the moral obligation to reduce the debt curve,” Johnson said on Tuesday.
Trump has asked the legislators to approve “a great and beautiful bill” that will be a key part in the implementation of their internal policy agenda.
Although Trump expressed his preference for the version of the budget of the House of Representatives, the Senate approved a financing resolution last week that provides 150,000 million dollars in military funds and 175,000 million for border security. That measure also avoids the controversial cuts to Medicaid of the version of the House of Representatives.
In a statement on Wednesday, the president of the Senate Budget Committee, Lindsey Graham, warned: “Time is essential when it comes to border security. ICE will run out of money in weeks, not in months. Delaying the border security agenda of President Trump is not only a bad policy, but is dangerous.”
Trump published in Truth Social last week that “the House of Representatives and the Senate are doing spectacular job when working together as a unified and unbeatable team; however, unlike the version of Lindsey Graham of the very important legislation that is currently being discussed, the resolution of the camera implements my complete agenda of the United States first, everything, not only parts of it.”
If legislators cannot reach an agreement before March 14, there will be a partial closure of the government, which would leave millions of federal employees temporarily without salary and suspend some non -essential government services.
The leader of the republican majority of the Senate, John Thune, did not rule out the possibility of another short -term expenses bill to give legislators more time to work.
“We are maintaining all the options on the table, but time ends,” Thune told journalists on Tuesday.
The Senate continued with the vote of its version of the budget due to uncertainty about the possible success of the vote of the camera version.
The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, described the vote as a first step to harm the voters.
“Last night, almost all Republicans of the House of Representatives signed what would be the greatest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the United States. The ravages, the damage that would cause dozens of millions of American families would not have precedents in regard to Medicaid,” Schumer said in the Senate's plenary on Wednesday.
“The Republican agenda is taking shape quickly: under Donald Trump's republican party, billionaires win, US families lose,” said Schumer.