US President Joe Biden welcomed a deal to avert a government shutdown on Saturday. However, he called for Congress to swiftly approve aid to war-hit Ukraine after it was left out of the agreement.
In an official statement, Biden said, “We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.”
"I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment," he added, referring to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy.
AFP reported that lawmakers must now wrangle a separate bill on $24 billion in military assistance to Ukraine that Biden wanted in the budget, with a vote possible early next week.
Hard-right Republicans had strongly opposed the inclusion of Ukraine aid in the deal, despite support for it from moderate Republicans, including McCarthy.
In response, Biden said that the deal to avert a shutdown was "good news for the American people" but added that “we should never have been in this position in the first place.”
The White House wanted to make sure any blame would fall at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue — specifically on House Republicans, AP reported.
“But I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis,” he said in a statement.
President Biden has signed a bill passed by Congress to fund agencies until November 17, averting a government shutdown, as per AP reports.
The US Congress on Saturday approved a ‘stopgap funding bill’ in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running for another 45 days and avert a damaging government shutdown.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 335-91 to adopt a 45-day stopgap measure hours before funding for federal agencies was set to expire.
Kevin McCarthy, the top US House Republican could face an untimely end to his role as speaker if party hardliners oust him, for averting a costly government shutdown on Saturday with a stopgap bill that drew more support from Democrats than Republicans, Reuters reported.
Soon after the House action, the Republican conservatives began targeting McCarthy's role as speaker, claiming he had scored a victory for the "Uniparty" of Washington.
"Should he remain Speaker of the House?" Republican Representative Andy Biggs, a leading hardliner, asked on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
McCarthy decided to bring a vote on a measure that could win Democratic support, knowing full well that it could jeopardize his job. “Go ahead and try."
(With inputs from agencies)
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