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| EFE |
The White House announced in a statement that Biden had affixed his signature to the law, which automatically comes into effect.
On Friday, less than five hours from the deadline for funds to run out at midnight, the Senate approved the bill that serves to finance the public administration until September and which had already received the approval of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
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The fiscal year 2024 began on October 1, 2023, but Democrats and Republicans had not managed to agree on the accounts, so Congress had approved up to four budget extensions to avoid an administrative shutdown due to lack of funds.
The first of these extensions, in fact, caused the fall of the then Speaker of the House, Republican Kevin McCarthy, within a fratricidal war of conservatives.
The United States Senate approved on Friday a package of 460 billion dollars before the deadline for the closure of many key federal agencies expired, a vote that leaves lawmakers halfway through the conclusion of the appropriations for the budget year 2024.
This partial budget includes funds for key agencies, such as the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, part of Defense, Transportation, Interior or Energy. In total, it is 460 billion dollars.
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On the other hand, lawmakers are negotiating a second package with another six bills, including the defense one, in an effort for all federal agencies to have their funding for the year before the deadline of March 22.
Republicans have achieved cuts in some of their priorities, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which will see its budget reduced from 10.1 billion dollars in 2023 to 9.2 billion now.
Likewise, an increase of 212 million dollars has been agreed to the item for nuclear programs of the Department of Energy, which amounts to 1.69 billion dollars.