The Senate takes the first step to avoid the closure of the Government

The Senate approved the bill for the agreement between Mike Johnson and Chuck Schumer to avoid a short-term government shutdown. With 68 votes in favor and 13 against, the Upper House overcame the first obstacle for the measure to be on Joe Biden's table before the deadline of January 19, which would be delayed until March 1. Now it must overcome the House of Representatives, where a large number of Republican legislators have announced that they will vote against the initiative.

The agreement also contemplates extending financing for other items until March 8, instead of February 2 agreed in the previous Continuing Resolution, approved in November, already with Johnson as president of the House of Representatives. It was precisely a previous continuing resolution that prompted Matt Gaetz's motion that would end up taking down Kevin McCarthy.

Republican pressure on Johnson to withdraw from the agreement

Faced with pressure from a large group of Republican congressmen for Johnson to back down and withdraw from the agreement, even threatening to present a motion to remove him, as happened with McCarthy, the speaker announced that he would stand firm and move forward with the agreement. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who also participated in the negotiations, sent a letter to his legislators stressing the importance of this rule moving forward "as soon as possible."

The agreement sets public spending at 1.66 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2024. That includes $886 billion for defense and $772 billion for other spending. Schumer noted on his X account that they continue to negotiate additional supplements for national security.