US Congressional Leadership Agrees to Extend Temporary Budget Through March

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Leaders of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties have agreed on a plan to further extend the federal government's temporary budget until March.

According to CNN on the 13th (local time), the bipartisan leadership agreed to extend the federal government's temporary budget in two phases, maintaining the current level, until March 1 and 9.

The U.S. Congress must process the federal government budget for the following year by the end of September, before the fiscal year expires. If the budget does not pass Congress by then, it is customary to handle a temporary budget at the existing level and continue discussions afterward.

If even the temporary budget is not processed, a government shutdown will occur, temporarily halting federal government operations.

Congress, which has been divided over the extent of spending cuts, previously processed temporary budgets extending the budgets for related departments such as Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Agriculture, and Housing and Energy until the 19th of this month, and for the Department of Defense and the State Department until the 2nd of next month.

With this agreement, if the temporary budget is further processed, Congress will gain time to review the budget until March.

The Republican Party plans to hold a party meeting on the evening of the 14th to discuss the temporary budget agreement.

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