"Nuevo bloqueo gubernamental en el horizonte tras rechazo del plan de financiamiento alternativo en la Cámara"

La Cámara de Representantes rechazó el jueves por la noche un acuerdo alternativo, respaldado por Donald Trump, para evitar un cierre del gobierno a la medianoche del viernes. A diferencia del paquete original, que surgió de negociaciones bipartidistas pero fue frustrado por conservadores liderados por el magnate Elon Musk, este plan B solo fue apoyado por los republicanos — un hecho que no garantizó su éxito, como lo evidenció el resultado de la votación (235 a 174), que reflejó la firme oposición de 38 republicanos más radicales y 197 demócratas. El texto requería el apoyo de dos tercios de la Cámara para ser aprobado. El rechazo devolvió el esfuerzo por evitar el cierre gubernamental a la estaca inicial solo un día antes de que expirara la financiación del gobierno.

In less than 24 hours, and at the urging of the president-elect — who told his party to present an alternative to the spending deal rejected on Wednesday following an offensive led by Elon Musk — Republicans cobbled together a document just 116 pages long (the original was more than 1,500), which includes an extension of government funding until March and a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, the maximum amount of money the government can borrow, with Congressional authorization, to finance its obligations. The last point was the condition Trump had set on Wednesday for giving his approval.

Plan B was presented after 48 chaotic hours since the presentation of the original proposal on Tuesday night by House Speaker Mike Johnson. This was followed by a barrage of social media posts by Musk on X (formerly Twitter). The tech magnate, who is also one of the men closest to Trump, was not the only person who opposed the original spending deal, but he was the one who led the operation to demolish it. The president-elect and his VP, J. D. Vance, seconded his criticisms and together they blew up a bill that, according to the most radical Republican faction, including members of the Freedom Caucus, made concessions to the Democrats.