國會達成協議美國政府暫免關門

The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that would temporarily fund government operations and avert a shutdown when the current fiscal year ends on a bipartisan vote ((79-12)), the Democratic-controlled Senate late Monday approved a stopgap spending measure, known as a "continuing resolution," to keep the government operating through November 18. The approval came after days of behind-the-scenes talks to resolve an impasse over government spending, deficits and Senate also approved a separate short-term continuing resolution to October 4. The bill must be passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives in order to avoid a shutdown.

The dispute began last week when the Democrat-led Senate rejected a House-passed spending bill that would have temporarily funded the government through November 18, but would have required spending cuts in exchange for a funding increase for the Federal Emergency Management breakthrough came earlier Monday when FEMA announced it had sufficient funds to continue operations until Friday. FEMA officials had previously said that funds would run out earlier this week, threatening disaster relief aid for victims of hurricanes and ident Barack Obama told a town hall meeting in ((the western state of)) California Monday that ideological differences in Congress are preventing the U.S. government from solving its problems. He urged Congress to act responsibly.美國國會參議院批准一項爲政府運作暫時提供資金的妥協案，避免了聯邦政府在本財政年度星期五結束時出現關門的局面。民主黨控制的參議院星期一晚間以79票贊成、12票反對的投票結果通過一項臨時開支案，維持政府運轉到11月18日。在此之前，議員們多日來一直在進行閉門磋商，以便打破兩黨目前在政府開支、赤字和稅收問題上僵局。參議院還批准了另一項維持到10月4日的短期開支決議。這項議案必須獲得共和黨控制的衆議院批准，以便讓政府繼續運轉。

上星期，民主黨控制的參議院否決了衆議院通過的開支案。衆議院的議案將臨時開支維持政府運轉到11月18日，但同時要求削減其它開支，來換取給聯邦緊急事務處理署新增的經費。聯邦緊急事務處理署星期一宣佈，有足夠資金維持到星期五的運作，因此打破了這個僵局。該機構官員此前曾說，資金只足以維持到本週前幾天，從而可能影響爲颶風和地震的受害者提供救災援助。美國總統奧巴馬星期一在加利福尼亞州的一個市民大會上說，國會的意識形態分歧正在阻礙美國政府解決自身的問題。他敦促國會採取負責任的行動。