Congress reached an agreement to prevent a shutdown in the United States

Both chambers of the US Congress have reached an agreement on funding the government in 2024, US President Joe Biden said . According to him, this brings the country closer to preventing a shutdown (suspension of government work) and protecting national priorities.

The conclusion of the deal was also confirmed by the Speakers of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, NBC News reports.

The agreement sets overall spending levels at $1.59 trillion in fiscal year 2024. This includes $886 billion in defense spending and $704 billion in non-defense spending, the TV channel notes.

Biden said the deal does not include deep cuts to programs designed to support Americans and paves the way for passage of annual funding bills. He also said Republicans must now "do their job, stop threatening a shutdown, and deliver on their commitment to funding critical homeland security priorities." “The time has come for them to act,” the American president concluded.

Johnson, in a letter to colleagues, noted that the level of spending provided for in the agreement does not satisfy everyone and does not involve cuts as much as many among Republicans would like, NBC reports. At the same time, he indicated that the deal would move forward on several fronts, including moving ahead with the 2024 spending process and reprioritizing funding toward conservative goals instead of last year's Democratic plan.

Among the Democrats' concessions, Johnson named a $10 billion cut in spending on the inflation reduction bill and a $6.1 billion cut in the Biden administration's remaining funds to combat COVID- 19 from the pandemic .

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CNN notes that the deal was the first step to prevent a shutdown ahead of two deadlines - January 19 and February 2, when US government agencies will run out of funding. At the same time, final agreement may face obstacles in Congress, as some Republicans want to use the spending bill as leverage to impose stricter immigration and border security requirements, the TV channel said.

In November 2023, the United States passed legislation to temporarily fund the operation of the federal government. Some departments were provided until January 19, the rest - until February 2. This budget did not include aid to Israel and Ukraine , for which Biden requested a total of $75 billion.