U.S. Congress Passes Temporary Government Funding, With No Aid for Ukraine

Just hours before the deadline of midnight, the U.S. Congress averted a government shutdown on Sept. 30, when the Senate voted 88-9 to pass a clean continuing resolution, providing for the temporary extension of government funding until Nov. 17. The vote came several hours after the House of Representatives had voted 335-91 in favor of a similar clean bill (clean meaning with no amendments allowed). Most notably, the resolution does not include any aid for Ukraine, which was a key demand of the White House and the Democrats. On the other hand, it excludes the spending cuts and border money demanded by conservative Republicans.

President Biden signed the bill just before midnight. But the drama continues, as the two houses of Congress continue to wrangle over 12 appropriations bills. If they fail to come up with a compromise, the threat of a government shutdown looms again for November.

We asked Diane Sare for her assessment of the bill passed. Sare is running as an independent LaRouche candidate for U.S. Senate from New York State in 2024, after leading a break-out campaign in 2022 against the other senator from the state, Democrat Charles Schumer, who is now the Senate majority leader.

She responded: “The fact that the Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown over the hotly contested national budget did not include one single nickel of aid to Ukraine shows that not everyone in the U.S. Senate is as delusional as New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who tweeted that ‘majorities in both parties support Ukraine aid…’. The truth is Americans don’t want to keep funding war, particularly when there is urgent need for investment in basic infrastructure here at home. There are also an increasing number of Americans who consider Ukraine to be very corrupt and not democratic at all, and who fear an escalation toward nuclear war.”

In addition to the growing realization among Democratic Party voters that the war in Ukraine is actually a proxy war of NATO against Russia, Diane Sare pointed to another dilemma for them. “Equally shocking to delusional Democrats was the revelation from Robert Kennedy Jr.’s campaign that Kennedy will be announcing his decision to run an independent campaign for U.S. President [because the leadership of the party is changing the rules of the game so as to exclude his candidacy as a Democrat running against Biden]. Lyndon LaRouche had warned that the ‘potty system’ was over. This is now the case, and it creates a great organizing opportunity for LaRouche’s ideas.”