<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The US House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a short-term budget bill that extends federal funding at current levels until December 23 in order to avoid paralysis of federal services.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawmakers voted 224-201 in favor of the bill, which is now headed for the Senate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is growing urgency to secure the funding, as members of Congress have until midnight Friday to adopt a new budget, otherwise all funding for federal services will be cut and operations across swathes of the government will screech to a halt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The temporary bill would give Congress another week to reach a compromise.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Governmental departments and other federal buildings, but also national parks, some museums and other organizations would be impacted, forcing the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A winter 2018-2019 shutdown, the longest in US history, even affected baggage screening at airports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite strong partisan divisions, most elected officials in both the Democratic and Republican parties do not want a shutdown, which risks creating chaos before the holidays.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two parties are currently unable to agree on a final budget for the fiscal year 2023. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>