The Senate has approved the 2024 Budget Bill as a stopgap measure. The Republican Congress with the help of the Democrats passed the bill on Tuesday in the nick of time. The stopgap approval buys the government another two months (January 19, 2024) before the same tense moments play out again. Controversy over aid to Israel and Ukraine will be the topic of a budget resolution. This will depend on the conduct of Israel’s war on Hamas. The major debate of the war is the large number of Palestinians being killed as Israel aggressively moves against Hamas. The world is watching and there have been several European governments who have criticized Israel for the large number of civilian deaths. Hamas is known to use their Palestinian residents as human shields along with safe zones like hospitals to protect themselves from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Then there is the aid Ukraine so vitally needs to fight off the Russian forces occupying their land. Ukraine has received approximately $75 billion in U.S. aid. Other NATO allies have provided about as much from their perspective. The aid has come in the form of military weaponry and aid to provide food and shelter to the displaced Ukrainian population.
There is a $31 trillion debt the U.S. has accumulated. Under the Trump administration, his spending had ballooned by $7.8 trillion while giving the top 1% a favorable Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) $1.9 trillion tax break. It was the large corporations and some of the richest in America that gained from the tax cuts while the average U.S. citizen was stuck with the bill and continues to bear the burden until 2025 when the Trump giveaways will expire. That may also be affected by what party controls Congress and the Senate.