US House of Representatives backs legislation to avert threatened shutdown of government

The House of Representatives in Washington has backed legislation to avert a threatened shutdown of the United States government from this weekend.

The new Bill would fund some government departments until the middle of January and others until early February. The legislation does not include additional aid for Israel or Ukraine which has been sought by the White House.

However, the spending measures, which were put forward by the new speaker, Mike Johnson, a Republican, were only passed by the House of Representatives after opposition Democrats agreed to support them.

More than 90 of Mr Johnson’s own Republican Party members voted against the proposals. Several argued that they did not include spending cuts or additional measures for security on the US southern border.

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The spending plan, having secured the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, now has to be agreed by the senate and US president Joe Biden before Friday night if a government shutdown is to be avoided.

An internal row within the Republican Party over the budget for next year was the catalyst for the rebellion by a number of right-wing members which saw Kevin McCarthy removed from the position of speaker last month.

Separately, in an indication that tempers within the Republican Party in the House of Representatives are still inflamed after weeks of internal turmoil, Mr McCarthy on Tuesday faced accusations that he had assaulted a party colleague who was among those who had voted to oust him from the role.

Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, claimed on Tuesday that Mr McCarthy had elbowed him in the back as they passed each other in a crowded hallway.

Mr Burchett ran after Mr McCarthy and confronted him over the issue.

The former speaker denied that he had assaulted his party colleague.

Mr Burchett later told broadcaster CNN: “I got elbowed in the back and it kind of caught me off guard ‘cause it was a clean shot to the kidneys.”

He said he was still in some pain following the incident.

Republican Matt Gaetz, who led the attempts to remove Mr McCarthy from the post of speaker, later filed an ethics complaint against the former speaker.

“Needless to say, this incident deserves immediate and swift investigation by the ethics committee. This Congress has seen a substantial increase in breaches of decorum unlike anything we have seen since the pre-Civil War era.”

“I myself have been a victim of outrageous conduct on the House floor as well, but nothing like an open and public assault on a member, committed by another member. The rot starts at the top.”

Separately, in another example of the fractious atmosphere in the US Congress, a hearing of a committee of the US senate was brought to a standstill on Tuesday after a senator challenged a witness - a senior union leader - to a fight on the floor of the committee room.

The row began after Republican senator Markwayne Mullin paraphrased a tweet about him which had been made last June by the president of the Teamsters union Sean O’Brien following a previous senate hearing.

He maintained that in the tweet Mr O’Brien had said: “...What a clown, a fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy.”

Senator Mullin then offered to fight Mr O’Brien at the hearing.

“Sir, this is a time, this is a place, if you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here,” while pointing to the floor of the senate room.

The union leader responded: “OK that’s fine, perfect.”

Mr Mullin then got up from his seat saying: “You want to do it now?”

“I’d love to do it right now,” Mr O’Brien answered.

“Well, stand your butt up, then,” Mr Mullin said.

“You stand your butt up”, Mr O’Brien said.

The two men later traded comments, with the senator describing the union leader at one point as a “thug”, while Mr O’Brien maintained that the senator had acted like a 12-year-old schoolyard bully”.

US senator Bernie Sanders, who was chairing the hearing, intervened. “Stop it. You’re a United States senator,” Mr Sanders said as Mr O’Brien called Mr Mullin a “clown”.

“This is a hearing. And God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress. Let’s not make it worse,” Mr Sanders said.