U.S. Embassy operations in Santo Domingo and consular services, including all visa processing, will continue as normal due to a late-night agreement within the U.S. Congress on a short-term funding measure to keep the federal government operating for one week until the budget can be formally approved. American Citizen Services as well as Non-Immigrant Visa and Immigrant Visa units will honor all previously scheduled appointments. The Puerto Plata Consular Agency remains open.
In President Barack Obama’s speech last night, he called the agreement between Democrats and Republicans “on behalf of all Americans … a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history. Like any worthwhile compromise, both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them.” President Obama ended by calling the United States “a land of many that has always found a way to move forward as one.”
The budget agreement includes a historic budget cut of approximately US$38 billion and was reached shortly before midnight, April 8. This stopgap funding will allow legislators to work out the final details of the larger agreement to define the budget for the rest of the fiscal year, ending on September 30, 2011.
