AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2024

Mexico's new President Claudia Sheinbaum waves to supporters on her inauguration day. Demonstrators in Argentina marched for increased funding for public universities. An annular solar eclipse reached Argentina and Chile.

This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The selection was curated by AP photographer Moisés Castillo, based in Guatemala City.

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Residents work together to push a vehicle stuck on a street flooded by the passing of Hurricane John, in Acapulco, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernardino Hernandez)

A participant in a costume poses for a portrait at an LGBTQIA+ pride parade in the Mare neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hannah-Kathryn Valles)

People inspect a dead whale on the coast of Baracoa, Artemisa province, Cuba, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Participants complete a homemade gravity-powered vehicles race in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador unveils his portrait at the National Palace after giving his last morning press conference, "La Mañanera," in Mexico City, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

People watch an annular solar eclipse in Puerto San Julian, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A man is carried by his friends to throw him into the mud during the annual folk festival that celebrates the feast day of Our Lady of Mercedes in Guarare, Panama, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The moon moves across the sun during an annular solar eclipse in Tahai, Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, Chile, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A member of the Bolivarian Militia holds up a painting depicting President Nicolas Maduro during a rally celebrating Maduro's July 28 reelection, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Demonstrators march to Congress for increased funding for public universities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Claudia Sheinbaum waves from the vehicle taking her to Congress where she will be sworn in as president in Mexico City, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas, bringing a final close to days of upheaval in Washington after Congress passed a bipartisan budget plan just past the deadline and rejected Donald Trump's core demand in the negotiations.

The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.”

Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was "a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar.

The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker's gavel.

One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well.

Yet Trump's last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.

There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president.

GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it's far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)