The prospects of either chamber approving additional money to fight COVID-19 seem dim. Since the $15.6 billion measure by House Democrats faces high odds of passage in the equally-divided Senate, the House Democrats’ measure is unlikely to pass.
The House is yet to vote on the separate bill that Rosa DeLauro (House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman) introduced. This was as House Democrats left Washington on Wednesday for a retreat in Philadelphia, after passing the sweeping spending measure.
The $15.6 billion payment is partly paid by the Treasury returning unused funds. It does not include offsets from coronavirus funds that were awarded to state or local governments. According to the committee, this appears to be an attempt to address rank-and-file Democrats who opposed the original strategy to pay for the new pandemic relief plan.
The supplemental funding was to support the federal response to the pandemic. It was originally introduced in the massive government spending measure. This resulted from months of negotiations between Republican and Democratic appropriations in each chamber. This package also includes $13.6 Billion in humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine and Eastern European allies after the invasion by Russian forces. It has broad bipartisan support.
As the lower chamber moved towards a vote on it, the first step in avoiding a partial shutdown of the government before a Friday deadline, the dispute about offsets for $15.6 billion became public. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to take out the pandemic money.
Republicans wanted the COVID funding to be completely offset by cuts elsewhere. Democratic leaders agreed that half of the cost would be covered by leftover funds from prior pandemic aid packages. Some House Democrats opposed this strategy, claiming that their states planned to spend the money in previous pandemic relief programs.
Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, called the offsets to COVID funding in initial deal “completely unacceptable” while stating that her state would lose $253 million in pandemic assistance.
She told reporters Wednesday that “somebody has to figure out how this can be done in a more equitable manner.” “Thirty-five of the 50 state COVID relief money has been placed in a plan that’s already been put into a clawback position. So either 50 of these states must participate here or we need another way to do it more fairly.”
Pelosi eventually removed pandemic funding from her Omnibus Spending Package, which she described as “heartbreaking.” The California Democrat, when asked about the opposition from her Democratic colleagues regarding the original mechanism to offset the $15.6 billion through unused aid promised to states, said that the margins of the Senate meant there had been to compromise with Republican negotiators.
Let’s get serious about this. We are in a legislative process. We have a deadline to keep the government open. We had a lively discussion. She said that it must be bipartisan.
The House will likely pass the COVID funding bill as a standalone. Democrats could lose up to four votes but still pass legislation. Its fate in the Senate is uncertain because Democrats have a slim majority and legislation must pass with 60 votes.
Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated on Thursday that he was “deeply disappointed” by the House bill’s decision to drop COVID funding. However, he promised Democrats that they will continue fighting for the money approval.
Three dozen Senate Republicans still raised concerns about the need to provide more COVID relief. They also requested that the White House account how the federal government allocated the $5.7 trillion of emergency aid approved by Congress earlier during the pandemic.
However, the White House had requested $22.5 Billion “to prevent disruption to ongoing COVID response attempts.”
Congress has slashed further with its $15.6 billion proposal after bipartisan and bicameral negotiations. The latest proposal includes $10.6 million to secure COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and to develop vaccines that will protect against future variations. The proposal also includes nearly $4.5 billion for COVID-19 research and treatment around the globe.
