Democrats woke up on Wednesday morning to a new funding deal that they planned to pass on the floor in time for most of their caucus to head to Philadelphia for their annual policy retreat. Instead, Pelosi and her team were forced to rapidly shift strategies, delaying votes as they worked to appease members from states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri and Maine who objected to the Covid-related provisions.
Democrats objected to how the bill would pay for the White House's request to shore up the nation's pandemic funds, part of the mammoth deal struck between Democratic and GOP leaders. Party leaders agreed to fund some of that with unallocated money from state governments, but only the 30 states that received their emergency Covid cash from the Treasury in two separate batches.
Senior Democrats decided to remove Biden's aid package from the legislation and bring it to the floor later in the day. The White House's proposal to shore up the nation's stockpile in pandemic supplies and treatments would be left out.
The Democratic caucus was affected by the Covid decision. More than a dozen lawmakers from affected states held up the larger spending bill by threatening to vote against the procedural motion that precedes it on the floor.
It's not fair because some states got the money at the same time. The first case was in Washington. We had to deal with it earlier. I don't know if we can fix it in this or somewhere else, said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, whose home state could lose $400 million.
Several members from impacted states streamed through Pelosi's office on Wednesday.
Craig floated removing the Covid relief from the spending bill as a solution to the situation.
The government funding measure is packed with policy wins for the Democrats. Earmarks would be reintroduced for the first time since Congress banned them more than a decade ago. It would increase funding for the military and nearly every non-defense agency by almost 7 percent. The measure would increase the national defense budget by 6 percent.
The package was not finalized in time to make sure Congress can clear it before the funding runs out. The deadline was moved to Tuesday because leaders prepared a four-day spending patch. The stopgap is expected to be easier to pass than the temporary funding bill because of the Senate's risk of a government shutdown.
The funding package and short-term patch will be passed by the House before the Democrats leave for Philadelphia. The opening day's events are likely to be delayed.
After the House approves the funding legislation, Senate leaders will work to clear it for President Joe Biden's signature. There could be a brief government shutdown over the weekend if there are any objections to speeding up debate.
The package will deliver more than 14 billion dollars in emergency funding to help Ukraine, including $3 billion for U.S. forces and $3.5 billion for military equipment.
The return of earmarks is expected to build support in both parties since they will be able tout specific projects they got funded in their districts.
The senator said that the funding bill was supported by the creation of a specific micro-reason.
The top Republican on the spending panel that funds health, labor and education programs said it was easy to be opposed to things on a macro basis.
There are still potential obstacles. The Congressional Budget Office is being asked for more information about how the funding bill might affect inflation. The CBO director was led by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and nine GOP senators wrote a letter to him.
To make it easier to get the support of the House, Democratic leaders are triggering two separate votes. Funding for homeland security, commerce programs and the Justice Department will be included in the defense portion. Non-defense spending, as well as Ukraine aid, will be on the other vote.
The Violence Against Women Act protections expired in early 2019. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the law's expiration put many women and lives in jeopardy.
More than $10 billion would be used to fund health efforts and $5 billion would help the U.S. Agency for International Development speed up vaccinations abroad.
To offset that spending, the measure would have clawed back unspent money from accounts like the Paycheck Protection Program intended to help businesses keep workers employed during the pandemic, as well as agriculture programs and pandemic aid to state and local governments.
The Democratic gripes that held up the bill were related to the threat to those funds for state and local governments.
In a letter to her members on Wednesday, Pelosi said that the White House identified $8 billion from programs in the last pandemic package that have expired.
The fiscal year began in October and the funding deadline is the fourth. Three short-term spending patches have been used to buy more time for the broader negotiations. The Pentagon and all non-defense agencies were funded at the same levels in the last days of Donald Trump's presidency. Democrats want to replace the budget totals with new legislation that will allow them to fund projects like the border wall.
Defense hawks have worked for months to increase military spending above Biden's request, and the new package is seen as a victory.
Biden proposed a 2 percent increase in his budget request last spring, but the Progressives advocated for less military spending. The funding package includes a defense increase of almost 7 percent, and most of Congress is ready to support it.
"We saw that writing on the wall," said Rep. Mark Pocan. Funding negotiators have predicted a higher defense total would be needed to get enough Republican support to pass the package in the Senate.
This report was contributed to by two people.
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