The legislation has no chance in the Republican-controlled Senate, and President Donald Trump has already threatened to veto it. But it still represents an opening offer by House Democrats in negotiations to fill federal agencies’ coffers in fiscal year 2021 and prevent a catastrophic government shutdown at the end of this fiscal year, which is September 30. .
Meanwhile, the appropriations process is completely stagnant in the Senate, with Democrats and Republicans discussing whether to include emergency coronavirus cash on their annual spending bills. Congress is at a standstill on how to deliver another tranche of pandemic aid as unemployment rises and infections rise across the country. Combined with the election year policy, lawmakers are likely on track to pass a short-term spending arrangement to keep the government open after Election Day.
Republicans criticized House Democrats for charging their spending bills with billions of dollars in emergency spending, arguing that the additional cash exploits a two-year budget deal reached last summer. That pact fueled spending and allocated a total of $ 740.5 billion in defense funds and $ 634.5 billion in non-defensive funds for fiscal year 2021.
Members of the Republican Party have also protested appropriation provisions that the President will never accept. Legislation passed on Friday, for example, would frustrate the administration’s ability to move more military funds toward a border wall. $ 1 million would be set aside for the Army to rename 10 bases that honor Confederate leaders. And it would condition hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local law enforcement grants to elimination of racial profiling, implicit bias, the use of bottlenecks, and more.
The lower house adopted more than 300 amendments on Thursday, including a quiet adjustment that will block the Trump administration’s restriction on transgender people serving in the military.
“As we confront the Covid-19 twin crises and systemic racism, the bill takes bold steps to build safer and stronger communities for all people,” said Speaker of the House Appropriations, Nita Lowey (DN.Y.), which is retiring at the end of this year, said Thursday. “I am proud of the work we have completed in the incredibly difficult circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
