Update From Washington, D.C.
House and Senate Aim for Year-End Budget Deal; COVID-19 Relief Discussions Remain Stalled
November 20, 2020
With only a few weeks remaining in the current session of Congress, House and Senate lawmakers sought to tie up a number of loose ends this week. The top priority for both chambers is a year-end budget deal. To date, none of the 12 annual spending bills for the fiscal year that began on October 1 have been signed into law. Instead, the Federal government has been operating under a stopgap funding measure that expires on December 11. By all accounts, congressional leaders are committed to passing a multi-bill spending package that would fund the entirety of the government through next September. However, in order to do so, lawmakers will need to agree on top-line spending levels and address several controversial issues that have bogged down this year’s budget process, including potential new spending for border wall construction.
It should be noted that the negotiations over how to fund the government are separate from stalled talks on a fifth coronavirus relief bill. While there was some hope that bipartisan negotiations would resume after the election, House Democrats and Senate Republicans continue to disagree on the size of a potential package. For their part, Democrats continue to demand at least $2.2 trillion in COVID-19-related assistance, while GOP leaders are unwilling to go above their latest $500 billion offer. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has largely stepped back from earlier efforts to encourage lawmakers to strike a new deal.
With negotiations on a relief bill at a standstill, there is a possibility that some coronavirus aid could be merged into the year-end spending package. In fact, the appropriations measures that have been approved by the House include an additional $235 billion in emergency funding broadly related to the coronavirus. Because the funds are designated as emergency spending, they would not count toward top-line spending levels. Senate Republicans, on the other hand, chose not to designate any emergency aid in the spending bills that appropriators released last week. At this point, it is unclear whether Congress will agree on any additional COVID-19 relief before the end of the year.
In addition to negotiations on an omnibus spending package and COVID-19 relief, the House was active legislatively this week, advancing several dozen bills. Of particular interest to California’s counties, the chamber approved a measure (HR 8266) that would require FEMA to provide full federal funding for COVID-19-related emergency aid. The legislation also would clarify that FEMA could provide assistance for certain costs incurred by local governments during the pandemic, including payments for first responders, remote test sites, personal protective equipment, medical supplies, and food distribution. In addition, the measure would increase the federal cost share to 90 percent (up from 75 percent) for disaster aid stemming from the 2020 wildfires. HR 8266 is unlikely to be considered as a standalone bill, but it could be attached to a larger legislative package.