Update From Washington, D.C.
Congressional Negotiations Continue on Hybrid Budget Deal/COVID-19 Relief Package
December 10, 2020
With the current stopgap budget measure set to expire on December 11, the House this week approved another short-term Continuing Resolution (CR). The legislation (HR 8900), which the Senate is expected to consider soon, would extend government funding through December 18, giving congressional leaders an additional week to negotiate a package that would combine fiscal year 2021 spending with COVID-19 relief.
For their part, House and Senate appropriators have settled on top-line spending levels for all 12 appropriations bills and also recently agreed to include an undisclosed amount of emergency spending as part of a final budget deal. With that particular agreement in place, appropriators are in the process of finalizing funding levels for specific programs. Lawmakers are also close to addressing several controversial issues that have bogged down this year’s budget process, including potential new spending for border wall construction activities.
While negotiations on pandemic-related relief have progressed throughout the week, key details have yet to be finalized. There does appear to be growing consensus, however, regarding the potential size of the package, which could fall somewhere between the $908 billion proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and $916 billion recently put forward by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
As negotiators close in on the overall level of funding, there are still several disagreements that need to be resolved. State and local fiscal relief, in particular, remains a major sticking point. Although congressional Democrats and some House Republicans have endorsed $160 billion in fresh COVID-19-related financial support for states and localities, a number Senate Republicans strongly oppose the funding.
For its part, CSAC this week issued a Call to Action encouraging county leaders to contact their Members of Congress and urge them to include direct and flexible fiscal aid to all counties in any federal COVID-19 relief package.
In addition to local fiscal relief, there has also been a fair amount of disagreement on other issues, such as business liability protections and another round of stimulus relief checks. It’s unclear where Congress will land on the liability protections, but the expected package appears unlikely to include any direct funding to taxpayers. A potential final stimulus package could expand on some of the other key components of the CARES Act (PL 116-136), including a second round of Paycheck Protection Program small business loans and a temporary unemployment benefit supplement. The bill also could include provisions extending the deadline to use Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) beyond December 31, 2020.
WRDA Bill Finalized
Earlier this week, the House unanimously approved legislation (S 1811) that reauthorizes the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The bill, which Congress typically renews every two years, authorizes projects and programs that fall under the purview of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). This year’s WRDA includes authorizations for a number of California-based projects and proposed feasibility studies. Looking ahead, the Senate is on track to pass the bill in the coming days, with President Trump expected to sign the measure into law.
Among other things, WRDA 2020 includes language that will “unlock” unspent balances in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF). Due to constraints on congressional spending and the way in which the HMTF is structured, revenues deposited into the Fund have far exceeded annual appropriations, thus leading to the accumulation of a large surplus (roughly $10 billion as of 2020). The provisions of S 1811 would facilitate the drawdown and expenditure of surplus HMTF dollars for key port maintenance projects.
S 1811 also includes language directing the Corps to carry out a demonstration program for detecting, treating, preventing, and eliminating harmful algal blooms (HABs). The final version of the legislation identifies several focus areas for the new initiative, including “the waterways of the counties that comprise the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”
Additionally, the WRDA package authorizes the Corps to provide technical assistance for resiliency planning, with priority given to economically disadvantaged communities and communities with repetitive flooding. The final legislation also allows for the calculation of sea level rise benefits for Corps projects and requires the Secretary to consider, when requested, whether the need for the project is predicated upon or exacerbated by conditions related to sea level rise.